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News Release Information

17-852-ATL
Thursday, June 29, 2017

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Occupational Employment and Wages in Winston-Salem – May 2016

Workers in the Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.20 in May 2016, about 11 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, 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 construction and extraction; building and grounds cleaning maintenance; and transportation and material moving. One group—management—had significantly higher wages than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; healthcare practitioners and technical; and transportation and material moving. Conversely, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management; computer and mathematical; and construction and extraction. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2016
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesWinstonUnited StatesWinstonPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$23.86$21.20*-11

Management

5.13.7*56.7459.80*5

Business and financial operations

5.24.3*36.0934.66*-4

Computer and mathematical

3.01.8*42.2537.01*-12

Architecture and engineering

1.81.0*40.5335.00*-14

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.6*35.0628.88*-18

Community and social service

1.41.0*22.6921.08*-7

Legal

0.80.850.95(2)-

Education, training, and library

6.26.9*26.2126.893

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.40.7*28.0725.24*-10

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.98.0*38.0634.13*-10

Healthcare support

2.94.3*14.6512.79*-13

Protective service

2.41.8*22.0317.33*-21

Food preparation and serving related

9.28.811.479.98*-13

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.23.113.4711.02*-18

Personal care and service

3.22.5*12.7412.02*-6

Sales and related

10.49.6*19.5017.08*-12

Office and administrative support

15.715.0*17.9116.58*-7

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3(2)13.3715.2114

Construction and extraction

4.02.9*23.5118.45*-22

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.822.4520.89*-7

Production

6.510.7*17.8816.69*-7

Transportation and material moving

6.98.5*17.3414.40*-17

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
(2) Estimate not released.
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.
- Data not available.
 

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Winston-Salem had 27,740 jobs in production, accounting for 10.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.69, significantly below the national wage of $17.88.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (3,520), production workers' helpers (2,280), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,510). Among the higher paying jobs were separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders, and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $29.32 and $28.93, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.65) and sewing machine operators ($10.95). (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_49180.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 Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 19.6 times the national rate in Winston, and separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 9.8 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, electrical and electronic equipment assemblers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Winston, 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.

Note on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.


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 data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates 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. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,438 establishments with a response rate of 88 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 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 Winston-Salem, N.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Stokes, and Yadkin 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, Winston-Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

27,7401.7$16.69$34,720

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,4901.328.9360,180

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

4001.016.0533,390

Electromechanical equipment assemblers

500.6(5)(5)

Engine and other machine assemblers

600.8(5)(5)

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

3202.2(5)(5)

Team assemblers

3,5201.713.0227,080

Assemblers and fabricators, all other

1200.314.7430,650

Bakers

4701.411.0322,940

Butchers and meat cutters

2100.814.1629,450

Food batchmakers

2601.012.0325,030

Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic

1500.517.9037,240

Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic

701.624.4550,870

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

3302.515.1131,420

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

6701.913.9228,960

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1501.114.8430,870

Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

901.516.0233,320

Machinists

8001.119.8141,210

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1,1804.413.3627,790

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

5702.619.0439,590

Tool and die makers

1401.122.7747,350

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

9701.416.6534,630

Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

400.613.3127,690

Prepress technicians and workers

600.920.6542,950

Printing press operators

6001.917.3436,060

Print binding and finishing workers

1501.616.1733,620

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

2400.69.6520,080

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

1101.411.5924,100

Sewing machine operators

5702.210.9522,770

Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders

803.813.6328,360

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

802.712.4125,800

Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders

2706.712.5626,130

Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders

1,10019.613.9929,100

Upholsterers

1602.717.0835,530

Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other

601.912.5626,120

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

1701.014.8830,950

Furniture finishers

702.314.3029,750

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

2002.215.7132,680

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

1,0307.312.6726,350

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

1600.718.2237,900

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

(5)(5)19.6240,820

Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders

8509.829.3260,990

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

501.013.5428,170

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

2901.217.3436,070

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

2402.216.4634,230

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

1401.117.2435,860

Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders

(5)(5)16.6934,720

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

1,5101.616.7234,790

Dental laboratory technicians

701.019.1739,870

Medical appliance technicians

602.318.4938,450

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

1,5002.119.2039,930

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

3402.116.3033,900

Painters, transportation equipment

800.822.3746,520

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

(5)(5)12.1325,240

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders

1404.413.7428,570

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

300.914.3529,840

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

3402.017.0435,440

Helpers--production workers

2,2802.9(5)(5)

Production workers, all other

(5)(5)18.2437,930

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Winston-Salem, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_49180.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, June 29, 2017