Workers in the Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.46 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, Montgomery area employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, protective service, and sales and related. Eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare support, business and financial operations, 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. Montgomery had 14,990 jobs in production, accounting for 9.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.89, significantly below the national wage of $20.71.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (4,760) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,380). 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 $40.97 and $32.84, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.80). (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_33860.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 Montgomery area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers were employed at 3.3 times the national rate in Montgomery, and production worker helpers, at 3.2 times the U.S. average. Machinists had a location quotient of 0.9 in Montgomery, 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 Alabama 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 Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,617 establishments with a response rate of 66 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 Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Autauga County, Elmore County, Lowndes County, and Montgomery 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 production occupations, Montgomery metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	14,990	1.6	$19.89	$41,360
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,380	2.0	32.84	68,310
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	130	0.5	15.01	31,230
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	80	1.2	18.82	39,140
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	4,760	3.3	20.17	41,950
Bakers	230	1.1	14.13	29,390
Butchers and meat cutters	180	1.2	14.40	29,950
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	480	3.3	12.83	26,680
Food batchmakers	110	0.6	16.94	35,230
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	30	1.2	13.13	27,300
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	2.0	16.22	33,740
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	330	1.7	17.85	37,120
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	0.7	16.55	34,420
Machinists	320	0.9	21.64	45,000
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	30	1.9	21.63	44,990
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	350	2.0	16.62	34,570
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	1.2	15.40	32,040
Tool and die makers	90	1.3	27.69	57,590
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	610	1.4	21.62	44,970
Prepress technicians and workers	60	2.0	15.76	32,770
Printing press operators	210	1.4	15.54	32,320
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	250	1.5	10.80	22,460
Sewing machine operators	110	0.9	12.43	25,850
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	110	1.1	16.15	33,580
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	50	1.0	18.56	38,610
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	(5)	(5)	14.82	30,820
Power plant operators	50	1.5	40.97	85,230
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	80	0.6	24.00	49,920
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	0.9	19.58	40,730
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	0.9	17.21	35,790
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	750	1.2	19.50	40,570
Dental laboratory technicians	50	1.2	20.94	43,550
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	260	0.7	15.10	31,400
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	430	2.7	21.06	43,810
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	130	0.8	19.88	41,360
Helpers--production workers	720	3.2	12.16	25,290
Production workers, all other	280	1.3	(5)	(5)
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Montgomery, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_33860.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.