1) The survey must be recent.
2) The wage data submitted by the employer must reflect the area of intended employment.
3) The job description applicable to wage data submitted by the employer must be adequate to determine that the data represents workers who are similarly employed.
4) The wage data must have been collected across industries that employ workers in the occupation.
5) The prevailing wage determination should be based on the arithmetic mean (weighted average) of wages for workers that are similarly employed in the area of intended employment.
6) In all cases where an employer provides the SWA with wage data for which it seeks acceptance, the employer must include the methodology used for the survey to show that it is reasonable and consistent with recognized statistical standards and principles in producing a prevailing wage (e.g., contains a representative sample), including its adherence to these standards for the acceptability of employer-provided wage data.
It is important to note that a prevailing wage determination based upon the acceptance of employer-provided wage data for the specific job opportunity at issue does not supersede the OES wage rate for subsequent requests for prevailing wage data in that occupation.