For Release: Tuesday, June 10, 2014
14-1038-ATL
SOUTHEAST INFORMATION OFFICE: Atlanta, Ga.
Technical information: (404) 893-4222 [email protected]
Media contact:
(404) 893-4220
www.bls.gov/regions/southeast
Occupational Employment and Wages in Columbia, May 2013
Workers in the Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.41 in
May 2013, 13 percent below the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages
in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 20 of the 22 major
occupational groups, including construction and extraction, business and financial operations, and computer
and mathematical.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the
22 occupational groups, including office and administrative support, protective service, and healthcare
practitioners and technical. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national
representation, including construction and extraction, food preparation and serving related, and
transportation and material moving. (See table A and box note at end of release.)
One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data
available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Columbia had 63,320 jobs in office and
administrative support, accounting for 18.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the
16.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $15.67,
measurably below the national wage of $16.78.
With employment of 11,290, customer service representatives was among the largest occupations within the
office and administrative support group, followed by secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal,
medical, and executive (7,310) and general office clerks (6,960). Among the higher paying jobs were firstline supervisors of office and administrative support workers, and executive secretaries and executive
administrative assistants, with mean hourly wages of $23.00 and $22.14, respectively. At the lower end of
the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($8.81) and stock clerks and order fillers ($10.75).
(Detailed occupational data for office and administrative support are presented in table 1; for a complete
listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17900.htm.)
Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the
Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013
Percent of total employment
Major occupational group
Total, all occupations ............................................
Management .....................................................
Business and financial operations.....................
Note: See footnotes at end of table.
United States
100.0%
4.9
5.0
Columbia
100.0%
4.6*
5.0
Mean hourly wage
United States
$22.33
53.15
34.14
Columbia
$19.41*
45.13*
27.24*
Percent
difference 1
-13
-15
-20
Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the
Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2013 - Continued
Percent of total employment
Major occupational group
Computer and mathematical .............................
Architecture and engineering ............................
Life, physical, and social science ......................
Community and social services.........................
Legal..................................................................
Education, training, and library..........................
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.
Healthcare practitioner and technical ................
Healthcare support ............................................
Protective service ..............................................
Food preparation and serving related ...............
Building and grounds cleaning and
maintenance......................................................
Personal care and service.................................
Sales and related ..............................................
Office and administrative support......................
Farming, fishing, and forestry............................
Construction and extraction...............................
Installation, maintenance, and repair ................
Production .........................................................
Transportation and material moving ..................
United States
Mean hourly wage
Columbia
United States
Columbia
Percent
difference 1
2.8
1.8
0.9
1.4
0.8
6.3
1.3
5.8
3.0
2.5
9.0
2.6*
1.7
0.5*
1.6*
1.1*
6.1*
0.9*
6.5*
2.9
3.3*
8.3*
39.43
38.51
33.37
21.50
47.89
24.76
26.72
35.93
13.61
20.92
10.38
31.45*
34.38*
26.75*
18.99*
32.79*
23.63
19.66*
30.53*
12.29*
16.10*
9.21*
-20
-11
-20
-12
-32
-5
-26
-15
-10
-23
-11
3.2
2.9*
12.51
11.04*
-12
3.0
10.6
16.2
0.3
3.8
3.9
6.6
6.8
2.3*
10.6
18.3*
0.3*
2.9*
4.3*
7.0
6.3*
11.88
18.37
16.78
11.70
21.94
21.35
16.79
16.28
10.87*
15.38*
15.67*
13.28*
17.42*
20.04*
15.63*
14.77*
-9
-16
-7
14
-21
-6
-7
-9
1 A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Columbia is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference
reflects a lower wage.
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90percent confidence level.
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 Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of
employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For
instance, insurance claims and policy processing clerks were employed at 2.5 times the national rate in
Columbia, and procurement clerks, at 2.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, bookeeping,
accounting, and auditing clerks had a location quotient of 0.9 in Columbia, indicating that this particular
occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.
These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative
program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the South Carolina Department of
Employment and Workforce.
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OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Columbia Metropolitan
Statistical Area were compared to their respective national averages based on statistical significance
testing. Only those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the national wage or
share after testing for significance at the 90-percent confidence level meet the criteria.
NOTE: 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.
Technical Note
The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational
employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States.
Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are also surveyed, but their data are not included in the national
estimates. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are
mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year for a 3-year
period. May 2013 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected in May 2013,
November 2012, May 2012, November 2011, May 2011, and November 2010. The overall national
response rate for the six panels is 75.3 percent based on establishments and 71.6 percent based on
employment. The sample in the Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,749 establishments with
a response rate of 70 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to
www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary
workers in 22 major occupational groups and 821 detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan
statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas. In addition, employment and wage
estimates for 94 minor groups and 458 broad occupations are available in the national data. OES data by
state and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan area are available from www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm and
www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm, respectively.
The May 2013 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system
and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is
available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at
www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.
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 Columbia, S.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Calhoun, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lexington,
Richland, and Saluda Counties.
Additional information
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OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southeast. Answers to frequently
asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical
information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS
website at www.bls.gov/oes/2013/may/methods_statement.pdf. Information in this release will be made
available to sensory impaired individuals upon request – Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay
Service: 800-877-8339.
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Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation,
Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013
Occupation (1)
Office and Administrative Support Occupations ...........
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative
Support Workers ......................................................
Switchboard Operators, Including Answering
Service .....................................................................
Bill and Account Collectors.......................................
Billing and Posting Clerks.........................................
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks ........
Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks...............................
Procurement Clerks..................................................
Tellers .......................................................................
Financial Clerks, All Other ........................................
Brokerage Clerks......................................................
Court, Municipal, and License Clerks.......................
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks ................
Customer Service Representatives..........................
Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs.........
File Clerks ................................................................
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks ......................
Interviewers, Except Eligibility and Loan ..................
Library Assistants, Clerical .......................................
Loan Interviewers and Clerks...................................
New Accounts Clerks ...............................................
Order Clerks .............................................................
Human Resources Assistants, Except Payroll and
Timekeeping .............................................................
Receptionists and Information Clerks.......................
Information and Record Clerks, All Other.................
Cargo and Freight Agents ........................................
Couriers and Messengers ........................................
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers.................
Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance ...
Meter Readers, Utilities ............................................
Postal Service Clerks ...............................................
Postal Service Mail Carriers .....................................
Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and
Processing Machine Operators ................................
Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks ...........
Shipping, Receiving, and Traffic Clerks....................
Stock Clerks and Order Fillers .................................
Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers,
Recordkeeping .........................................................
Executive Secretaries and Executive Administrative
Assistants .................................................................
Legal Secretaries .....................................................
Medical Secretaries..................................................
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except
Legal, Medical, and Executive..................................
Computer Operators.................................................
Data Entry Keyers ....................................................
Word Processors and Typists...................................
Insurance Claims and Policy Processing Clerks ......
Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except
Postal Service ..........................................................
Office Clerks, General ..............................................
Statistical Assistants.................................................
Employment
Level
(2)
Location quotient
Mean wages
(3)
Annual (4)
Hourly
63,320
1.1
$15.67
$32,590
5,800
1.6
23.00
47,840
330
1.1
13.48
28,040
1,240
1,470
3,680
380
400
880
30
90
220
90
11,290
90
300
610
390
310
330
100
260
1.3
1.1
0.9
0.9
2.2
0.6
0.3
0.6
0.7
0.7
1.8
0.3
0.7
1.0
0.8
1.2
0.6
0.7
0.5
14.34
15.10
16.87
18.71
18.14
12.23
22.81
19.21
16.71
16.86
14.60
17.86
12.56
8.81
13.80
11.96
15.92
15.69
15.69
29,820
31,410
35,100
38,910
37,730
25,440
47,440
39,960
34,750
35,070
30,380
37,150
26,130
18,320
28,710
24,880
33,120
32,630
32,630
520
1.5
17.08
35,530
2,460
340
70
320
200
420
120
110
710
1.0
0.7
0.3
1.7
0.8
0.9
1.2
0.6
0.9
12.56
19.62
18.87
10.80
14.77
20.52
17.64
24.29
23.78
26,120
40,810
39,250
22,470
30,710
42,680
36,690
50,520
49,470
410
1.3
22.56
46,930
1,620
1,810
3,820
2.2
1.0
0.8
21.68
13.38
10.75
45,090
27,830
22,360
170
1.0
12.51
26,020
1,480
0.8
22.14
46,060
770
1,200
1.3
0.9
17.26
14.93
35,900
31,050
7,310
1.3
15.22
31,660
140
960
40
1,540
0.8
1.8
0.2
2.5
15.84
13.21
17.54
15.78
32,950
27,470
36,490
32,820
410
1.6
13.54
28,170
6,960
130
0.9
3.2
12.99
16.48
27,020
34,280
Note: See footnotes at end of table.
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Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation,
Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2013 - Continued
Occupation (1)
Office and Administrative Support Workers, All
Other ........................................................................
Employment
Level
(2)
Location quotient
150
Mean wages
(3)
0.3
Annual (4)
Hourly
15.96
33,190
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Columbia, SC, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17900.htm.
(2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations 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.
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