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Tuesday, June 14, 2022
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.)
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Montgomery | United States | Montgomery | Percent difference (1) | |
Total, all occupations | 100.0 | 100.0 | $28.01 | $22.46* | -20 |
Management | 6.3 | 5.2* | 59.31 | 48.60* | -18 |
Business and financial operations | 6.4 | 5.1* | 39.72 | 33.69* | -15 |
Computer and mathematical | 3.3 | 2.5* | 48.01 | 38.34* | -20 |
Architecture and engineering | 1.7 | 1.9* | 44.10 | 39.13* | -11 |
Life, physical, and social science | 0.9 | 0.8* | 38.81 | 31.14* | -20 |
Community and social service | 1.6 | 1.3* | 25.94 | 22.72* | -12 |
Legal | 0.8 | 1.1* | 54.38 | 44.19* | -19 |
Educational instruction and library | 5.8 | 4.7* | 29.88 | 24.53* | -18 |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media | 1.3 | 1.2* | 31.78 | 23.21* | -27 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical | 6.2 | 6.3 | 43.80 | 35.87* | -18 |
Healthcare support | 4.7 | 3.0* | 16.02 | 13.20* | -18 |
Protective service | 2.4 | 3.4* | 25.68 | 19.51* | -24 |
Food preparation and serving related | 8.0 | 8.6* | 14.16 | 11.04* | -22 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance | 2.9 | 2.7* | 16.23 | 12.42* | -23 |
Personal care and service | 1.8 | 1.9 | 16.17 | 13.72* | -15 |
Sales and related | 9.4 | 10.1* | 22.15 | 16.80* | -24 |
Office and administrative support | 13.0 | 13.4* | 20.88 | 17.61* | -16 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry | 0.3 | 0.2* | 16.70 | 17.78* | 6 |
Construction and extraction | 4.2 | 3.3* | 26.87 | 19.76* | -26 |
Installation, maintenance, and repair | 4.0 | 4.3* | 25.66 | 23.15* | -10 |
Production | 6.0 | 9.7* | 20.71 | 19.89* | -4 |
Transportation and material moving | 9.0 | 9.2 | 19.88 | 16.12* | -19 |
Footnotes: |
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.
With the May 2021 estimates release, the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program has implemented a new model-based (MB3) estimation method. For more information, see the May 2021 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement at www.bls.gov/oes/methods_21.pdf and the Monthly Labor Review article at www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/model-based-estimates-for-the-occupational-employment-statistics-program.htm. OEWS estimates for the years 2015-19 were recalculated using the new estimation method and are available as research estimates at www.bls.gov/oes/oes-mb3-methods.htm.
The May 2021 OEWS estimates are also the first estimates based entirely on survey data collected using the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. To improve data quality, the OEWS program aggregates some occupations to the SOC broad occupation level or as OEWS-specific combinations of 2018 SOC detailed occupations.
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.
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: |
Last Modified Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2022