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News Release Information

19-1015-ATL
Tuesday, June 18, 2019

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell — May 2018

Workers in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.36 in May 2018, not significantly different from the nationwide average of $24.98, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that after testing for statistical significance, 10 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages in the local area that were significantly different from their respective national averages. Nine groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including food preparation and serving related; construction and extraction; and production. Management was the only group that had a significantly above-average wage. The remaining 12 occupational groups had average wages similar to those of the nation.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving; computer and mathematical; and business and financial. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including personal care and service; production; and healthcare practitioners and technical. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2018
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesAtlantaUnited StatesAtlantaPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$24.98$25.362

Management

5.36.6*58.4460.74*4

Business and financial operations

5.36.6*36.9836.62-1

Computer and mathematical

3.04.6*44.0143.850

Architecture and engineering

1.81.5*42.0139.97*-5

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.6*36.6234.76-5

Community and social service

1.51.1*23.6924.001

Legal

0.81.0*52.2551.70-1

Education, training, and library

6.15.7*27.2225.30*-7

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.31.7*28.7427.48-4

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.05.2*39.4238.38-3

Healthcare support

2.82.2*15.5715.21*-2

Protective service

2.42.2*23.3619.81*-15

Food preparation and serving related

9.29.312.3010.54*-14

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.12.4*14.4313.28*-8

Personal care and service

3.82.5*13.5113.04*-3

Sales and related

10.011.1*20.0919.76-2

Office and administrative support

15.114.818.7518.64-1

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*14.4915.014

Construction and extraction

4.13.3*24.6222.11*-10

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.8*23.5423.661

Production

6.35.1*18.8417.41*-8

Transportation and material moving

7.18.7*18.4118.05-2

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell had 234,400 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 8.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 7.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.05, not significantly different from the national wage of $18.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (72,730), heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (36,510), and industrial truck and tractor operators (21,110). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were air traffic controllers and transportation inspectors, with mean hourly wages of $69.23 and $35.24, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were parking lot attendants ($9.53) and taxi drivers and chauffeurs ($11.56). (Detailed data for transportation and material moving occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12060.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 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers were employed at 4.5 times the national rate in Atlanta, and aircraft cargo handling supervisors, at 4.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, light truck or delivery services drivers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Atlanta, 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 Georgia Department of Labor.

Area Changes to the May 2018 Occupational Employment Statistics (OES)

OES continues to publish data for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas that cover the full geography of the United States. However, the level of detail available has decreased.

OES no longer publishes data for metropolitan divisions. Data for the 11 large metropolitan areas that contain divisions are now available at the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) or New England City and Town Area (NECTA) level only.

In addition, some smaller nonmetropolitan areas have been combined to form larger nonmetropolitan areas. The May 2018 OES estimates contain data for 134 nonmetropolitan areas, compared with 167 nonmetropolitan areas in the May 2017 estimates.

More information on these area changes is available at www.bls.gov/oes/areas_2018.htm.

Implementing the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System

The OES program plans to begin implementing the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system with the May 2019 estimates, to be released by early April of 2020. Because each set of OES estimates is produced by combining three years of survey data, estimates for May 2019 and May 2020 will be based on a combination of survey data collected under the 2010 SOC and data collected under the 2018 SOC, and will use a hybrid of the two classification systems. The May 2021 OES estimates, to be released by early April of 2022, will be the first set of estimates based fully on the 2018 SOC. For more information, please see www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual 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 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, 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.

The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2018 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, and November 2015. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell Metropolitan Statistical Area included 9,015 establishments with a response rate of 71 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

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.

The May 2018 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 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton 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, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Transportation and material moving occupations

234,4001.2$18.05$37,550

Aircraft cargo handling supervisors

7004.2(5)(5)

First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors

10,3301.425.8353,730

Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers

6,9004.5(5)(5)

Commercial pilots

4900.7(5)(5)

Air traffic controllers

8202.069.23144,000

Airfield operations specialists

2801.529.2160,770

Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians

6302.216.3233,940

Bus drivers, transit and intercity

1,7300.513.6228,330

Bus drivers, school or special client

10,5501.115.9433,150

Driver/sales workers

9,1401.212.7726,570

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers

36,5101.121.1543,980

Light truck or delivery services drivers

17,2601.018.3838,230

Taxi drivers and chauffeurs

3,0200.811.5624,050

Motor vehicle operators, all other

1000.121.6044,920

Subway and streetcar operators

(5)(5)26.0554,190

Parking lot attendants

3,6201.39.5319,810

Automotive and watercraft service attendants

1,7400.811.4023,700

Traffic technicians

2301.719.6440,850

Transportation inspectors

8901.635.2473,300

Transportation attendants, except flight attendants

3800.89.8520,480

Transportation workers, all other

4900.716.0333,340

Conveyor operators and tenders

(5)(5)17.8837,190

Crane and tower operators

3700.522.9247,670

Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators

1,1701.418.5938,660

Industrial truck and tractor operators

21,1101.919.0239,550

Cleaners of vehicles and equipment

5,6700.811.9924,930

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

72,7301.413.6228,320

Machine feeders and offbearers

1,3301.115.8032,870

Packers and packagers, hand

15,0301.211.7924,530

Pump operators, except wellhead pumpers

1200.621.6344,990

Refuse and recyclable material collectors

1,5600.717.1635,700

Material moving workers, all other

2800.615.7932,850

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12060.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: Tuesday, June 18, 2019