Workers in the Burlington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.01 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 ($56.54), legal ($50.67), and computer and mathematical ($47.14). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($13.78), personal care and service ($14.80), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.94). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Burlington area included transportation and material moving and food preparation and serving related (11.1 percent each) and also sales and related and office and administrative support (10.9 percent each). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.3 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.7 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.9 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Burlington had 6,530 jobs in production, accounting for 9.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.21, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (910); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (510); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (470). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group was first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with a mean hourly wage of $30.13. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.00), bakers ($13.51), and sewing machine operators ($13.81). (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_15500.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 Burlington 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 37.0 times the national rate in Burlington, and textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 18.4 times the U.S. average. Computer numerically controlled tool operators had a location quotient of 1.2 in Burlington, 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 North Carolina Department of Commerce.

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 Burlington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,003 establishments with a response rate of 71 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 Burlington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Alamance 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 production occupations, Burlington metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	6,530	1.7	19.21	39,950
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	510	1.8	30.13	62,660
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	270	2.4	20.10	41,810
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	910	1.4	17.48	36,350
Bakers	220	2.3	13.51	28,100
Butchers and meat cutters	70	1.2	16.73	34,800
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	0.6	18.23	37,920
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	1.2	19.61	40,790
Machinists	200	1.6	22.41	46,610
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	280	4.1	21.27	44,240
Tool and die makers	40	1.8	(5)	(5)
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	120	0.7	24.02	49,970
Printing press operators	100	1.6	21.62	44,960
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	170	2.1	13.00	27,040
Sewing machine operators	220	4.4	13.81	28,720
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	120	40.4	14.83	30,850
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	260	37.0	15.93	33,140
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	190	18.4	15.21	31,640
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	160	24.4	14.36	29,860
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	50	0.9	22.13	46,040
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	50	1.0	21.90	45,550
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	470	1.8	18.58	38,650
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	250	1.5	17.75	36,910
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.3	19.99	41,570
Photographic process workers and processing machine operators	(5)	(5)	14.72	30,610
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	100	1.2	23.32	48,510
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	14.30	29,750
Helpers--production workers	120	1.6	14.91	31,000
Production workers, all other	170	1.6	17.31	36,010
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Burlington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_15500.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.