Workers in the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.59 in May 2013, 12 percent below the nationwide average of $22.33, 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 significantly lower than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction, healthcare support, and transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, and transportation and material moving. Conversely, 14 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, construction and extraction, and food preparation and serving related. (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 38,310 jobs in production, accounting for 11.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.74, measurably below the national wage of $16.79.

With employment of 4,140, team assemblers was the largest occupation within the production group, followed by inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,790) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (2,570). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, and packaging and filling machine operators and tenders, with mean hourly wages of $26.66 and $18.27, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were sewing machine operators ($11.34) and helpers—production workers ($11.78). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2013/may/oes_24660.htm.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Greensboro	United States	Greensboro	Percent difference 1
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%	$22.33	$19.59*	-12
Management	4.9	4.3*	53.15	53.60	1
Business and financial operations	5.0	4.0*	34.14	31.41*	-8
Computer and mathematical	2.8	1.9*	39.43	34.66*	-12
Architecture and engineering	1.8	1.4*	38.51	33.79*	-12
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	0.6*	33.37	28.79*	-14
Community and social services	1.4	0.9*	21.50	19.59*	-9
Legal	0.8	0.4*	47.89	36.20*	-24
Education, training, and library	6.3	5.9*	24.76	21.53*	-13
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.1*	26.72	21.50*	-20
Healthcare practitioner and technical	5.8	5.4	35.93	33.92	-6
Healthcare support	3.0	3.4*	13.61	11.46*	-16
Protective service	2.5	2.4	20.92	16.75*	-20
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	8.4*	10.38	9.44*	-9
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.0*	12.51	10.70*	-14
Personal care and service	3.0	2.3*	11.88	10.76*	-9
Sales and related	10.6	10.8	18.37	17.71	-4
Office and administrative support	16.2	15.8	16.78	16.06*	-4
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	2*	11.70	13.61*	16
Construction and extraction	3.8	3.1*	21.94	16.55*	-25
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.4*	21.35	20.59*	-4
Production	6.6	11.1*	16.79	15.74*	-6
Transportation and material moving	6.8	9.5*	16.28	13.87*	-15
1 A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Greensboro is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. 2 Indicates a value of less than 0.05 percent * The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

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 19.2 times the national rate in Greensboro, and sewing machine operators, at 5.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, welders, cutters, solderers and brazers had a location quotient of 1.1 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. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national estimates. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year for a 3-year period. May 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on employment. The sample in the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,994 establishments with a response rate of 87 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data. OES data by state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.

The May 2013 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.

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/2013/may/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 2013

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	38,310	1.7	$15.74	$32,730
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	2,570	1.7	26.66	55,460
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers	540	1.0	15.29	31,810
Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers	70	0.5	13.64	28,370
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	90	0.5	17.02	35,400
Team Assemblers	4,140	1.5	14.89	30,970
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	670	1.0	11.01	22,900
Bakers	280	0.7	12.43	25,850
Butchers and Meat Cutters	220	0.6	13.89	28,880
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders	230	4.7	20.26	42,130
Food Batchmakers	160	0.6	12.71	26,440
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	340	0.9	19.62	40,800
Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	80	1.3	22.15	46,060
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	450	2.4	14.30	29,740
Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	50	0.9	18.30	38,070
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	30	0.4	14.74	30,660
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	720	1.5	15.43	32,080
Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	110	2.2	12.33	25,650
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	210	1.2	13.66	28,420
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	0.7	17.17	35,720
Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	60	1.0	17.18	35,730
Machinists	770	0.8	18.65	38,800
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	1,070	3.3	15.16	31,520
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	180	0.8	14.93	31,050
Tool and Die Makers	250	1.2	23.46	48,790
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	1,010	1.1	17.76	36,940
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	140	1.0	17.55	36,510
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	13.91	28,940
Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	0.9	18.82	39,160
Prepress Technicians and Workers	140	1.4	20.47	42,580
Printing Press Operators	760	1.8	16.52	34,360
Print Binding and Finishing Workers	250	1.9	12.60	26,210
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	290	0.6	9.28	19,310
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials	280	2.1	9.89	20,570
Sewing Machine Operators	2,200	5.9	11.34	23,590
Sewers, Hand	30	2.1	11.95	24,850
Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders	420	13.8	12.70	26,420
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	280	7.2	11.98	24,930
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	720	12.4	13.04	27,110
Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	1,130	16.7	12.10	25,160
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers	110	2.3	14.42	29,980
Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers	90	6.0	19.93	41,460
Upholsterers	1,440	19.2	15.06	31,330
Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers, All Other	(5)	(5)	13.54	28,170
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	550	2.5	13.26	27,590
Furniture Finishers	(5)	(5)	12.71	26,440
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood	370	3.4	12.96	26,950
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing	480	2.8	12.33	25,650
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	200	0.7	17.74	36,890
Chemical Plant and System Operators	130	1.3	20.45	42,530
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders	230	1.5	19.19	39,910
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand	260	3.2	12.70	26,410
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	800	2.6	17.12	35,600
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	200	5.7	13.82	28,750
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	390	2.5	15.37	31,960
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	370	2.1	18.55	38,590
Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders	50	1.0	13.50	28,080
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	2,790	2.3	14.56	30,290
Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers	80	1.4	16.64	34,620
Dental Laboratory Technicians	80	0.8	17.12	35,620
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians	70	1.0	13.69	28,470
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	2,200	2.3	18.27	38,000
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	290	1.3	14.11	29,340
Painters, Transportation Equipment	190	1.5	19.79	41,170
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers	110	2.6	15.89	33,040
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators	80	0.8	14.41	29,980
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders	150	3.2	12.70	26,420
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	420	1.7	16.70	34,740
Helpers--Production Workers	2,240	2.0	11.78	24,510
Production Workers, All Other	370	0.7	18.89	39,280
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Greensboro-High Point, 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.