how much is that software engineer?
TRANSCRIPT
savills-studley.com
How Much is That Software Engineer?An examination of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics release
By Heidi Learner
BLS’s Occupational Employment Statistics release
Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on 22 major occupational groups, highlighting employment by job classification and industry in addition to data on wages. o This report can provide a helpful assessment of average and median pay
by industry, occupation and area—all important variables for those employers evaluating multiple location options.
From the data, we can determine trends in wages (which include commissions, production bonuses as well as other forms of incentive pay) on both a national and regional basis, since the data are also parsed by Metropolitan Statistical Area.
How have total wages changed between 2013 and 2014 by occupation?
• Most occupations experienced an increase in average annual wages.
• The average increase in wages was 1.7%—in line with the increase in the Consumer Price Index and Personal Consumption Expenditure Index
• This is consistent with the notion that cash wages have failed to outpace inflation
Wages by Occupation, National
How have wages changed between 2013 and 2014 regionally?
Regional wages are a function of occupation composition
States (and regions) with a greater share of higher-wage jobs will have higher average wages in aggregate
Using computer programmers as an example, the ten regions with the highest number of employees in 2014 offered average salaries of $91,368; for the U.S. as a whole, this figure was $82,690.
The areas in the table, while having the most programmers on an absolute basis, were not necessarily those locations where wages were the highest or where the concentration of computer programmers was the greatest.
Wage Data for Computer Programmers, by Metropolitan Statistical Areas, May 2014 (areas with the greatest number of computer programmers)
How have wages changed between 2013 and 2014 regionally?
The map: o Plots the relative number and
median wage for a “software applications developer” for major metro regions
o Shows a wide range of median wages
The industry that employed the highest percentage of software applications developers was software publishing, but this wasn’t the highest-paying industry.
The software publishing industry paid applications developers an average of $109,030, but other industries paid more for employees with the exact same job
Median Wage and Employment Data for Software Applications Developers, May 2014
Relative Local Wage Premiums
More information can be gleaned by comparing the median wages for software applications developers with median wages for all jobs within the area as a whole
The difference in the table’s two figures provides a measure of the relative local wage premium, in this case, for software developer jobs Ex: median wages across all occupations
and industries is roughly the same in Miami as Tampa however, median wages for software application developers are twice as great in Miami and 2.8 times as great as in Tampa
This suggests a relatively higher premium for the occupation in Tampa than in Miami.
Median Wages by Region: Software Applications Developers and All Jobs, May 2014