Workers in the Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.13 in May 2014, about 16 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, no wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 22 major occupational groups. Nineteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction; sales and related; 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, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management; construction and extraction; and healthcare support. (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. Montgomery had 16,380 jobs in production, accounting for 10.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.48, compared to the national wage of $17.06.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (5,480), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,170), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,060). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers; and extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders, with mean hourly wages of $26.13 and $21.25, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers ($10.34) and production workers helpers ($12.86). (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_33860.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 Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, team assemblers were employed at 4.1 times the national rate in Montgomery, and inspectors, testers, sorters samplers, and weighers, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, production workers helpers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Montgomery, 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 Alabama Department of Labor.

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 Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,729 establishments with a response rate of 78 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 Montgomery, Ala. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, and Montgomery 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, Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	16,380	1.6	$16.48	$34,270
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	1,170	1.7	26.13	54,340
Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators	100	4.4	13.61	28,320
Team Assemblers	5,480	4.1	17.72	36,860
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	530	1.9	13.94	29,000
Bakers	210	1.0	9.96	20,720
Butchers and Meat Cutters	100	0.6	13.35	27,780
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers	620	3.5	10.34	21,500
Food Batchmakers	160	1.2	10.71	22,270
Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders	(5)	(5)	15.00	31,200
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	200	1.1	18.96	39,440
Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	30	1.2	25.52	53,090
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	100	1.2	17.32	36,020
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	200	0.9	13.71	28,520
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	50	0.6	14.20	29,530
Machinists	340	0.7	18.49	38,450
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	140	0.9	12.16	25,290
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	200	1.8	13.02	27,080
Tool and Die Makers	30	0.4	20.67	42,980
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	910	2.1	15.11	31,420
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	50	0.7	18.00	37,430
Prepress Technicians and Workers	50	1.1	15.66	32,570
Printing Press Operators	170	0.9	16.19	33,670
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	210	0.9	10.26	21,330
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials	140	2.4	10.04	20,890
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers	(5)	(5)	11.43	23,770
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	80	0.8	14.49	30,140
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood	70	1.3	12.51	26,030
Woodworkers, All Other	60	7.3	12.82	26,670
Power Plant Operators	(5)	(5)	31.95	66,460
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	100	0.7	19.33	40,210
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	210	5.8	12.65	26,310
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	130	0.9	12.81	26,640
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	300	3.7	21.25	44,200
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	1,060	1.8	13.38	27,840
Dental Laboratory Technicians	70	1.8	14.10	29,330
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	260	0.6	12.46	25,910
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	120	1.1	13.50	28,090
Painters, Transportation Equipment	70	1.1	20.32	42,270
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers	40	1.9	13.55	28,180
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders	(5)	(5)	13.61	28,300
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	(5)	(5)	11.91	24,780
Helpers--Production Workers	500	1.0	12.86	26,740
Production Workers, All Other	100	0.4	12.01	24,980
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Montgomery, AL, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_33860.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.