Workers in the Rocky Mount, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.85 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 ($55.58), architecture and engineering ($43.39), and computer and mathematical ($42.25). Lower paying occupational groups included food preparation and serving related ($13.57), personal care and service ($14.56), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.43). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Rocky Mount area included production (11.6 percent), transportation and material moving (10.8 percent), and office and administrative support (10.8 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.4 percent) and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.8 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Rocky Mount had 6,300 jobs in production, accounting for 11.6 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.70, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Among the larger detailed occupations within the production group were miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (1,020) and packaging and filling machine operators and tenders (530). First-line supervisors of production and operating workers were among the higher paying occupations with a mean hourly wage of $34.36. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.89) and sewing machine operators ($14.22). (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/0040580.)

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 Rocky Mount area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, were employed at 22.53 times the national rate in Rocky Mount, and food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders, at 10.22 times the U.S. average. 

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.

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 Rocky Mount, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 857 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 Rocky Mount, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Edgecombe County and Nash 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, Rocky Mount metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	6,300	2.04	21.70	45,130
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	420	1.75	34.36	71,460
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	450	4.90	21.43	44,570
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	1,020	1.97	18.82	39,150
Butchers and meat cutters	40	0.90	17.41	36,210
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	90	1.90	12.17	25,310
Slaughterers and meat packers	50	2.14	16.25	33,800
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders	70	10.22	24.79	51,570
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	100	4.30	25.03	52,060
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	1.22	19.53	40,610
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	110	22.53	21.74	45,220
Machinists	200	1.92	26.55	55,220
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	2.04	21.30	44,310
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	290	1.91	25.56	53,160
Printing press operators	50	0.93	19.07	39,660
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	70	0.98	13.89	28,900
Sewing machine operators	80	2.11	14.22	29,590
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	60	1.27	23.53	48,930
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	160	4.60	18.10	37,650
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	30	1.90	16.87	35,080
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	360	1.71	23.89	49,700
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	530	3.88	21.12	43,930
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.65	23.45	48,780
Helpers--production workers	80	1.37	19.67	40,910
Production workers, all other	470	4.78	21.66	45,060
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Rocky Mount, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0040580. (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.