Workers in the Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.48 in May 2021, about 20 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, Kingsport area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, food preparation and serving related, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Thirteen 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. Kingsport had 10,910 jobs in production, accounting for 9.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $20.85, compared to the national wage of $20.71.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (1,720); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (880); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (670). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with a mean hourly wage of $33.41. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.25). (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_28700.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 Kingsport area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 4.6 times the national rate in Kingsport, and cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 3.2 times the U.S. average. Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders had a location quotient of 1.0 in Kingsport, 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 Virginia Employment Commission.

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 Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,664 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 Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Hawkins County, TN; Sullivan County, TN; Bristol city, VA; Scott County, VA; and Washington County, VA.

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, Kingsport metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	10,910	1.7	$20.85	$43,360
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	880	1.8	33.41	69,500
Coil winders, tapers, and finishers	60	6.5	18.24	37,940
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	1,720	1.7	17.38	36,150
Bakers	90	0.6	12.93	26,900
Butchers and meat cutters	80	0.7	14.53	30,210
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	70	0.7	12.21	25,400
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	80	3.9	20.27	42,170
Food processing workers, all other	40	1.2	15.27	31,770
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	210	4.6	16.31	33,930
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	3.1	16.55	34,420
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	210	1.5	16.86	35,080
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	1.2	17.17	35,700
Machinists	390	1.5	22.92	47,680
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	190	1.5	14.27	29,690
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	0.8	17.62	36,640
Tool and die makers	130	2.6	20.73	43,110
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	400	1.3	21.41	44,540
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	2.0	16.31	33,930
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	1.8	16.56	34,450
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	120	7.8	20.71	43,070
Prepress technicians and workers	60	3.2	16.10	33,480
Printing press operators	200	1.7	17.40	36,190
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	100	0.8	10.25	21,310
Sewing machine operators	(5)	(5)	12.69	26,400
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	3.3	15.30	31,820
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	30	0.9	15.85	32,970
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	110	1.2	21.67	45,070
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.9	15.82	32,900
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	30	1.2	17.59	36,590
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	30	2.5	12.64	26,300
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	130	1.5	18.15	37,750
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	140	3.2	18.83	39,170
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	1.4	15.02	31,230
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	670	1.6	19.88	41,340
Dental laboratory technicians	60	2.1	19.86	41,300
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	180	0.6	17.51	36,410
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	240	2.1	20.51	42,660
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	40	0.3	23.07	47,990
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	50	1.7	16.48	34,270
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	1.0	16.49	34,290
Helpers--production workers	210	1.4	16.26	33,820
Production workers, all other	730	4.6	23.46	48,800
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_28700.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.