Workers in the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.08 in May 2017, about 13 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, 17 groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including computer and mathematical; management; and construction and extraction. The remaining five occupational groups had average wages similar to those of the nation. 

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; sales and related; and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; education, training, and library; and personal care and service. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Knoxville had 63,440 jobs in office and administrative support occupations, accounting for 16.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.4-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.73, significantly below the national wage of $18.24.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included general office clerks (7,580), stock clerks and order fillers (7,380), and secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (7,380). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $26.66 and $25.25, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($9.18) and stock clerks and order fillers ($12.59). (Detailed data for office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_28940.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 Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, computer operators were employed at 3.1 times the national rate in Knoxville, and interviewers, except eligibility and loan, at 1.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Knoxville, 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 Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development.

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 Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,997 establishments with a response rate of 68 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 2017 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 Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Grainger, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, and Union Counties in Tennessee.

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, Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	63,440	1.1	$16.73	$34,800
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	5,030	1.3	26.66	55,460
Switchboard operators, including answering service	300	1.4	13.50	28,080
Bill and account collectors	1,090	1.5	14.31	29,770
Billing and posting clerks	1,730	1.4	16.43	34,180
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	4,080	1.0	18.06	37,560
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	370	0.9	18.86	39,220
Procurement clerks	110	0.6	18.51	38,510
Tellers	1,300	1.0	13.15	27,360
Financial clerks, all other	90	1.1	22.05	45,860
Brokerage clerks	70	0.4	20.96	43,600
Court, municipal, and license clerks	670	1.9	17.73	36,880
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks	270	2.9	18.47	38,410
Customer service representatives	7,320	1.0	15.46	32,150
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	240	0.7	17.39	36,160
File clerks	410	1.3	14.08	29,290
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	650	1.0	9.18	19,090
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	950	1.9	13.47	28,010
Library assistants, clerical	180	0.7	13.82	28,740
Loan interviewers and clerks	850	1.4	17.30	35,980
Order clerks	650	1.4	17.90	37,230
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	310	0.9	19.04	39,610
Receptionists and information clerks	2,200	0.8	12.94	26,920
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	370	0.9	14.22	29,580
Information and record clerks, all other	530	1.2	16.47	34,260
Cargo and freight agents	40	0.2	20.77	43,200
Couriers and messengers	150	0.8	15.60	32,440
Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers	300	1.2	17.72	36,860
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	880	1.7	18.08	37,610
Meter readers, utilities	150	1.7	20.07	41,750
Postal service clerks	190	0.8	23.28	48,410
Postal service mail carriers	890	1.0	24.45	50,860
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	400	1.3	23.41	48,690
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	930	1.0	25.14	52,300
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	1,890	1.1	14.20	29,530
Stock clerks and order fillers	7,380	1.4	12.59	26,180
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	200	1.0	16.10	33,490
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	720	0.5	25.25	52,520
Legal secretaries	290	0.6	20.79	43,250
Medical secretaries	1,400	0.9	14.54	30,250
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	7,380	1.2	16.07	33,430
Computer operators	330	3.1	18.78	39,070
Data entry keyers	560	1.2	13.90	28,920
Word processors and typists	250	1.4	15.84	32,940
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	230	0.3	17.85	37,140
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	220	0.9	13.30	27,670
Office clerks, general	7,580	1.0	15.49	32,230
Office machine operators, except computer	140	1.0	14.28	29,690
Statistical assistants	40	1.5	21.62	44,970
Office and administrative support workers, all other	970	1.8	20.07	41,740
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_28940.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.