Workers in the Mobile Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $21.43 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, 17 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages in the local area that were significantly lower than their respective national averages, including building and ground cleaning and maintenance; food preparation and serving related; and computer and mathematical. One group—production—had a significantly higher wage than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; construction and extraction; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; education, training, and library; and management. (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. Mobile had 14,270 jobs in production, accounting for 8.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.31, significantly above the national wage of $18.84.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,600); production worker's helpers (1,580); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,050). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, and chemical equipment operators and tenders, with mean hourly wages of $34.81 and $28.64, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were textile, garment, and related materials pressers ($9.72) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.89). (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_33660.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 Mobile Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, chemical plant and system operators were employed at 17.7 times the national rate in Mobile, and metal-refining furnace operators and tenders, at 14.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, machinists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Mobile, 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 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 Mobile Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,899 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 Mobile, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Mobile County.

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, Mobile Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2018

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	14,270	1.3	$22.31	$46,400
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,050	1.4	34.81	72,390
Assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers	540	0.3	16.33	33,960
Bakers	130	0.6	13.23	27,520
Butchers and meat cutters	90	0.6	16.32	33,940
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	550	2.9	11.05	22,970
Food batchmakers	120	0.6	11.02	22,910
Food processing workers, all other	30	0.6	12.46	25,910
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	40	0.2	21.30	44,300
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	160	0.7	(5)	(5)
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	1.1	22.76	47,340
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	1.4	26.20	54,500
Machinists	480	1.0	25.15	52,310
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	310	14.4	25.84	53,750
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	0.9	23.93	49,770
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,600	3.4	23.93	49,770
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	2.2	25.29	52,590
Layout workers, metal and plastic	90	8.8	18.67	38,830
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	0.8	20.67	42,990
Printing press operators	110	0.5	14.69	30,560
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	130	0.5	10.89	22,650
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	160	3.6	9.72	20,230
Sewing machine operators	80	0.5	11.22	23,330
Upholsterers	(5)	(5)	15.84	32,960
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	120	1.0	16.90	35,140
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	40	0.6	17.15	35,670
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	180	1.2	19.43	40,420
Chemical plant and system operators	600	17.7	(5)	(5)
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	150	3.3	28.09	58,420
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	450	4.5	28.64	59,570
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	1.0	15.30	31,820
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	740	1.1	26.22	54,540
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	(5)	(5)	15.63	32,520
Dental laboratory technicians	40	1.0	17.17	35,710
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	200	0.4	18.13	37,710
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	80	0.8	17.42	36,240
Painters, transportation equipment	140	2.2	20.24	42,100
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	40	3.0	17.61	36,640
Helpers--production workers	1,580	3.8	12.70	26,420
Production workers, all other	140	0.5	14.43	30,010
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Mobile, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_33660.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.