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News Release Information

23-1462-ATL
Friday, June 30, 2023

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin — May 2022

Workers in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.67 in May 2022, 7 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; business and financial operations; and food preparation and serving related.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Nashville area employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving, office and administrative support, and management. Thirteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare support, educational instruction and library, and sales and related. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Nashville metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2022
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Nashville United States Nashville Percent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 29.76 27.67* -7

Management

6.7 7.5* 63.08 61.77* -2

Business and financial operations

6.5 6.2* 41.39 34.89* -16

Computer and mathematical

3.4 3.3 51.99 42.64* -18

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.2* 45.52 41.02* -10

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.6* 40.21 34.18* -15

Community and social service

1.6 1.2* 26.81 24.14* -10

Legal

0.8 0.7* 59.87 52.64* -12

Educational instruction and library

5.7 4.3* 30.41 25.67* -16

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.5 36.78 29.63* -19

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 6.8* 46.52 44.46* -4

Healthcare support

4.6 2.9* 17.10 17.16 0

Protective service

2.3 2.3* 25.97 21.45* -17

Food preparation and serving related

8.5 8.5 15.45 13.75* -11

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.5* 17.26 16.26* -6

Personal care and service

1.9 1.8* 17.41 16.64* -4

Sales and related

8.9 8.4* 24.22 23.06* -5

Office and administrative support

12.6 14.5* 21.90 21.44* -2

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1* 18.21 24.17* 33

Construction and extraction

4.1 3.9* 28.08 23.94* -15

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 3.9 26.77 25.00* -7

Production

5.9 6.5* 21.81 21.66 -1

Transportation and material moving

9.2 11.6* 21.12 20.00* -5

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—transportation and material moving—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Nashville had 120,460 jobs in transportation and material moving, accounting for 11.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 9.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $20.00, significantly below the national wage of $21.12.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the transportation and material moving group included laborers and hand freight, stock, and material movers (29,580), stockers and order fillers (27,030), and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (18,360). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were transportation inspectors ($35.64), first-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors ($28.73), and transit and intercity bus drivers ($28.17). At the lower end of the wage scale were parking attendants ($14.26), refuse and recyclable material collectors ($14.87), and automotive and watercraft service attendants ($14.96). (Detailed data for the transportation and material moving occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_34980.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 Nashville area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the transportation and material moving group. For instance, traffic technicians were employed at 3.3 times the national rate in Nashville, and light truck drivers, at 1.5 times the U.S. average. Conveyor operators and tenders had a location quotient of 1.0 in Nashville, 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 Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development.

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

The May 2022 OEWS estimates use the model-based (MB3) estimation method implemented with the May 2021 estimates release. Additional updates were made to the MB3 wage processing methodology for May 2022. For more information, see the May 2022 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement.

The May 2022 estimates are the first OEWS estimates to be produced using the 2022 NAICS, which replaces the 2017 NAICS used for the May 2017-May 2021 estimates. See North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at BLS for details.


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 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 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 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,954 establishments with a response rate of 60 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 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cannon County, Cheatham County, Davidson County, Dickson County, Hickman County, Macon County, Maury County, Robertson County, Rutherford County, Smith County, Sumner County, Trousdale County, Williamson County, and Wilson 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 transportation and material moving occupations, Nashville metropolitan area, May 2022
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Transportation and material moving occupations

120,460 1.3 20.00 41,600

First-line supervisors of transportation and material moving workers, except aircraft cargo handling supervisors

5,570 1.3 28.73 59,760

Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers

80 0.1 (5) 108,260

Commercial pilots

290 0.9 (5) 136,350

Airfield operations specialists

170 1.6 24.79 51,570

Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians

150 2.2 24.25 50,440

Driver/sales workers

3,650 1.1 16.70 34,740

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers

18,360 1.3 26.23 54,550

Light truck drivers

10,820 1.5 21.56 44,850

Bus drivers, school

2,030 0.8 18.77 39,030

Bus drivers, transit and intercity

970 1.0 28.17 58,600

Shuttle drivers and chauffeurs

720 0.5 16.37 34,040

Motor vehicle operators, all other

890 2.6 15.22 31,650

Parking attendants

870 1.2 14.26 29,670

Automotive and watercraft service attendants

850 1.2 14.96 31,120

Aircraft service attendants

60 0.4 20.25 42,110

Traffic technicians

170 3.3 27.47 57,140

Transportation inspectors

150 0.9 35.64 74,130

Transportation workers, all other

80 1.0 17.55 36,510

Conveyor operators and tenders

200 1.0 17.34 36,070

Crane and tower operators

300 0.9 26.47 55,070

Industrial truck and tractor operators

6,860 1.3 19.13 39,800

Cleaners of vehicles and equipment

2,710 1.1 15.22 31,660

Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand

29,580 1.4 17.72 36,850

Machine feeders and offbearers

90 0.3 18.59 38,660

Packers and packagers, hand

5,240 1.1 15.43 32,090

Stockers and order fillers

27,030 1.4 16.19 33,670

Refuse and recyclable material collectors

700 0.8 14.87 30,920

Material moving workers, all other

350 2.0 22.31 46,410

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_34980.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) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, June 30, 2023