Workers in the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.79 in May 2021, about 19 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, including legal, sales and related, and office and administrative support. Only one group had a significantly higher wage than its respective national average: production.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Spartanburg area employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production and transportation and material moving. Sixteen 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. Spartanburg had 24,540 jobs in production, accounting for 15.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.48, significantly above the national wage of $20.71.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (5,900); metal and plastic cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders (1,750); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,470). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and also tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $32.97 and $28.63, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($12.13) and textile, garment, and related materials pressers ($12.49). (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_43900.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 Spartanburg 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 24.9 times the national rate in Spartanburg, and synthetic and glass fibers extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 14.7 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 0.9 in Spartanburg, 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 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 Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,621 establishments with a response rate of 70 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 Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Spartanburg County and Union 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, Spartanburg metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	24,540	2.6	$21.48	$44,680
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,470	2.1	32.97	68,590
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	620	2.1	20.04	41,690
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	100	1.4	18.25	37,950
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	5,900	4.0	19.39	40,330
Bakers	140	0.7	13.81	28,720
Butchers and meat cutters	90	0.6	16.61	34,560
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	210	3.2	24.96	51,910
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,750	8.8	(5)	(5)
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	1.1	22.61	47,030
Machinists	920	2.5	20.44	42,510
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	620	3.4	17.97	37,370
Tool and die makers	180	2.5	28.63	59,550
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	890	2.0	22.77	47,350
Printing press operators	200	1.2	19.49	40,540
Print binding and finishing workers	100	2.2	22.53	46,850
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	200	1.1	12.13	25,230
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	30	1.1	12.49	25,980
Sewing machine operators	670	5.2	16.64	34,620
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	70	10.4	15.05	31,300
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	100	7.3	15.34	31,900
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	450	24.9	16.12	33,530
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	270	10.9	15.73	32,710
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	230	14.7	19.73	41,040
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	60	4.3	14.84	30,870
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	30	0.3	18.78	39,060
Power plant operators	40	1.3	20.13	41,870
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	180	1.3	18.84	39,180
Chemical plant and system operators	190	7.7	23.97	49,850
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	640	5.5	20.80	43,260
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	190	1.6	22.19	46,160
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.4	18.65	38,780
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,090	1.8	19.07	39,660
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	370	0.9	17.86	37,160
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	180	1.1	19.09	39,710
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	170	0.9	22.61	47,030
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	110	2.7	19.61	40,780
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	1.6	17.17	35,710
Helpers--production workers	750	3.3	15.45	32,140
Production workers, all other	110	0.5	16.39	34,080
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_43900.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.