Workers in the Jackson, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.25 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 ($52.18) and legal ($50.20). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($13.96), personal care and service ($14.31), healthcare support ($15.75), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.87). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Jackson area included production (13.4 percent), office and administrative support (12.6 percent), and transportation and material moving (10.1 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science and also legal (0.4 percent each). (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Jackson had 9,160 jobs in production, accounting for 13.4 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.26, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (1,320) was among the larger detailed occupations within the production group. Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($33.13) and water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators ($27.23). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers, bakers, and butchers and meat cutters, with mean hourly wages of $13.89, $14.23, and $14.80, respectively. (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_27180.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 Jackson area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, tool and die makers were employed at 7.2 times the national rate in Jackson, and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, at 3.0 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Jackson, 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 Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development.

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 Jackson, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 927 establishments with a response rate of 57 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 Jackson, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Chester County, Crockett County, and Madison 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, Jackson metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	9,160	2.3	21.26	44,220
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	610	2.0	33.13	68,920
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	30	1.2	23.40	48,660
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	1,320	2.0	18.05	37,530
Bakers	60	0.6	14.23	29,590
Butchers and meat cutters	40	0.7	14.80	30,780
Food processing workers, all other	140	4.9	(5)	(5)
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	2.5	19.54	40,650
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	11.3	19.05	39,620
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	100	8.6	24.71	51,400
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	440	5.4	18.23	37,910
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	1.2	20.83	43,330
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	6.3	19.94	41,480
Machinists	330	2.5	21.33	44,370
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	60	6.1	23.19	48,240
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	100	1.4	21.40	44,500
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	1.0	20.64	42,930
Tool and die makers	190	7.2	24.93	51,860
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	560	3.0	20.72	43,100
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	200	13.5	18.30	38,050
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	2.3	17.32	36,020
Printing press operators	100	1.5	21.01	43,690
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	80	1.0	13.89	28,890
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	70	1.3	27.23	56,640
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	120	2.4	20.91	43,480
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	720	2.7	20.65	42,950
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	770	4.6	22.48	46,760
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	80	1.1	23.22	48,300
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	300	7.0	21.75	45,230
Helpers--production workers	110	1.4	17.19	35,750
Production workers, all other	670	6.1	19.29	40,130
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Jackson, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_27180.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.