Workers in the Greenville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.16 in May 2022, 15 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 legal; computer and mathematical; and life, physical, and social science. Educational instruction and library was the only group to have a significantly higher wage than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Greenville area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, educational instruction and library, and food preparation and serving related. Fourteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving, business and financial operations, and computer and mathematical. (See table A.)

One occupational group—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Greenville had 8,670 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 11.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $37.79, significantly below the national wage of $46.52.

Among the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group was registered nurses (3,450). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were pharmacists and physician assistants, with mean hourly wages of $65.52 and $54.94, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were psychiatric technicians ($15.61) and ophthalmic medical technicians ($15.81). (Detailed data for the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24780.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 Greenville area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, diagnostic medical sonographers were employed at 3.8 times the national rate in Greenville, and medical records specialists, at 3.2 times the U.S. average. Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses had a location quotient of 1.2 in Greenville, 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 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 Greenville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area included 944 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 Greenville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Pitt 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 healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Greenville metropolitan area, May 2022

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	8,670	1.8	37.79	78,600
Dentists, general	60	0.9	(5)	(5)
Dietitians and nutritionists	80	2.0	30.28	62,980
Pharmacists	250	1.4	65.52	136,290
Physician assistants	90	1.2	54.94	114,270
Occupational therapists	100	1.3	42.14	87,640
Physical therapists	180	1.5	47.38	98,550
Respiratory therapists	140	2.0	29.01	60,340
Speech-language pathologists	230	2.7	38.34	79,750
Veterinarians	30	0.8	50.55	105,150
Registered nurses	3,450	2.1	36.37	75,640
Nurse practitioners	140	1.0	53.90	112,120
Physicians, all other	570	3.5	58.08	120,800
Dental hygienists	120	1.0	35.56	73,960
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	380	2.2	27.50	57,200
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	80	2.7	31.95	66,460
Diagnostic medical sonographers	160	3.8	32.88	68,390
Radiologic technologists and technicians	160	1.5	29.27	60,880
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	60	3.0	31.03	64,540
Emergency medical technicians	170	2.0	17.22	35,810
Paramedics	70	1.4	22.35	46,490
Pharmacy technicians	350	1.5	17.87	37,160
Psychiatric technicians	170	3.1	15.61	32,470
Surgical technologists	110	1.9	24.35	50,650
Ophthalmic medical technicians	40	1.2	15.81	32,880
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	400	1.2	24.54	51,040
Medical records specialists	310	3.2	23.56	49,000
Opticians, dispensing	30	0.8	19.60	40,770
Health technologists and technicians, all other	150	1.8	20.66	42,970
Surgical assistants	30	3.3	17.71	36,830
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Greenville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24780.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.