Workers in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.98 in May 2020, about 22 percent below the nationwide average of $27.07, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction, healthcare support, and business and financial operations. Three group had wages that were not significantly different from their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Hickory area employment was more highly concentrated in 3 of the 22 occupational groups: production; transportation and material moving; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Fifteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, office and administrative support, and management. (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Hickory had 29,530 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 20.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent national share. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $17.82, significantly lower than the national average of $20.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (4,550), upholsterers (2,730), and sewing machine operators (2,320). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were computer numerically controlled tool programmers and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $28.03 and $27.74, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were textile, garment, and related materials pressers ($11.28) and packaging and filling machine operators and tenders ($13.28). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_25860.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 Hickory area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, hand cutters and trimmers were employed at 100.9 times the national rate in Hickory, and upholsterers, at 100.3 times the U.S. average. Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Hickory, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS 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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS 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. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 185,000 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 2020 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, and November 2017. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 56 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 69 percent based on establishments and 66 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,597 establishments with a response rate of 79 percent. For more information about OEWS 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.

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 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, and Catawba Counties.

For more information

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

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Hickory metropolitan area, May 2020

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	29,530	3.3	$17.82	$37,070
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,690	2.7	27.74	57,710
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	1,220	4.1	19.12	39,770
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	4,550	3.5	15.72	32,690
Bakers	140	0.8	13.30	27,660
Butchers and meat cutters	90	0.6	16.77	34,880
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	700	4.5	13.34	27,740
Food batchmakers	(5)	(5)	20.37	42,370
Food processing workers, all other	60	1.5	11.84	24,630
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	930	13.0	15.98	33,240
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	6.1	19.10	39,730
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	290	1.6	15.51	32,260
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	1.6	15.14	31,490
Machinists	330	0.9	21.24	44,180
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	410	2.6	15.33	31,890
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	0.2	16.91	35,180
Tool and die makers	100	1.6	23.87	49,650
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	420	1.0	18.27	38,010
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	100	5.6	15.24	31,700
Prepress technicians and workers	70	2.4	21.88	45,510
Printing press operators	190	1.2	21.23	44,160
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	70	2.0	11.28	23,460
Sewing machine operators	2,320	19.2	17.79	37,010
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	340	45.6	15.26	31,750
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	340	26.0	15.64	32,530
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	240	12.3	15.46	32,160
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	560	21.0	13.32	27,700
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	140	8.6	16.19	33,670
Fabric and apparel patternmakers	140	28.6	23.06	47,970
Upholsterers	2,730	100.3	22.37	46,530
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	150	8.5	14.11	29,360
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	640	6.6	13.34	27,750
Furniture finishers	540	33.2	15.45	32,130
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	230	4.5	15.62	32,490
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	880	11.3	16.63	34,580
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	130	1.1	17.41	36,210
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	80	0.8	17.54	36,480
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	1.2	18.75	39,000
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	170	6.7	15.15	31,500
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	450	3.8	15.91	33,090
Cutters and trimmers, hand	840	100.9	20.44	42,520
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	630	11.4	17.54	36,490
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	260	3.9	16.80	34,950
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	40	2.4	20.83	43,320
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,380	2.4	16.57	34,460
Dental laboratory technicians	60	2.0	21.00	43,680
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	530	1.4	13.28	27,630
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	80	6.3	15.14	31,500
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	360	2.6	18.65	38,790
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	80	0.5	19.19	39,920
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	(5)	(5)	28.03	58,310
Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders	240	18.5	14.68	30,540
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	520	5.0	20.69	43,040
Helpers--production workers	600	2.4	15.27	31,760
Production workers, all other	210	1.0	16.01	33,310
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_25860.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.