Workers in the Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.41 in May 2013, 13 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 17 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical, construction and extraction, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 3 of the 22 occupational groups: production; architecture and engineering; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; education, training, and library; and construction and extraction. (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. Greenville-Mauldin-Easley had 38,480 jobs in production, accounting for 12.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.11, compared to the national wage of $16.79.

With employment of 11,810, team assemblers was the largest occupation within the production group, followed by machinists (2,390) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (2,030). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, and machinists, with mean hourly wages of $27.34 and $19.63, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were sewing machine operators ($10.82) and production workers helpers ($11.21). (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_24860.htm.)

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

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment		Mean hourly wage
	United States	Greenville	United States	Greenville	Percent difference 1
Total, all occupations	100.0%	100.0%	$22.33	$19.41*	-13
Management	4.9	4.6*	53.15	47.53*	-11
Business and financial operations	5.0	3.7*	34.14	29.62*	-13
Computer and mathematical	2.8	2.2*	39.43	30.06*	-24
Architecture and engineering	1.8	2.7*	38.51	37.12	-4
Life, physical, and social science	0.9	0.4*	33.37	23.69*	-29
Community and social services	1.4	1.1*	21.50	18.13*	-16
Legal	0.8	0.6*	47.89	51.19	7
Education, training, and library	6.3	5.3*	24.76	23.10	-7
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	1.1*	26.72	21.96*	-18
Healthcare practitioner and technical	5.8	5.4*	35.93	32.05*	-11
Healthcare support	3.0	2.8	13.61	12.77*	-6
Protective service	2.5	2.0*	20.92	14.70*	-30
Food preparation and serving related	9.0	8.8	10.38	9.20*	-11
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	3.5	12.51	10.07*	-20
Personal care and service	3.0	2.2*	11.88	10.66*	-10
Sales and related	10.6	10.4	18.37	17.28*	-6
Office and administrative support	16.2	16.0	16.78	15.18*	-10
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1*	11.70	14.15*	21
Construction and extraction	3.8	3.0*	21.94	17.35*	-21
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.3*	21.35	19.94*	-7
Production	6.6	12.7*	16.79	16.11	-4
Transportation and material moving	6.8	7.3	16.28	13.51*	-17
1 A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Greenville is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. * 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 Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 22.3 times the national rate in Greenville, and team assemblers, at 4.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, metal and plastic cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders had a location quotient of 1.0 in Greenville, 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 South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.

OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Greenville Metropolitan Statistical Area were compared to their respective national averages based on statistical significance testing. Only those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the national wage or share after testing for significance at the 90-percent confidence level meet the criteria.

NOTE: A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

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 Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,692 establishments with a response rate of 73 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 Greenville-Mauldin-Easley, S.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Greenville, Laurens and Pickens 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, Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Production Occupations	38,480	1.9	$16.11	$33,510
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	2,030	1.5	27.34	56,870
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers	620	1.3	13.53	28,140
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	(5)	(5)	14.80	30,780
Team Assemblers	11,810	4.9	13.71	28,520
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	220	0.4	11.83	24,600
Bakers	260	0.7	10.33	21,490
Butchers and Meat Cutters	290	0.9	12.90	26,840
Slaughterers and Meat Packers	60	0.3	11.09	23,070
Food Batchmakers	120	0.5	13.14	27,320
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	860	2.7	18.65	38,800
Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	70	1.3	24.45	50,870
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	420	2.5	(5)	(5)
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	430	1.0	19.42	40,390
Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	90	2.0	29.39	61,130
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	280	1.7	17.82	37,060
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	0.9	16.30	33,900
Machinists	2,390	2.7	19.63	40,830
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	520	1.8	13.51	28,090
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	220	1.0	22.56	46,920
Tool and Die Makers	190	1.0	23.50	48,890
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	1,100	1.4	18.91	39,330
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	130	1.1	17.98	37,390
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	180	3.6	16.15	33,590
Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	1.0	15.92	33,120
Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners	40	1.4	18.56	38,610
Prepress Technicians and Workers	70	0.9	15.36	31,950
Printing Press Operators	730	1.9	17.28	35,940
Print Binding and Finishing Workers	80	0.6	13.52	28,130
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	480	1.1	8.98	18,680
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials	110	1.0	8.93	18,570
Sewing Machine Operators	490	1.5	10.82	22,500
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers	(5)	(5)	15.16	31,530
Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders	210	7.8	12.11	25,200
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	70	2.0	13.02	27,080
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	1,130	22.3	14.27	29,670
Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	(5)	(5)	13.83	28,760
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers	70	1.5	15.62	32,490
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	360	1.9	15.14	31,500
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood	90	1.0	11.21	23,310
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing	160	1.0	14.29	29,730
Power Plant Operators	50	0.5	26.51	55,140
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators	(5)	(5)	34.07	70,870
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	200	0.8	19.95	41,500
Chemical Plant and System Operators	350	4.0	21.90	45,550
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders	200	1.5	19.06	39,650
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	450	1.7	19.26	40,070
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	(5)	(5)	14.17	29,470
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	170	1.2	22.12	46,020
Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders	40	0.9	15.87	33,010
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	1,920	1.8	16.83	35,000
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians	170	2.6	13.36	27,780
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	1,550	1.8	13.13	27,300
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	180	0.9	18.71	38,910
Painters, Transportation Equipment	100	1.0	20.52	42,680
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers	50	1.5	14.03	29,180
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators	60	0.7	10.83	22,530
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders	60	1.5	19.08	39,680
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic	150	1.9	11.81	24,560
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	160	0.7	15.62	32,490
Helpers--Production Workers	1,660	1.7	11.21	23,320
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Greenville-Mauldin-Easley, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24860.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.