DWS News
June 21, 2010

New Wage Data Available from DWS

SALT LAKE CITY – The latest wage data covering nearly 600 Utah occupations is now available from the Department of Workforce Services (DWS). The wage data is available online in a searchable database at http://jobs.utah.gov/jsp/wi/utalmis/gotoOccwage.do.

The data is broken out into ten geographic areas:

  • Statewide
  • The Salt Lake City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA): Salt Lake, Tooele, Summit Counties
  • The Ogden-Clearfield MSA: Weber, Davis, Morgan Counties
  • The Provo-Orem MSA: Utah, Juab Counties
  • The Logan MSA: Cache County
  • The St. George MSA: Washington County
  • Box Elder and Rich Counties
  • Central Rural counties: Millard, Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne Counties
  • Southwest Rural Counties: Beaver, Iron, Garfield, Kane Counties
  • Eastern Rural counties: Wasatch, Duchesne, Daggett, Uintah, Carbon, Emery, Grand, San Juan

"In times of economic turmoil, access to good wage data becomes vitally important," noted Kristen Cox, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Workforce Services. "Even with a large pool of applicants, employers still need to ensure they pay enough to attract and keep high quality workers while simultaneously keeping an eye on their bottom line. Also, knowing the market wage for a particular occupation helps job seekers negotiate an appropriate salary. Finally, individuals can make better career choices when they know what an occupation pays."

Some highlights from this release:

  • Workers in the Salt Lake City MSA realized the state’s highest average hourly wage rate, at $19.97 an hour, and the rural southwest counties posted the lowest average hourly rate, at $15.46 an hour. The state average was $18.86 per hour.
  • Average pay increased by 2.8 percent from 2008 to 2009.
  • The highest paid jobs were physicians, top managers, engineers, and other professionals with earnings in excess of $100,000 per year. Lowest paid were service and hospitality-related jobs with pay of under $9.00 per hour. Examples of more common occupations and wages were accountant ($29.09), carpenter ($17.62), construction laborers ($12.95), registered nurse ($28.54), secretary ($13.37), telemarketer ($11.07) and truck driver ($19.84).

Wage data comes from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, conducted annually by the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

###DWS###