Workers in the Gadsden, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $18.51 in May 2020, about 32 percent below the nationwide average of $27.07, 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 21 of the 22 major occupational groups, including sales and related, office and administrative support, and transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Gadsden area employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production and healthcare practitioners and technical. Nine 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. Gadsden had 4,360 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 13.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent national share. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $13.35, significantly lower than the national average of $20.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (300); metal and plastic cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders (200); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (190). 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 $30.27 and $22.08, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($11.75) and meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers ($12.61). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_23460.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 Gadsden area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 4.8 times the national rate in Gadsden, and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Gadsden, 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 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. 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 180,000 to 185,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2020 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, and November 2017. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 56 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 69 percent based on establishments and 66 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Gadsden, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area included 609 establishments with a response rate of 71 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 Gadsden, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Etowah 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; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Gadsden metropolitan area, May 2020

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	4,360	2.2	$13.35	$27,770
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	190	1.4	30.27	62,950
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	80	5.3	15.07	31,330
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	300	1.0	12.92	26,860
Butchers and meat cutters	60	2.0	14.31	29,770
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	(5)	(5)	12.61	26,230
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	200	4.8	15.50	32,250
Machinists	90	1.1	17.14	35,640
Tool and die makers	30	2.2	22.08	45,920
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	150	1.6	16.77	34,890
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	80	1.9	11.75	24,440
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	50	1.9	20.71	43,080
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	150	1.2	14.22	29,580
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	2.2	15.29	31,800
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	40	1.1	18.26	37,980
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Gadsden, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_23460.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.