Workers in the Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.48 in May 2018, about 14 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 legal; computer and mathematical; and business and financial operations.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; protective service; and sales and related. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including personal care and service; management; and business and financial operations. (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. Columbia had 63,060 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 16.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.34, significantly below the national wage of $18.75.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (12,340); secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (7,880); and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers (7,030). 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 $25.31 and $24.95, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($10.22) and clerical library assistants ($11.78). (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_17900.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 Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, insurance claims and policy processing clerks were employed at 2.0 times the national rate in Columbia, and bill and account collectors, 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 Columbia, 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 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 Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,777 establishments with a response rate of 64 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 Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Calhoun, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lexington, Richland, and Saluda 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, Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	63,060	1.1	$17.34	$36,060
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	7,030	1.8	25.31	52,640
Switchboard operators, including answering service	260	1.4	14.87	30,920
Bill and account collectors	1,240	1.9	15.98	33,230
Billing and posting clerks	1,570	1.3	16.57	34,470
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	3,840	1.0	18.41	38,290
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	300	0.8	20.97	43,620
Procurement clerks	250	1.4	21.19	44,080
Tellers	900	0.7	14.70	30,580
Brokerage clerks	80	0.5	23.91	49,740
Court, municipal, and license clerks	410	1.1	16.80	34,940
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks	110	1.4	19.75	41,090
Customer service representatives	12,340	1.6	15.92	33,120
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	50	0.1	20.13	41,870
File clerks	230	0.8	14.05	29,230
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	980	1.4	10.22	21,250
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	600	1.2	14.89	30,980
Library assistants, clerical	180	0.8	11.78	24,510
Loan interviewers and clerks	610	1.1	19.67	40,910
New accounts clerks	(5)	(5)	18.35	38,160
Order clerks	230	0.6	16.38	34,070
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	400	1.2	18.33	38,130
Receptionists and information clerks	1,750	0.6	13.04	27,130
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	200	0.6	12.94	26,920
Information and record clerks, all other	290	0.7	21.18	44,050
Couriers and messengers	610	3.1	11.94	24,840
Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers	240	1.0	14.98	31,160
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	360	0.7	22.44	46,670
Meter readers, utilities	130	1.5	19.50	40,560
Postal service clerks	130	0.6	24.36	50,670
Postal service mail carriers	900	1.0	24.67	51,320
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	420	1.6	23.73	49,370
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	680	0.7	24.22	50,380
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	1,620	0.9	14.66	30,480
Stock clerks and order fillers	3,810	0.7	12.44	25,880
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	(5)	(5)	15.82	32,900
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	980	0.7	24.95	51,900
Legal secretaries	490	1.1	21.88	45,510
Medical secretaries	1,700	1.1	16.99	35,330
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	7,880	1.4	17.40	36,200
Computer operators	100	1.1	21.23	44,150
Data entry keyers	400	0.9	13.13	27,300
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	1,450	2.0	17.14	35,650
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	190	0.9	14.62	30,420
Office clerks, general	5,810	0.7	13.24	27,530
Statistical assistants	80	2.9	19.37	40,290
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17900.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.