Workers in the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.12 in May 2014, about 11 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, 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 higher than their respective national averages in 2 of the 22 major occupational groups. Eighteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction; education, training, and library; and computer and mathematical.

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, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical; business and financial operations; and personal care and service. (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 39,160 jobs in production, accounting for 11.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.72, significantly below the national wage of $17.06.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (5,100), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,840), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (2,560). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and semiconductor processors, with mean hourly wages of $26.43 and $19.19, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($10.03) and bakers ($11.02). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/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 16.0 times the national rate in Greensboro, and textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 14.5 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers 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. 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. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the Greensboro-High Point Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,013 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 2014 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/2014/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 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	39,160	1.7	$15.72	$32,700
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	2,560	1.7	26.43	54,970
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers	350	0.7	15.16	31,530
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	90	0.5	15.86	32,990
Team Assemblers	5,100	1.8	14.06	29,250
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	910	1.5	11.73	24,400
Bakers	190	0.4	11.02	22,920
Butchers and Meat Cutters	220	0.6	14.46	30,080
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders	170	3.4	(5)	(5)
Food Batchmakers	180	0.6	13.22	27,500
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	410	1.1	19.21	39,950
Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	100	1.5	22.20	46,180
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	400	2.1	14.21	29,570
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	13.71	28,510
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	790	1.6	14.51	30,180
Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	100	2.3	12.82	26,660
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	200	1.1	14.59	30,350
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	70	0.7	17.33	36,050
Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	50	0.9	(5)	(5)
Machinists	880	0.9	18.02	37,490
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	1,250	3.8	14.87	30,930
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	150	0.6	17.16	35,680
Tool and Die Makers	230	1.2	22.92	47,670
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	990	1.0	18.28	38,030
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	110	0.8	18.09	37,620
Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	120	1.3	21.60	44,930
Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners	50	1.7	14.40	29,960
Prepress Technicians and Workers	110	1.1	19.90	41,380
Printing Press Operators	690	1.6	15.77	32,800
Print Binding and Finishing Workers	330	2.5	12.67	26,350
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	260	0.5	9.42	19,580
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials	330	2.6	10.03	20,870
Sewing Machine Operators	2,170	5.9	11.69	24,310
Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders	410	13.8	12.99	27,030
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	300	8.2	11.89	24,720
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	660	11.2	12.70	26,430
Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	970	14.5	12.97	26,990
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers	180	3.5	12.55	26,100
Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers	90	6.2	20.81	43,280
Upholsterers	1,230	16.0	16.14	33,560
Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers, All Other	220	5.2	13.53	28,130
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	430	1.9	14.45	30,060
Furniture Finishers	460	11.5	13.11	27,270
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood	320	2.7	12.75	26,530
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing	560	3.0	12.19	25,350
Power Plant Operators	70	0.6	33.24	69,150
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	170	0.6	17.79	37,000
Chemical Plant and System Operators	180	1.8	20.98	43,630
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders	400	2.4	18.73	38,950
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand	210	2.7	13.02	27,070
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	790	2.5	17.25	35,890
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	200	4.9	13.86	28,830
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	480	3.0	14.25	29,640
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	320	1.8	17.92	37,270
Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders	90	1.8	13.25	27,560
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	2,840	2.2	15.02	31,240
Dental Laboratory Technicians	70	0.8	17.09	35,540
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians	90	1.2	14.14	29,410
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	2,470	2.5	16.99	35,340
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	290	1.3	14.48	30,120
Painters, Transportation Equipment	210	1.6	19.11	39,750
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers	130	3.2	17.12	35,610
Semiconductor Processors	490	8.1	19.19	39,910
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators	50	0.7	13.81	28,730
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders	180	3.8	12.16	25,300
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	620	2.6	16.05	33,390
Tire Builders	110	2.3	16.42	34,160
Helpers--Production Workers	1,680	1.5	12.51	26,020
Production Workers, All Other	620	1.1	16.51	34,340
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Greensboro-High Point, NC, 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.