Workers in the Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.92 in May 2019, about 19 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, 21 of the 22 major occupational groups had average wages in the local area that were significantly lower than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction, sales and related, and food preparation and serving related.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Montgomery area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, office and administrative support, and transportation and material moving. Eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare support, educational instruction and library, and construction and extraction. (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. Montgomery had 15,560 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 9.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $16.22, significantly lower than the national wage of $19.30.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (5,390); inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,150); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (920). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, and tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $26.54 and $26.05, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.78) and helpers of production workers ($11.54). (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_33860.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 Montgomery area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators were employed at 3.5 times the national rate in Montgomery, and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers, at 1.8 times the U.S. average. Metal and plastic molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders had a location quotient of 1.0 in Montgomery, 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 1.1 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 Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,651 establishments with a response rate of 73 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 Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes, and Montgomery 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, Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2019

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	15,560	1.5	$16.22	$33,740
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	920	1.3	26.54	55,200
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	50	0.2	16.95	35,250
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	190	2.3	17.98	37,390
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	5,390	3.5	15.27	31,750
Bakers	(5)	(5)	13.83	28,760
Butchers and meat cutters	(5)	(5)	14.29	29,720
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	390	2.3	12.19	25,350
Food batchmakers	90	0.5	18.96	39,440
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	1.5	15.54	32,330
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	340	1.6	19.03	39,580
Machinists	240	0.6	18.25	37,960
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	19.70	40,970
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	1.0	20.18	41,980
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	17.56	36,520
Tool and die makers	40	0.6	26.05	54,190
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	360	0.8	18.61	38,700
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	120	3.1	17.21	35,800
Printing press operators	280	1.4	13.58	28,250
Print binding and finishing workers	(5)	(5)	16.95	35,250
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	330	1.4	9.78	20,350
Sewing machine operators	(5)	(5)	13.95	29,020
Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers	(5)	(5)	17.64	36,700
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	(5)	(5)	15.76	32,790
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	(5)	(5)	14.02	29,170
Woodworkers, all other	90	12.0	13.65	28,390
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	50	0.4	18.88	39,260
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	100	3.0	13.12	27,290
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	80	0.6	(5)	(5)
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	250	3.1	15.95	33,170
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,150	1.8	14.17	29,480
Dental laboratory technicians	(5)	(5)	18.38	38,220
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	30	1.0	16.19	33,680
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	330	0.8	14.49	30,140
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	0.9	17.00	35,360
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	90	0.5	21.70	45,130
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	240	2.1	(5)	(5)
Helpers--production workers	650	1.9	11.54	24,000
Production workers, all other	490	2.0	10.44	21,710
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_33860.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.