Workers in the Albany, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.36 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($52.41), legal ($46.65), computer and mathematical ($40.31), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($40.17). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($12.85), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($14.14), personal care and service ($14.21), and healthcare support ($15.48). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Albany area included office and administrative support (14.5 percent), transportation and material moving (10.2 percent), and sales and related (9.6 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); and also arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media and architecture and engineering (0.8 percent each). (See table A.)

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Albany had 8,630 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 14.5 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.61, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (2,450) and general office clerks (1,090). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants as well as postal service clerks, with mean hourly wages of $28.59 and $27.92, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were file clerks ($14.44) and public safety telecommunicators ($15.09). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_10500.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 Albany area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, government programs eligibility interviewers were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Albany, and customer service representatives, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive, had a location quotient of 1.0 in Albany, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, 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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Albany, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 863 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent.

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 Albany, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Baker County, Dougherty County, Lee County, Terrell County, and Worth County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

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 office and administrative support occupations, Albany metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	8,630	1.2	18.61	38,720
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	760	1.3	25.84	53,750
Bill and account collectors	40	0.6	18.70	38,900
Billing and posting clerks	180	1.1	19.70	40,970
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	430	0.7	20.77	43,200
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	30	0.6	21.48	44,690
Procurement clerks	50	1.9	24.81	51,610
Tellers	150	1.1	17.10	35,560
Court, municipal, and license clerks	80	1.3	18.66	38,820
Customer service representatives	2,450	2.2	15.97	33,230
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	140	2.3	18.05	37,550
File clerks	30	0.9	14.44	30,040
Loan interviewers and clerks	40	0.5	20.32	42,270
Receptionists and information clerks	600	1.5	15.86	32,980
Information and record clerks, all other	60	1.0	22.60	47,010
Public safety telecommunicators	70	1.9	15.09	31,380
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	130	1.6	20.39	42,410
Postal service clerks	30	1.1	27.92	58,080
Postal service mail carriers	170	1.3	26.40	54,910
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	210	1.3	26.91	55,970
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	330	1.0	20.45	42,540
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	110	0.6	28.59	59,460
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	150	0.5	17.00	35,350
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	700	1.0	17.62	36,650
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	90	1.0	20.80	43,270
Office clerks, general	1,090	1.1	16.75	34,840
Office and administrative support workers, all other	70	1.0	18.70	38,900
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Albany, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_10500.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.