Workers in the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.41 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 ($57.20), legal ($44.83), and computer and mathematical ($41.99). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($13.49), personal care and service ($15.47), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.95). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Spartanburg area included production (17.2 percent), transportation and material moving (11.4 percent), and office and administrative support (10.8 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.4 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.7 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Spartanburg had 27,440 jobs in production, accounting for 17.2 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.97, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (11,670); inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,560); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,480). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $35.60 and $30.69, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.86) and bakers ($15.81). (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_43900.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 Spartanburg area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators were employed at 7.5 times the national rate in Spartanburg, and metal and plastic molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 5.4 times the U.S. average. Bakers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Spartanburg, 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 South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce.

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 Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,639 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Spartanburg County and Union 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, Spartanburg metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	27,440	3.0	23.97	49,850
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,480	2.1	35.60	74,040
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	950	3.4	22.53	46,870
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	30	0.5	23.42	48,720
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	11,670	7.5	25.44	52,910
Bakers	260	1.1	15.81	32,880
Butchers and meat cutters	70	0.5	18.00	37,440
Food batchmakers	50	0.3	17.88	37,190
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	150	2.2	24.40	50,750
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	410	2.2	19.15	39,830
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	240	3.0	24.12	50,180
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	2.9	19.08	39,690
Machinists	440	1.4	24.25	50,440
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	900	5.4	20.55	42,750
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	730	5.5	20.14	41,900
Tool and die makers	90	1.5	30.69	63,840
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	900	2.0	24.92	51,830
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	30	0.9	22.87	47,570
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	2.2	22.32	46,420
Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners	50	7.0	21.22	44,130
Printing press operators	170	1.1	18.52	38,520
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	220	1.1	13.86	28,840
Sewing machine operators	360	2.9	17.71	36,830
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	100	14.4	16.95	35,250
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	120	11.4	17.92	37,280
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	370	22.1	18.64	38,770
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	320	12.8	17.82	37,070
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	140	9.4	20.92	43,510
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	200	12.5	19.00	39,520
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	80	0.8	21.07	43,830
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	30	0.7	16.86	35,060
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	50	0.7	18.89	39,280
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	110	0.9	23.97	49,860
Chemical plant and system operators	90	4.9	28.86	60,030
Gas plant operators	(5)	(5)	28.73	59,750
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	500	4.0	24.66	51,280
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.7	21.14	43,960
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	1.6	16.88	35,120
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	300	2.7	23.73	49,360
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.7	20.85	43,370
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	2.4	23.89	49,700
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,560	2.5	22.70	47,220
Dental laboratory technicians	50	1.3	22.57	46,940
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	530	1.4	18.15	37,750
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	480	2.9	22.26	46,310
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	230	1.2	26.02	54,130
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	210	5.3	20.85	43,370
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	330	3.2	21.28	44,260
Helpers--production workers	370	1.9	20.10	41,820
Production workers, all other	480	1.9	18.61	38,700
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_43900.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.