Workers in the Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.48 in May 2015, about 16 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 in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, 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 3 of the 22 occupational groups: production; transportation and material moving; and protective service. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management; construction and extraction; and business and financial operations. (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 16,900 jobs in production, accounting for 10.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.89, compared to the national wage of $17.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (5,380), production workers helpers (1,470), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,190). 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 $26.98 and $20.46, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.40) and woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing ($9.82). (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_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 meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers, at 3.0 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 1.1 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. 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 Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,748 establishments with a response rate of 75 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 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/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, Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	16,900	1.6	$16.89	$35,140
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	1,180	1.7	26.98	56,120
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers	40	0.2	12.68	26,370
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	170	1.8	14.87	30,930
Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators	90	3.6	13.70	28,490
Team Assemblers	5,380	4.1	19.82	41,220
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	490	1.8	14.23	29,590
Bakers	210	1.0	10.04	20,890
Butchers and Meat Cutters	100	0.6	13.92	28,950
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers	550	3.0	(5)	(5)
Food Batchmakers	120	0.8	11.31	23,530
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	19.35	40,240
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	110	1.3	18.05	37,540
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	240	1.1	13.72	28,540
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	60	0.7	14.89	30,960
Machinists	340	0.7	18.52	38,530
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	12.79	26,610
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	120	1.0	15.99	33,250
Tool and Die Makers	40	0.4	20.92	43,510
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	560	1.2	14.80	30,790
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	80	1.2	17.27	35,910
Printing Press Operators	140	0.7	16.29	33,880
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	290	1.2	9.40	19,550
Sewing Machine Operators	40	0.3	11.59	24,110
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers	(5)	(5)	12.70	26,430
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	100	0.9	14.07	29,270
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing	100	1.1	9.82	20,420
Woodworkers, All Other	50	6.4	12.45	25,890
Power Distributors and Dispatchers	50	3.7	31.72	65,970
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	100	0.7	19.56	40,690
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	110	0.7	18.71	38,910
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	30	0.4	20.51	42,670
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	360	4.3	20.46	42,560
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	1,190	2.0	13.06	27,160
Dental Laboratory Technicians	70	1.5	14.34	29,820
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	230	0.5	12.99	27,020
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	70	0.7	14.12	29,370
Painters, Transportation Equipment	80	1.4	17.40	36,180
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers	70	3.8	12.12	25,210
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders	(5)	(5)	13.74	28,570
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic	60	1.3	10.80	22,470
Helpers--Production Workers	1,470	2.9	10.36	21,550
Production Workers, All Other	180	0.6	11.37	23,650
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.