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News Release Information

24-1239-ATL
Tuesday, July 02, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Occupational Employment and Wages in Florence-Muscle Shoals — May 2023

Workers in the Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.24 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 ($48.17), architecture and engineering ($39.88), and legal ($37.28). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($12.19), personal care and service ($13.92), healthcare support ($14.37), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($14.84). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Florence area included sales and related and also production (11.3 percent each). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.3 percent) and legal (0.4 percent). (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Florence metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Florence United States Florence

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 22.24

Management

6.9 4.5 66.23 48.17

Business and financial operations

6.6 3.1 43.55 33.92

Computer and mathematical

3.4 0.7 54.39 35.82

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.3 47.64 39.88

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.3 42.24 33.34

Community and social service

1.6 0.9 28.36 23.58

Legal

0.8 0.4 64.34 37.28

Educational instruction and library

5.8 6.0 31.92 22.79

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 0.7 36.31 20.77

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 7.2 49.07 35.03

Healthcare support

4.7 3.8 18.37 14.37

Protective service

2.3 1.8 27.74 20.29

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 10.2 16.58 12.19

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.9 18.43 14.84

Personal care and service

2.0 2.0 18.48 13.92

Sales and related

8.8 11.3 25.62 18.54

Office and administrative support

12.2 10.9 23.05 18.35

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.4 19.22 18.74

Construction and extraction

4.1 5.6 29.57 23.99

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 5.3 28.13 25.27

Production

5.8 11.3 22.90 20.53

Transportation and material moving

9.1 9.6 22.45 18.21

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Florence had 6,200 jobs in production, accounting for 11.3 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $20.53, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (530) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (480). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and also machinists, with mean hourly wages of $31.52 and $30.38, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($11.90) and helpers of production workers ($13.95). (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_22520.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 Florence area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic milling and planning machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 17.4 times the national rate in Florence, and metal and plastic extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 14.4 times the U.S. average. Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Florence, 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 Alabama 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 Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area included 936 establishments with a response rate of 64 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 Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Colbert County and Lauderdale 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, Florence metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

6,200 2.0 20.53 42,710

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

480 2.0 31.52 65,560

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

530 1.0 16.20 33,700

Bakers

30 0.4 15.25 31,730

Butchers and meat cutters

70 1.5 15.04 31,280

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

330 14.4 (5) (5)

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

160 2.5 17.43 36,250

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

70 2.7 22.81 47,440

Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

90 17.4 25.72 53,510

Machinists

200 1.9 30.38 63,200

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

220 3.8 16.20 33,700

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

40 0.9 20.37 42,370

Tool and die makers

70 3.1 28.80 59,910

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

220 1.4 19.48 40,510

Printing press operators

70 1.3 15.07 31,340

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

70 1.0 11.90 24,760

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

80 2.6 16.04 33,360

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

70 4.3 16.70 34,740

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

90 4.1 15.58 32,410

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

50 1.1 25.10 52,210

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

80 1.8 (5) (5)

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

90 2.3 21.78 45,310

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

60 3.1 16.54 34,400

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

40 2.1 17.26 35,890

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

330 1.6 18.14 37,720

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

70 0.5 18.94 39,400

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

120 2.1 19.57 40,700

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

110 1.6 21.11 43,900

Helpers--production workers

260 3.9 13.95 29,020

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Florence-Muscle Shoals, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22520.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, July 02, 2024