Carson City’s hourly wage above state’s average

Carson City workers on average earned $21.83 an hour last year, according to federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That’s 1 percent below the nation’s hourly pay level.

The latest statistics from BLS in the U.S. Labor Department, released Thursday, showed Carson City’s average — also known as the mean — in May 2012 was more than the state’s mean of $20.16 hourly. Annually, the mean wage in Carson City was $45,420; for Nevada, it was $41,930.

“I think it is good news,” said Mayor Robert Crowell.

“Statistics are what they are,” he added, but he said it shows the labor market here is competitive and a good wage environment can attract skilled employees.

It is positive news because people have spending money, said City Manager Larry Werner.

“They do better,” he said, “and we do better.”

The BLS report showed the median, of course, was lower in the city and state. In Carson City, the hourly median pay was $18.01; across Nevada, it was $15.87.

In Carson City, legal occupations topped the pay scale with a $44.14 mean hourly rate. Health care practitioners and technical occupations earned $42.72 an hour, on average. That obviously boosted the city statistics, because the BLS said those health care practitioners and technical workers in Carson City were paid 21 percent more than the national average for those occupations.

Office and administrative support occupations accounted for the largest share of the local employment work force at nearly 20 percent of the total. Overall, the BLS said, there were 26,340 people employed in the city work force a year ago; statewide there were 1,127,160.