Workers in the Athens-Clarke County, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.64 in May 2021, about 16 percent below the nationwide average of $28.01, 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 legal, computer and mathematical, and management. Only one group had a significantly higher wage than its respective national average: educational instruction and library.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Athens area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including educational instruction and library; life, physical, and social science; and food preparation and serving related. Fourteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including construction and extraction, transportation and material moving, and computer and mathematical. (See table A.)

One occupational group—educational instruction and library—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Athens had 8,650 jobs in educational instruction and library, accounting for 10.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $30.69, significantly above the national wage of $29.88.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the educational instruction and library group included elementary school teachers, except special education (1,050) and teaching assistants, except postsecondary (810). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were farm and home management educators, instructional coordinators, and librarians and media collections specialists with mean hourly wages of $43.48, $32.66, and $30.34, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were short-term substitute teachers ($11.36) and tutors ($14.59). (Detailed data for the educational instruction and library occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12020.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 Athens area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the educational instruction and library group. For instance, farm and home management educators were employed at 19.6 times the national rate in Athens. Self-enrichment teachers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Athens, 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 Georgia Department of Labor.

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 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 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 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Athens-Clarke County, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,098 establishments with a response rate of 70 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 Athens-Clarke County, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Clarke County, Madison County, Oconee County, and Oglethorpe County.

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; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for educational instruction and library occupations, Athens metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Educational instruction and library occupations	8,650	1.7	$30.69	$63,820
Career/technical education teachers, postsecondary	60	0.9	21.42	44,550
Postsecondary teachers, all other	110	0.9	(6)	51,790
Preschool teachers, except special education	130	0.6	19.87	41,320
Kindergarten teachers, except special education	80	1.1	(6)	55,240
Elementary school teachers, except special education	1,050	1.3	(6)	59,080
Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education	300	0.8	(6)	59,140
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	470	0.8	(6)	60,330
Career/technical education teachers, secondary school	70	1.4	(6)	61,120
Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school	250	2.2	(6)	56,710
Special education teachers, middle school	(5)	(5)	(6)	56,400
Special education teachers, secondary school	70	0.8	(6)	61,480
Self-enrichment teachers	130	1.0	21.44	44,590
Substitute teachers, short-term	70	0.3	11.36	23,630
Tutors	160	1.8	14.59	30,350
Teachers and instructors, all other	420	4.2	(6)	45,050
Librarians and media collections specialists	130	1.7	30.34	63,100
Library technicians	70	1.6	16.59	34,500
Farm and home management educators	130	19.6	43.48	90,430
Instructional coordinators	130	1.2	32.66	67,930
Teaching assistants, except postsecondary	810	1.1	(6)	21,640
Educational instruction and library workers, all other	1,210	12.8	25.96	53,990
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Athens-Clarke County, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12020.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. (6) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.