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News Release Information

25-862-ATL
Tuesday, May 20, 2025

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC — May 2024

Workers in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.33 in May 2024, compared to the nationwide average of $32.66, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($56.68); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media ($47.58); legal ($45.80); and computer and mathematical ($45.61). Lower paying occupational groups included food preparation and serving related ($14.44), personal care and service ($16.03), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($16.33). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Hickory area included production (17.9 percent), transportation and material moving (11.5 percent), and office and administrative support (10.6 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.3 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.5 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.8 percent).

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Hickory metropolitan area, May 2024
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Hickory United States Hickory

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 32.66 25.33

Management

7.1 4.5 68.15 56.68

Business and financial operations

6.7 3.8 45.04 35.76

Computer and mathematical

3.4 1.1 56.16 45.61

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.3 49.99 40.67

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.5 43.12 32.74

Community and social service

1.7 1.4 30.31 26.13

Legal

0.8 0.3 66.19 45.80

Educational instruction and library

5.8 5.1 31.69 22.31

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 0.8 37.04 47.58

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.2 6.1 50.59 44.91

Healthcare support

4.8 4.6 19.06 17.60

Protective service

2.4 2.4 29.33 22.36

Food preparation and serving related

8.8 8.6 17.32 14.44

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.1 19.01 16.33

Personal care and service

2.0 1.4 18.95 16.03

Sales and related

8.7 8.7 26.00 22.14

Office and administrative support

11.8 10.6 24.12 21.01

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 20.06 18.69

Construction and extraction

4.1 2.7 30.73 24.05

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.5 29.63 26.37

Production

5.7 17.9 24.08 22.15

Transportation and material moving

8.9 11.5 23.44 20.51

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Hickory had 27,830 jobs in production, accounting for 17.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.15, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (3,520), upholsterers (2,140), and sewing machine operators (1,980). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were power plant operators ($46.73), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($32.34), and tool and die makers ($30.75). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.22) and textile, garment, and related materials pressers ($14.80). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0025860.)

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 2.00 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Hickory area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, upholsterers were employed at 101.55 times the national rate in Hickory, and cutters and trimmers by hand, at 81.43 times the U.S. average. Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers had a location quotient of 1.01 in Hickory, 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.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

Effective with the May 2024 OEWS news release, the OEWS program has implemented new metropolitan area definitions based on the 2020 decennial census and delineated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Bulletin 23-01. This news release does not include data for Colorado and its areas because of quality concerns with Colorado’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data. See the national OEWS news release for more information.


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 530 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 is 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 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,662 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 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Alexander County, Burke County, Caldwell County, and Catawba 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, Hickory metropolitan area, May 2024
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

27,830 3.17 22.15 46,080

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,790 2.60 32.34 67,260

Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers

1,070 4.06 23.26 48,370

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

60 1.06 23.95 49,820

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

3,520 2.40 20.06 41,720

Bakers

200 0.87 15.89 33,060

Butchers and meat cutters

70 0.50 18.21 37,870

Food batchmakers

160 0.95 21.08 43,850

Food processing workers, all other

70 1.21 18.08 37,610

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

1,400 21.21 25.25 52,510

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

230 1.33 20.02 41,640

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

130 1.86 21.59 44,900

Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

30 1.58 20.89 43,460

Machinists

340 1.15 24.79 51,560

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

630 4.02 20.20 42,010

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

160 1.26 23.21 48,280

Tool and die makers

110 2.04 30.75 63,960

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

430 1.01 23.70 49,300

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders

30 0.83 22.24 46,250

Printing press operators

200 1.39 22.74 47,290

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

240 1.24 14.22 29,580

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

40 1.59 14.80 30,780

Sewing machine operators

1,980 17.96 21.51 44,740

Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders

130 21.40 18.03 37,500

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

360 40.49 22.98 47,800

Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders

410 27.85 17.43 36,250

Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders

300 14.48 16.32 33,950

Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers

230 15.24 18.50 38,480

Fabric and apparel patternmakers

120 41.47 25.67 53,400

Upholsterers

2,140 101.55 27.63 57,460

Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other

320 22.34 18.19 37,840

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

170 2.12 22.20 46,170

Furniture finishers

330 23.05 20.43 42,490

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

190 4.42 17.48 36,350

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

830 13.04 19.15 39,830

Power plant operators

40 1.20 46.73 97,200

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

130 1.03 21.95 45,660

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

80 6.56 17.39 36,160

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

230 2.23 21.65 45,030

Cutters and trimmers, hand

580 81.43 23.73 49,350

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

610 12.73 20.75 43,150

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

190 3.31 21.90 45,560

Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders

100 6.15 22.71 47,240

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

1,690 2.85 20.77 43,210

Dental laboratory technicians

30 1.00 25.93 53,940

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

850 2.21 20.93 43,530

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

30 3.56 18.70 38,890

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

550 3.41 22.28 46,330

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

150 0.82 22.69 47,190

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

60 2.04 27.07 56,310

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders

350 28.96 16.25 33,790

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

620 6.35 22.07 45,910

Helpers--production workers

610 3.62 18.73 38,960

Production workers, all other

1,400 5.02 18.91 39,330

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0025860.
(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.

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2025