Workers in the Chattanooga Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.10 in May 2018, about 16 percent below 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, 20 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages in the local area that were significantly lower than their respective national averages, including life, physical, and social science; business and financial operations; and management. One group—farming, fishing, and forestry—had a significantly higher wage 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; transportation and material moving; and healthcare practitioners and technical. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including personal care and service; construction and extraction; 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. Chattanooga had 25,410 jobs in production, accounting for 10.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.97, significantly below the national wage of $18.84.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers (4,940); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,680); and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,600). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were power plant operators and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $34.69 and $26.24, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.83) and sewing machine operators ($11.22). (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_16860.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 Chattanooga 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 20.1 times the national rate in Chattanooga, and structural metal fabricators and fitters, at 5.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Chattanooga, 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 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 Chattanooga Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,656 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 Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Catoosa, Dade, and Walkers Counties in Georgia; Hamilton, Marion, and Sequatchie 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, Chattanooga Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	25,410	1.6	$16.97	$35,290
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,680	1.6	26.24	54,570
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	180	0.4	15.51	32,250
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	660	5.1	16.88	35,120
Assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers	4,940	2.1	15.69	32,640
Bakers	520	1.7	12.26	25,500
Butchers and meat cutters	130	0.6	15.41	32,060
Food batchmakers	500	1.8	15.54	32,320
Food processing workers, all other	380	5.2	11.72	24,380
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	230	0.9	20.40	42,430
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	14.76	30,710
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	440	1.4	18.23	37,910
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	18.45	38,370
Machinists	510	0.8	20.34	42,300
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	200	0.7	16.35	34,000
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	360	1.6	15.42	32,080
Tool and die makers	130	1.1	23.41	48,690
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,600	2.4	21.11	43,910
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	1.2	17.54	36,480
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	60	1.3	18.86	39,240
Prepress technicians and workers	80	1.5	16.95	35,250
Printing press operators	800	2.7	15.48	32,200
Print binding and finishing workers	(5)	(5)	16.70	34,730
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	550	1.5	9.83	20,450
Sewing machine operators	210	0.9	11.22	23,330
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	3.2	14.54	30,240
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	730	20.1	16.37	34,060
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	750	13.9	14.37	29,880
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	80	0.5	16.46	34,240
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	180	1.4	17.52	36,450
Power plant operators	80	1.4	34.69	72,160
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	190	0.9	19.43	40,400
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	120	0.8	(5)	(5)
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	19.00	39,530
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.7	16.65	34,630
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	(5)	(5)	11.84	24,630
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	180	0.8	17.05	35,450
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	1.0	15.71	32,670
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	230	1.8	13.86	28,820
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,010	1.1	17.35	36,090
Dental laboratory technicians	90	1.6	21.41	44,530
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	(5)	(5)	13.37	27,820
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	13.79	28,680
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	360	2.4	18.71	38,910
Painters, transportation equipment	40	0.4	24.26	50,450
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	(5)	(5)	14.81	30,800
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	12.05	25,070
Cooling and freezing equipment operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	14.30	29,750
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	90	1.3	14.62	30,420
Helpers--production workers	640	1.1	15.08	31,380
Production workers, all other	840	2.1	14.68	30,540
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16860.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.