Workers in the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.43 in May 2020, about 17 percent below the nationwide average of $27.07, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that one occupational group had a significantly higher wage than its respective national average. Wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 20 of the 22 major occupational groups, including sales and related, construction and extraction, and healthcare practitioners and technical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Spartanburg area employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production and transportation and material moving. Fourteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, 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. Spartanburg had 26,120 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 16.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent national share. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $20.81, compared to the national average of $20.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (5,390); metal and plastic cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders (1,780); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,600). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and also tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $34.94 and $25.81, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders ($12.39) and textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders ($13.33). (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_43900.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 Spartanburg area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 16.5 times the national rate in Spartanburg, and molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic, at 9.6 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 0.8 in Spartanburg, 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 South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.

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 Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,626 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Spartanburg and Union 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, Spartanburg metropolitan area, May 2020

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	26,120	2.8	$20.81	$43,280
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,200	1.8	34.94	72,680
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	760	2.4	18.62	38,740
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	140	1.8	19.72	41,010
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	5,390	3.9	18.80	39,100
Bakers	170	0.9	13.81	28,730
Butchers and meat cutters	120	0.7	18.01	37,470
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	170	2.2	23.14	48,120
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,780	8.9	22.74	47,310
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	110	1.4	21.17	44,020
Machinists	940	2.3	20.36	42,350
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	600	3.5	16.74	34,810
Tool and die makers	210	3.2	25.81	53,680
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	960	2.2	25.57	53,190
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	0.9	18.25	37,960
Printing press operators	270	1.5	15.11	31,420
Print binding and finishing workers	140	2.9	22.50	46,800
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	360	1.8	15.28	31,790
Sewing machine operators	(5)	(5)	16.79	34,920
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	70	8.3	12.39	25,770
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	180	12.4	13.33	27,740
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	350	16.5	15.69	32,640
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	300	10.5	15.66	32,570
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	350	19.6	17.19	35,750
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	60	0.6	18.10	37,650
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	90	1.6	15.12	31,440
Power plant operators	40	1.1	14.41	29,970
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	220	1.7	18.71	38,920
Chemical plant and system operators	280	8.5	23.45	48,770
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	390	3.7	20.45	42,540
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	180	1.4	19.84	41,270
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	80	1.4	18.85	39,210
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	200	2.9	25.04	52,080
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	60	3.2	18.08	37,600
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,600	2.6	18.56	38,600
Dental laboratory technicians	(5)	(5)	16.64	34,620
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	350	0.8	17.94	37,320
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	320	2.1	17.96	37,360
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	190	1.2	20.93	43,540
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	440	9.6	19.11	39,750
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	200	1.8	18.53	38,530
Helpers--production workers	790	3.0	15.52	32,290
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_43900.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.