Workers in the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.78 in May 2017, about 15 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, 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 computer and mathematical; building and grounds cleaning and maintenance; and life, physical, and social science. The remaining four occupational groups had average wages similar to those of the nation.

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, 14 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; office and administrative support; and computer and mathematical. (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-Anderson-Mauldin had 55,330 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 13.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.61, compared to the national wage of $18.30.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers (15,870), machinists (6,460), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (3,860). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, and multiple metal and plastic machine tool setters, operators, and tenders with mean hourly wages of $30.96 and $27.49, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were sewing machine operators ($10.52) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.60). (Detailed data for production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/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-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 29.6 times the national rate in Greenville, and machinists, at 6.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers 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. 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 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,059 establishments with a response rate of 62 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 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 Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Anderson, Greenville, Laurens, and Pickens Counties in South Carolina.

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, Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	55,330	2.2	$17.61	$36,630
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	3,040	1.8	30.96	64,400
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	490	0.7	14.97	31,140
Engine and other machine assemblers	300	2.8	21.75	45,240
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	530	2.4	24.80	51,580
Assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers	15,870	4.3	15.58	32,420
Bakers	460	0.9	12.35	25,690
Butchers and meat cutters	340	0.9	15.55	32,350
Slaughterers and meat packers	80	0.4	11.53	23,980
Food batchmakers	360	0.8	12.68	26,370
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	1,020	2.5	19.35	40,240
Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic	130	1.9	23.13	48,110
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,080	5.2	23.78	49,470
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	600	1.1	19.03	39,580
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	170	0.8	19.04	39,590
Machinists	6,460	6.1	18.59	38,680
Foundry mold and coremakers	30	0.9	23.62	49,140
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	680	1.6	15.75	32,760
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	550	1.6	27.49	57,170
Tool and die makers	370	1.8	26.44	55,000
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,150	1.1	18.20	37,850
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	1.0	15.23	31,670
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	110	1.9	18.88	39,280
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	0.8	13.98	29,070
Prepress technicians and workers	110	1.2	15.31	31,840
Printing press operators	720	1.5	18.88	39,280
Print binding and finishing workers	(5)	(5)	14.56	30,290
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	350	0.6	10.60	22,050
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	130	1.1	10.84	22,550
Sewing machine operators	550	1.4	10.52	21,890
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	250	9.1	14.83	30,850
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	260	6.6	12.94	26,920
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	1,750	29.6	14.64	30,440
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	660	7.6	13.72	28,540
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	190	3.5	17.14	35,660
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	440	1.6	17.15	35,670
Furniture finishers	(5)	(5)	14.05	29,220
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	120	0.8	15.24	31,690
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	160	0.7	12.64	26,290
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	370	1.1	22.78	47,380
Chemical plant and system operators	130	1.5	26.00	54,090
Gas plant operators	50	1.2	22.40	46,600
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	710	3.2	21.38	44,460
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	21.13	43,960
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	80	0.9	13.11	27,270
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	750	2.1	18.03	37,500
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	17.21	35,800
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	550	2.6	20.13	41,860
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	16.97	35,290
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	3,860	2.6	18.97	39,450
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	40	0.5	16.58	34,490
Dental laboratory technicians	70	0.7	17.54	36,480
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	100	1.1	15.56	32,370
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	1,340	1.2	13.63	28,360
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	340	1.4	14.62	30,410
Painters, transportation equipment	90	0.6	19.65	40,860
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	(5)	(5)	16.77	34,890
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	50	1.0	13.39	27,850
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	470	1.8	18.09	37,620
Helpers--production workers	2,300	2.0	10.88	22,640
Production workers, all other	450	0.6	12.59	26,190
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area, 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.