Workers in the Dalton, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.64 in May 2019, about 24 percent below the nationwide average of $25.72, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, 19 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, sales and related, and transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Dalton area employment was more highly concentrated in 3 of the 22 occupational groups: production; transportation and material moving; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, seventeen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including food preparation and serving related, business and financial operations, and educational instruction and library. (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. Dalton had 14,970 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 23.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $15.99, significantly lower than the national wage of $19.30.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders (4,530); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,020); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (880). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, and machinists, with mean hourly wages of $27.12 and $19.79, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were printing press operators ($11.48) and sewing machine operators ($12.61). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_19140.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 Dalton area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 331.1 times the national rate in Dalton, and textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 69.3 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 0.9 in Dalton, 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.

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 1.1 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 2019 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, and November 2016. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 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 Dalton, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 788 establishments with a response rate of 79 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 2019 OES estimates are the first set of OES estimates to be based in part on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC. These estimates use a hybrid of the 2010 and 2018 SOC systems. More information on the hybrid classification system is available at www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm.

The May 2019 OES estimates are based on the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). More 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 Dalton, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Murray and Whitfield Counties.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OES program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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 for production occupations, Dalton, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2019

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	14,970	3.7	$15.99	$33,250
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,020	3.7	27.12	56,400
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	830	1.4	14.22	29,570
Bakers	(5)	(5)	10.89	22,640
Butchers and meat cutters	30	0.5	14.18	29,490
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	3.7	16.32	33,940
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	1.5	14.70	30,580
Machinists	290	1.7	19.79	41,160
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	0.4	12.55	26,090
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	160	0.9	18.05	37,550
Printing press operators	780	10.2	11.48	23,880
Print binding and finishing workers	110	5.4	15.34	31,900
Sewing machine operators	770	13.1	12.61	26,220
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	390	103.6	17.04	35,440
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	400	69.3	15.15	31,500
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	700	75.7	17.29	35,960
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	4,530	331.1	14.71	30,600
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	780	97.6	16.73	34,810
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	630	79.4	14.34	29,830
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	40	0.7	20.20	42,020
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	17.25	35,880
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	330	6.1	17.02	35,390
Cutters and trimmers, hand	180	42.9	(5)	(5)
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	1.7	14.97	31,140
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	880	3.5	16.53	34,380
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	160	0.9	15.59	32,430
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	140	2.2	14.85	30,880
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	2.6	18.60	38,680
Helpers--production workers	270	2.0	12.73	26,490
Production workers, all other	250	2.5	13.88	28,880
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Dalton, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_19140.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.