Workers in the Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.22 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 ($54.35), healthcare practitioners and technical ($43.43), computer and mathematical ($42.84), and legal ($42.27). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($13.08), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.97), personal care and service ($16.07), and healthcare support ($16.57). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Columbia area included office and administrative support (14.6 percent), sales and related (9.5 percent), and transportation and material moving (9.1 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.8 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent); and legal (1.2 percent). (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. Columbia had 55,750 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 14.6 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $20.35, 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 (11,320); secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (7,520); and general office clerks (7,350). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and postal service clerks, with mean hourly wages of $30.60 and $29.21, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($13.49) and clerical library assistants ($14.92). (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_17900.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 Columbia area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, insurance claims and policy processing clerks were employed at 2.7 times the national rate in Columbia, and bill and account collectors, at 2.4 times the U.S. average. Loan interviewers and clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Columbia, 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 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. 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 Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,844 establishments with a response rate of 70 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 Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Calhoun County, Fairfield County, Kershaw County, Lexington County, Richland County, and Saluda 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, Columbia metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	55,750	1.2	20.35	42,330
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	4,750	1.3	30.60	63,640
Switchboard operators, including answering service	90	0.9	15.49	32,220
Bill and account collectors	1,150	2.4	18.89	39,300
Billing and posting clerks	1,200	1.1	20.85	43,370
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	3,440	0.9	20.80	43,260
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	190	0.5	23.68	49,260
Procurement clerks	310	2.0	21.78	45,290
Tellers	1,180	1.4	18.36	38,180
Financial clerks, all other	30	0.3	20.63	42,910
Brokerage clerks	60	0.5	22.02	45,800
Court, municipal, and license clerks	270	0.7	22.12	46,000
Customer service representatives	11,320	1.6	17.91	37,260
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	400	1.1	19.04	39,600
File clerks	260	1.3	17.14	35,640
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	610	0.9	13.49	28,050
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	170	0.4	17.99	37,420
Library assistants, clerical	350	1.7	14.92	31,030
Loan interviewers and clerks	530	1.0	21.78	45,310
New accounts clerks	50	0.5	21.26	44,230
Order clerks	80	0.4	20.13	41,880
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	400	1.6	21.05	43,790
Receptionists and information clerks	2,060	0.8	15.69	32,620
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	70	0.2	22.29	46,370
Information and record clerks, all other	460	1.2	22.87	47,560
Cargo and freight agents	170	0.7	20.58	42,810
Couriers and messengers	170	0.9	15.31	31,850
Public safety telecommunicators	230	0.9	18.10	37,650
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	520	1.0	21.70	45,130
Meter readers, utilities	50	1.1	19.46	40,470
Postal service clerks	120	0.6	29.21	60,750
Postal service mail carriers	950	1.1	27.09	56,360
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	520	1.8	26.34	54,790
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	920	0.9	26.08	54,240
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	1,890	0.9	18.79	39,080
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	60	0.5	18.35	38,170
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	1,530	1.3	26.82	55,780
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	230	0.6	(5)	(5)
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	1,510	0.8	19.00	39,520
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	7,520	1.7	19.65	40,880
Data entry keyers	440	1.2	16.36	34,020
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	1,610	2.7	21.49	44,700
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	140	0.8	17.01	35,370
Office clerks, general	7,350	1.2	17.71	36,830
Office machine operators, except computer	40	0.5	17.54	36,470
Statistical assistants	60	3.1	19.54	40,640
Office and administrative support workers, all other	140	0.3	25.46	52,970
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17900.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.