Workers in the Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.70 in May 2018, about 13 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, 18 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages in the local area that were significantly lower than their respective national averages, including computer and mathematical; management; and healthcare practitioners and technical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 9 of the 22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support; sales and related; and management. 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 64,090 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 16.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 15.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.26, significantly below the national wage of $18.75.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included general office clerks (8,470); customer service representatives (7,810); and stock clerks and order fillers (7,530). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, and production, planning, and expediting clerks, with mean hourly wages of $27.64 and $25.20, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($9.37) and stock clerks and order fillers ($12.91). (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 3.3 times the national rate in Knoxville, and interviewers, except eligibility and loan, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, customer service representatives 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 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 Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,950 establishments with a response rate of 66 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 Knoxville, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Grainger, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, and Union 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, Knoxville Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	64,090	1.1	$17.26	$35,900
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	4,800	1.2	27.64	57,500
Switchboard operators, including answering service	250	1.3	13.56	28,200
Bill and account collectors	700	1.0	16.70	34,730
Billing and posting clerks	1,660	1.3	17.33	36,040
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	4,230	1.0	18.80	39,100
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	310	0.8	20.35	42,340
Procurement clerks	120	0.7	22.21	46,200
Tellers	1,340	1.1	13.17	27,390
Financial clerks, all other	60	0.7	23.38	48,620
Brokerage clerks	80	0.6	23.27	48,390
Court, municipal, and license clerks	580	1.5	18.54	38,560
Credit authorizers, checkers, and clerks	270	3.3	19.58	40,720
Customer service representatives	7,810	1.0	15.43	32,100
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	220	0.6	17.56	36,520
File clerks	410	1.4	15.32	31,870
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	590	0.9	9.37	19,500
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	870	1.7	13.39	27,840
Library assistants, clerical	210	0.9	13.20	27,460
Loan interviewers and clerks	490	0.8	19.51	40,590
New accounts clerks	110	1.0	15.81	32,890
Order clerks	840	2.0	15.46	32,160
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	290	0.9	18.48	38,440
Receptionists and information clerks	2,590	0.9	13.74	28,580
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	(5)	(5)	15.96	33,190
Information and record clerks, all other	550	1.3	16.08	33,440
Cargo and freight agents	50	0.2	20.60	42,840
Couriers and messengers	190	0.9	14.84	30,870
Police, fire, and ambulance dispatchers	270	1.1	18.80	39,100
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	710	1.4	18.39	38,250
Meter readers, utilities	70	0.8	21.77	45,280
Postal service clerks	180	0.8	24.01	49,940
Postal service mail carriers	930	1.0	25.01	52,010
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	400	1.4	23.72	49,330
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	1,220	1.3	25.20	52,410
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks	1,910	1.1	14.87	30,930
Stock clerks and order fillers	7,530	1.4	12.91	26,850
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	230	1.3	17.55	36,510
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	640	0.4	24.83	51,650
Legal secretaries	340	0.7	23.48	48,840
Medical secretaries	1,260	0.8	15.07	31,350
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	6,810	1.2	16.81	34,960
Computer operators	300	3.3	19.67	40,920
Data entry keyers	620	1.4	15.11	31,430
Word processors and typists	310	2.2	16.29	33,880
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	400	0.6	17.83	37,080
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	200	0.9	14.66	30,490
Office clerks, general	8,470	1.1	16.50	34,320
Office machine operators, except computer	150	1.2	14.23	29,590
Statistical assistants	40	1.3	22.65	47,110
Office and administrative support workers, all other	1,080	2.1	19.66	40,900
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Knoxville, TN 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. (5) Estimate not released.