Workers in the Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.22 in May 2021, about 17 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 20 of the 22 major occupational groups.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Augusta area employment was more highly concentrated in 10 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, construction and extraction, and production. Ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and office and administrative support. (See table A.)

One occupational group, healthcare practitioners and technical, was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Augusta had 18,280 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 8.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $36.03, significantly below the national wage of $43.80.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (6,710) and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (1,580). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were family medicine physicians, with a mean hourly wage of $104.43. At the lower end of the wage scale were emergency medical technicians ($15.17) and ophthalmic medical technicians ($15.92). (Detailed data for the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12260.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 Augusta area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, surgical assistants were employed at 7.7 times the national rate in Augusta, and physician assistants, at 4.0 times the U.S. average. Veterinary technologists and technicians had a location quotient of 1.0 in Augusta, 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 and 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 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 Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,407 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 Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Burke County, GA; Columbia County, GA; Lincoln County, GA; McDuffie County, GA; Richmond County, GA; Aiken County, SC; and Edgefield County, SC.

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 healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Augusta metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	18,280	1.3	$36.03	$74,940
Chiropractors	50	1.0	27.85	57,930
Dentists, general	160	0.9	65.55	136,340
Dentists, all other specialists	40	4.8	64.70	134,570
Dietitians and nutritionists	110	1.1	27.00	56,160
Optometrists	50	0.8	59.57	123,910
Pharmacists	610	1.2	55.28	114,980
Physician assistants	840	4.0	37.43	77,860
Occupational therapists	260	1.3	38.14	79,330
Physical therapists	410	1.2	42.46	88,320
Recreational therapists	60	2.2	23.06	47,960
Respiratory therapists	260	1.3	27.64	57,500
Speech-language pathologists	210	0.9	37.58	78,170
Veterinarians	110	0.9	45.56	94,760
Registered nurses	6,710	1.4	34.82	72,420
Nurse anesthetists	40	0.6	77.36	160,910
Nurse practitioners	450	1.2	50.72	105,490
Family medicine physicians	90	0.5	104.43	217,210
Pediatricians, general	30	0.6	75.06	156,130
Physicians, all other	560	1.4	119.68	248,940
Dental hygienists	360	1.1	32.14	66,860
Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other	80	1.8	53.44	111,160
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	560	1.1	23.03	47,900
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	160	1.8	30.88	64,230
Diagnostic medical sonographers	150	1.2	29.88	62,150
Nuclear medicine technologists	50	1.9	30.18	62,770
Radiologic technologists and technicians	440	1.3	26.39	54,890
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	80	1.3	30.07	62,550
Emergency medical technicians	400	1.6	15.17	31,550
Paramedics	210	1.3	19.06	39,640
Pharmacy technicians	800	1.2	16.80	34,950
Surgical technologists	100	0.6	22.29	46,360
Veterinary technologists and technicians	180	1.0	16.24	33,780
Ophthalmic medical technicians	90	0.9	15.92	33,110
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	1,580	1.6	22.12	46,010
Medical records specialists	390	1.4	22.13	46,030
Opticians, dispensing	120	1.0	19.61	40,780
Health technologists and technicians, all other	230	1.0	20.81	43,270
Health information technologists and medical registrars	100	1.7	21.17	44,030
Athletic trainers	70	1.7	(6)	50,330
Surgical assistants	210	7.7	20.17	41,940
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	(5)	(5)	26.80	55,750
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_12260.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.