ACP News,
Advocacy News
June 10, 2013
Help Correct the Record: Respond to OES Survey, Use Title Prosthodontist
Each year, in November and May, State Workforce Agencies, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), contacts several thousand private establishments to solicit their cooperation in providing employment and wage information for the Occupational Employment Statistics Survey (OES).
The OES survey includes a representative sample of offices of dentists. Information collected in the survey is used to produce estimates of employment in each occupation dentist offices and their wages. An example of the OES data for last year can be found in this link: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_621200.htm
State workforce agencies collect the data for establishments in each state. Your participation is encouraged to ensure BLS and your state workforce agency are able to produce high quality information for its data users.
ACP members: if you receive a survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, take two minutes to fill it out, and identify yourself as a prosthodontist in the title section. Larger dental offices may get a survey that looks like this. Smaller dental offices may get this survey. ACP members are asked to be on the lookout for either version, fill it out and send it back quickly to help the ACP correct the record that 3,372 prosthodontists work in the USA today – not 310 as reported. Thank you.
If called upon, your establishment’s cooperation and assistance will be greatly appreciated. BLS observes absolute confidentiality of survey information provided by employers. BLS or your state workforce agency will also make every endeavor to assist your staff in completing the survey as efficiently as possible.
Here are tips directly from Ms. Dixie Sommers of the BLS:
- We appreciate your efforts to encourage your members to respond to the OES survey and other BLS surveys. Our ability to produce useful data is highly dependent on the cooperation of employers.
- The OES survey form for “Ambulatory Health Care Services” is sent to larger dentists offices, and may be found at http://www.bls.gov/respondents/oes/pdf/forms/621000.pdf. In addition, small dentists offices receive the “unstructured” form, which does not list the specific occupations but asks the respondent to list the number of workers by the employer’s job titles. OES staff then code these titles to the Standard Occupational Classification. The unstructured form is at http://www.bls.gov/respondents/oes/pdf/forms/uuuuuu.pdf For those receiving the unstructured form, it is important that individuals working as prosthodontists be reported using that title so we can properly code them into the right occupation.
You may notice that, on the front page of the form, there are two large empty blocks. These are filled in prior to the form being mailed. In question 2, the block will contain a description of the industry the business is classified in, and we use the response to ensure we have the establishment in the correct industry. In question 3, the name and location address we have is provided. The response helps ensure we have the right establishment and can correct any location changes and addresses.
In question 4 we provide instructions on which workers to report. Note that for incorporated businesses, “paid owners and officers” are to be included. Thus, a prosthodontist who is an owner of an incorporated business but who works mainly as a prosthodontist should be included on the response as a prosthodontist. (See the second bullet on page 2 of the form regarding how to report individuals who may do work that could be in more than one occupation.)
For unincorporated businesses, proprietors, owners, and partners are not to be included. These individuals are regarded as self-employed.
The list of occupations on the Ambulatory Health Care Services form begins following the instructions. Prosthodontists are listed on page 6.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics offers economic information that American College of Prosthodontists members may find of interest. BLS is available as your source of information for benefit and wage data, the Employment Cost Index, Occupational Employment Statistics, Occupational Employment Projections, Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Indexes, and other economic statistics for our industry and the nation. This information is available on the BLS web site, www.bls.gov.
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