Workers in the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.60 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 21 of the 22 major occupational groups.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Chattanooga area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, transportation and material moving, and office and administrative support. Sixteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including educational instruction and library, computer and mathematical, and business and financial operations. (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Chattanooga had 24,480 jobs in production, accounting for 10.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.92, significantly below the national wage of $20.71.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (5,600) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,810). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were power plant operators and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $42.08 and $30.01, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($11.06) and textile, garment, and related materials pressers ($11.95). (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_16860.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 Chattanooga 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 9.8 times the national rate in Chattanooga, and textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders, at 8.0 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Chattanooga, 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 Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development, and 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 Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,548 establishments with a response rate of 67 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 Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Catoosa County, GA; Dade County, GA; Walker County, GA; Hamilton County, TN; Marion County, TN; and Sequatchie County, TN.

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 production occupations, Chattanooga metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	24,480	1.7	$19.92	$41,440
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,810	1.7	30.01	62,420
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	220	0.5	18.49	38,460
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	270	2.6	19.99	41,580
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	5,600	2.4	19.20	39,940
Bakers	560	1.8	20.03	41,660
Butchers and meat cutters	120	0.5	16.27	33,830
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	520	2.3	14.71	30,600
Food batchmakers	380	1.4	18.45	38,380
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	270	5.8	17.32	36,030
Food processing workers, all other	350	4.4	18.56	38,600
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	200	1.9	17.56	36,520
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	3.2	18.75	38,990
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	550	1.8	17.27	35,920
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	1.5	16.78	34,900
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	1.7	18.17	37,790
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	1.9	20.25	42,110
Machinists	720	1.3	21.94	45,630
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	17.21	35,800
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	520	2.2	20.81	43,270
Tool and die makers	(5)	(5)	23.16	48,180
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,290	1.9	22.74	47,310
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	220	4.2	18.63	38,760
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	1.1	15.14	31,490
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	410	12.5	16.24	33,770
Prepress technicians and workers	140	3.0	17.30	35,980
Printing press operators	390	1.5	20.08	41,760
Print binding and finishing workers	190	2.7	16.87	35,080
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	280	1.0	11.06	23,000
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	40	0.9	11.95	24,860
Sewing machine operators	250	1.2	13.00	27,030
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	90	8.0	17.01	35,370
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	30	1.7	14.51	30,180
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	280	9.8	16.82	34,990
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	290	7.6	16.61	34,560
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	60	2.6	13.77	28,650
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	80	0.5	18.39	38,240
Furniture finishers	50	1.8	15.75	32,750
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	80	1.0	17.48	36,350
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	100	0.9	16.59	34,520
Woodworkers, all other	70	5.4	16.51	34,330
Power plant operators	50	1.0	42.08	87,530
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	200	1.0	19.65	40,870
Plant and system operators, all other	40	1.7	24.27	50,480
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	290	1.5	22.69	47,190
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.1	16.25	33,790
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	0.9	18.03	37,510
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	120	0.6	18.87	39,240
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	0.9	19.77	41,120
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.4	16.85	35,050
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	30	1.2	19.42	40,400
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,240	1.3	20.47	42,570
Dental laboratory technicians	40	0.6	22.92	47,670
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	440	0.7	17.67	36,750
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	70	3.2	17.22	35,820
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	390	1.5	19.57	40,700
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	210	0.8	23.20	48,260
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	60	1.3	25.45	52,930
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	80	3.3	16.07	33,430
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	270	1.8	18.38	38,230
Helpers--production workers	220	0.6	15.08	31,370
Production workers, all other	1,440	4.0	17.02	35,410
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Chattanooga, TN-GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_16860.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.