Workers in the Greensboro-High Point, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.76 in May 2021, about 15 percent below the nationwide average of $28.01, 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.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Greensboro area employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production and transportation and material moving. Fifteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management, computer and mathematical, and healthcare support. (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Greensboro had 35,510 jobs in production, accounting for 10.4 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.03, significantly below the national wage of $20.71.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (6,480); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (2,350); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,230). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were chemical plant and system operators and also power plant operators, with mean hourly wages of $29.84 and $29.82, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($11.18). (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_24660.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 Greensboro area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, upholsterers were employed at 16.1 times the national rate in Greensboro, and textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 15.0 times the U.S. average. Machinists had a location quotient of 1.0 in Greensboro, 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 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. 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 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 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 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Greensboro-High Point, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,693 establishments with a response rate of 76 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 Greensboro-High Point, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Guilford County, Randolph County, and Rockingham 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; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Greensboro metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	35,510	1.7	$18.03	$37,490
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	2,350	1.5	28.35	58,970
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	760	1.2	17.47	36,330
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	130	0.9	19.69	40,960
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	6,480	2.0	16.57	34,460
Bakers	260	0.6	13.77	28,630
Butchers and meat cutters	130	0.4	17.49	36,390
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	110	0.3	15.45	32,130
Slaughterers and meat packers	230	1.1	13.99	29,100
Food batchmakers	220	0.6	14.05	29,220
Food processing workers, all other	60	0.5	13.88	28,880
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	0.8	17.78	36,980
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	240	0.6	16.80	34,930
Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	2.6	15.69	32,620
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	270	1.6	20.88	43,440
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	0.7	23.56	49,010
Machinists	770	1.0	21.89	45,530
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,480	3.7	14.74	30,660
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	210	0.7	17.10	35,570
Tool and die makers	190	1.2	26.93	56,020
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,200	1.2	21.76	45,260
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	0.7	18.09	37,620
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	1.0	15.80	32,870
Prepress technicians and workers	70	1.1	22.86	47,550
Printing press operators	720	2.1	18.90	39,300
Print binding and finishing workers	250	2.5	17.95	37,340
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	350	0.9	11.18	23,250
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	110	1.6	13.37	27,820
Sewing machine operators	1,510	5.4	14.80	30,790
Sewers, hand	50	4.8	(5)	(5)
Textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators and tenders	170	11.3	14.10	29,340
Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders	260	9.0	14.80	30,780
Textile knitting and weaving machine setters, operators, and tenders	600	15.0	15.04	31,270
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	660	12.3	14.71	30,600
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	230	6.8	17.40	36,190
Fabric and apparel patternmakers	30	4.5	23.51	48,890
Upholsterers	1,100	16.1	19.13	39,780
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other	370	11.9	14.26	29,660
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	410	1.8	16.14	33,570
Furniture finishers	190	4.9	16.72	34,770
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	330	3.0	14.65	30,470
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	400	2.4	15.46	32,150
Power plant operators	30	0.4	29.82	62,020
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	150	0.5	21.42	44,550
Chemical plant and system operators	80	1.4	29.84	62,060
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	740	2.9	21.64	45,010
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	100	0.8	24.01	49,940
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	90	2.2	14.60	30,360
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	550	2.1	18.01	37,460
Cutters and trimmers, hand	200	10.3	19.35	40,240
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	490	3.6	17.28	35,940
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	140	1.0	17.15	35,680
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	2,230	1.7	18.63	38,750
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	50	0.9	20.51	42,670
Dental laboratory technicians	90	1.1	22.97	47,770
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	1,780	2.0	14.61	30,380
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	60	2.2	17.40	36,180
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	530	1.5	19.76	41,090
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	490	1.3	19.48	40,510
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	50	0.8	28.97	60,260
Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders	220	7.2	14.45	30,050
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	300	3.3	16.44	34,190
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	530	2.5	18.67	38,830
Helpers--production workers	1,380	2.8	13.46	27,990
Production workers, all other	960	1.9	16.57	34,460
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Greensboro-High Point, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24660.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.