Workers in the Charleston-North Charleston Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.94 in May 2015, about 10 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, 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 lower than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and sales and related. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including food preparation and serving related; healthcare practitioners and technical; and architecture and engineering. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; production; and healthcare support. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—food preparation and serving related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Charleston-North Charleston had 33,010 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 10.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 9.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $10.54, significantly below the national wage of $10.98.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the food preparation and serving related group included combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food (7,480), waiters and waitresses (6,650), and restaurant cooks (3,810). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers and chefs and head cooks, with mean hourly wages of $16.31 and $14.92, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food ($8.53) and dishwashers ($8.93). (Detailed occupational data for food preparation and serving related are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16700.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 Charleston-North Charleston Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop hosts and hostesses were employed at 1.5 times the national rate in Charleston, and bartenders at 1.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food had a location quotient of 1.0 in Charleston, 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. The OES program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

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 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 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 Charleston-North Charleston Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,644 establishments with a response rate of 68 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2015 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.

Metropolitan 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 Charleston-North Charleston, S.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester 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/current/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, Charleston-North Charleston Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	33,010	1.1	$10.54	$21,930
Chefs and Head Cooks	910	3.1	14.92	31,030
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers	2,490	1.2	16.31	33,930
Cooks, Fast Food	1,720	1.4	8.89	18,480
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria	990	1.1	10.52	21,880
Cooks, Restaurant	3,810	1.4	11.40	23,700
Cooks, Short Order	700	1.6	9.54	19,840
Food Preparation Workers	1,950	1.0	10.98	22,830
Bartenders	1,890	1.4	11.44	23,790
Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food	7,480	1.0	8.53	17,740
Counter Attendants, Cafeteria, Food Concession, and Coffee Shop	(5)	(5)	8.94	18,590
Waiters and Waitresses	6,650	1.2	10.61	22,060
Food Servers, Nonrestaurant	520	0.9	9.33	19,410
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers	560	0.6	9.39	19,540
Dishwashers	1,280	1.1	8.93	18,580
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop	1,320	1.5	9.41	19,580
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Charleston-North Charleston, SC, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16700.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.