Workers in the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.52 in May 2016, about 14 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction; building and grounds cleaning and maintenance; and healthcare support. One group—management—had significantly higher wages than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; transportation and material moving; and office and administrative support. Conversely, 14 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical; management; and healthcare practitioners and technical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Greensboro-High Point had 42,150 jobs in production, accounting for 11.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.76, significantly below the national wage of $17.88.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (6,870), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,800), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (2,570). Among the higher paying jobs were food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders, and chemical plant and system operators, with mean hourly wages of $26.30 and $26.15, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($8.87) and tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers ($9.46). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24660.htm.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.0 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, upholsterers were employed at 16.5 times the national rate in Greensboro, and textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders, at 16.0 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Greensboro, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,009 establishments with a response rate of 86 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Greensboro-High Point, N.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Guilford, Randolph, and Rockingham Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southeast. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/current/methods_statement.pdf.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	42,150	1.8	$15.76	$32,780
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	2,570	1.7	25.75	53,570
Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers	110	0.2	15.79	32,840
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	170	0.9	19.34	40,240
Team assemblers	6,870	2.4	14.24	29,610
Assemblers and fabricators, all other	580	1.0	11.96	24,880
Bakers	270	0.6	11.49	23,890
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders	400	7.9	26.30	54,710
Food batchmakers	500	1.3	13.51	28,100
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	80	0.9	13.07	27,190
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	440	1.2	17.66	36,740
Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic	80	1.2	22.75	47,320
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	670	3.7	15.15	31,520
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	140	1.9	15.35	31,930
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	990	2.0	15.01	31,210
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	0.6	15.43	32,090
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	110	1.3	20.08	41,760
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	1.3	17.12	35,620
Machinists	910	0.9	18.01	37,450
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,220	3.3	13.53	28,150
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	370	1.3	20.03	41,670
Tool and die makers	180	1.0	23.34	48,560
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	740	0.8	18.87	39,250
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	30	0.3	17.82	37,070
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	14.46	30,070
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	0.9	23.51	48,900
Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners	70	2.9	19.85	41,290
Prepress technicians and workers	60	0.7	19.56	40,680
Printing press operators	690	1.6	16.14	33,560
Print binding and finishing workers	180	1.3	15.64	32,540
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	380	0.7	8.87	18,450
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	260	2.2	9.77	20,310
Sewing machine operators	2,270	6.4	12.32	25,630
Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers	(5)	(5)	9.46	19,670
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	440	16.0	12.62	26,250
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	3.8	13.81	28,730
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	730	13.4	13.12	27,300
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	1,050	13.7	13.14	27,330
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	130	2.7	14.75	30,670
Fabric and apparel patternmakers	50	3.9	24.40	50,750
Upholsterers	1,360	16.5	16.20	33,690
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	80	2.0	13.22	27,510
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	570	2.3	14.83	30,850
Furniture finishers	280	6.3	11.77	24,480
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	380	3.0	12.67	26,360
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	810	4.2	12.70	26,410
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	290	1.0	19.96	41,510
Chemical plant and system operators	(5)	(5)	26.15	54,390
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	600	3.2	18.72	38,950
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	80	0.7	18.47	38,410
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	160	2.4	12.40	25,790
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	840	2.5	18.95	39,420
Cutters and trimmers, hand	220	6.2	14.71	30,590
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	460	2.9	12.23	25,450
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	210	1.2	15.44	32,110
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	110	2.2	13.64	28,370
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	2,800	2.1	15.12	31,450
Dental laboratory technicians	90	1.0	17.59	36,590
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	2,400	2.5	17.92	37,270
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	320	1.5	14.14	29,420
Painters, transportation equipment	190	1.4	20.98	43,630
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	60	1.6	12.23	25,440
Photographic process workers and processing machine operators	90	1.4	13.41	27,880
Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders	170	4.0	12.10	25,160
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	690	2.9	15.30	31,830
Helpers--production workers	1,830	1.7	12.32	25,630
Production workers, all other	760	1.2	16.63	34,600
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Greensboro-High Point, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24660.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers. (3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average. (4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data. (5) Estimate not released.