Workers in the Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.51 in May 2014, about 14 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 1 of the 22 major occupational groups. Nineteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including life, physical, and social science; computer and mathematical; and construction and extraction.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 3 of the 22 occupational groups: production; architecture and engineering; and transportation and material moving. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including education, training, and library; business and financial operations; 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. Greenville-Mauldin-Easley had 42,220 jobs in production, accounting for 13.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.75, significantly below the national wage of $17.06.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (14,490), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,320), and machinists (2,210). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, and tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $27.20 and $23.45, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were bakers ($10.14) and production workers helpers ($11.33). (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_24860.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 Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic computer-controlled machine tool operators were employed at 2.9 times the national rate in Greenville, and machinists, at 2.5 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, electrical and electronic equipment assemblers had a location quotient of 1.1 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.

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 Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,658 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 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 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/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, Greenville-Mauldin-Easley Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	42,220	2.1	$15.75	$32,760
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	2,160	1.6	27.20	56,570
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers	540	1.1	15.37	31,980
Engine and Other Machine Assemblers	200	2.2	16.65	34,630
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	220	1.2	14.08	29,280
Team Assemblers	14,490	5.6	13.38	27,820
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	360	0.7	11.08	23,040
Bakers	340	0.9	10.14	21,090
Butchers and Meat Cutters	420	1.4	11.91	24,770
Food Batchmakers	100	0.4	13.49	28,070
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	990	2.9	18.83	39,170
Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	80	1.4	23.17	48,200
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	480	2.9	21.41	44,520
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	360	0.8	18.92	39,360
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	280	1.8	17.97	37,380
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	70	0.7	14.86	30,900
Machinists	2,210	2.5	19.58	40,720
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	620	2.1	13.93	28,980
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	230	1.0	21.74	45,220
Tool and Die Makers	240	1.4	23.45	48,770
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	1,200	1.4	18.69	38,880
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	70	0.6	15.67	32,590
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	170	3.5	16.62	34,570
Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	1.0	16.01	33,300
Prepress Technicians and Workers	90	1.1	18.03	37,500
Printing Press Operators	610	1.6	18.04	37,510
Print Binding and Finishing Workers	70	0.6	13.62	28,320
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	660	1.4	9.42	19,590
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials	120	1.1	9.09	18,900
Sewing Machine Operators	730	2.3	10.70	22,250
Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders	160	6.2	12.39	25,780
Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	180	5.5	11.27	23,440
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	850	16.4	13.91	28,940
Textile Winding, Twisting, and Drawing Out Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	490	8.4	13.90	28,900
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers	100	2.1	16.59	34,500
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	280	1.4	15.25	31,720
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood	80	0.7	11.11	23,110
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing	230	1.4	14.94	31,080
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	220	0.9	20.75	43,160
Chemical Plant and System Operators	230	2.6	23.95	49,810
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders	410	2.8	17.68	36,770
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand	40	0.5	17.23	35,840
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	400	1.4	18.07	37,590
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	(5)	(5)	14.26	29,650
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	210	1.5	21.04	43,760
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	2,320	2.1	17.24	35,870
Medical Appliance Technicians	(5)	(5)	16.19	33,680
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians	(5)	(5)	13.75	28,610
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	1,470	1.7	12.88	26,800
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	280	1.4	17.55	36,500
Painters, Transportation Equipment	90	0.8	22.36	46,510
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators	30	0.5	11.12	23,130
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic	160	2.0	12.62	26,260
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	140	0.7	16.18	33,650
Helpers--Production Workers	1,850	1.9	11.33	23,570
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Greenville-Mauldin-Easley, SC, 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.