Workers in the Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.93 in May 2017, about 18 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 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; construction and extraction; and sales and related.

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, 12 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management; construction and extraction; and education, training, and library. (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 17,060 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 10.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.67, significantly below 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 (5,260), production workers' helpers (1,620), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,490). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers; and transportation equipment painters, with mean hourly wages of $25.24 and $20.24, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.27) and production workers' helpers ($10.35). (Detailed data for production ocupations 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 many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, production workers' helpers were employed at 3.5 times the national rate in Montgomery, and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers, at 2.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers had a location quotient of 0.8 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 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 Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,729 establishments with a response rate of 72 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 Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, and Montgomery Counties in Alabama.

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 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	17,060	1.6	$15.67	$32,590
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,040	1.5	25.24	52,500
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	140	0.5	15.31	31,840
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	170	1.9	16.01	33,300
Assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers	5,260	3.5	15.18	31,570
Bakers	130	0.6	15.82	32,910
Butchers and meat cutters	130	0.9	14.75	30,680
Food processing workers, all other	50	1.0	14.40	29,950
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	50	0.3	21.19	44,070
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	1.6	16.69	34,710
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	170	0.8	16.26	33,810
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	1.8	13.40	27,870
Machinists	270	0.6	16.23	33,760
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	30	1.6	18.98	39,480
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	320	1.8	19.19	39,910
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	17.83	37,080
Tool and die makers	30	0.4	24.80	51,590
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	330	0.8	16.84	35,020
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	200	4.5	16.48	34,280
Printing press operators	140	0.7	15.52	32,290
Print binding and finishing workers	(5)	(5)	15.83	32,920
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	350	1.4	9.27	19,290
Sewing machine operators	(5)	(5)	12.92	26,870
Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers	(5)	(5)	15.30	31,820
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	(5)	(5)	14.32	29,790
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	80	1.3	(5)	(5)
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	60	0.7	13.13	27,310
Woodworkers, all other	40	5.3	10.73	22,320
Power distributors and dispatchers	50	3.9	35.10	73,000
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	70	0.6	20.00	41,610
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	(5)	(5)	20.71	43,070
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	190	2.1	(5)	(5)
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	100	2.7	12.09	25,150
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	220	1.5	17.88	37,200
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.5	19.60	40,770
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	220	2.5	15.89	33,060
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,490	2.4	14.18	29,490
Dental laboratory technicians	80	1.9	18.06	37,570
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	210	0.5	13.64	28,380
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	0.9	15.23	31,680
Painters, transportation equipment	110	1.8	20.24	42,100
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	50	3.4	11.61	24,160
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	230	2.1	19.68	40,930
Helpers--production workers	1,620	3.5	10.35	21,530
Production workers, all other	(5)	(5)	12.94	26,910
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area, 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.