Workers in the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.64 in May 2011, about 10 percent below the nationwide average of $21.74, 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 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including protective service, construction and extraction, and sales and related.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including healthcare practitioners and technical, food preparation and serving related, and office and administrative support.  Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including education, training, and library; business and financial operations; and production. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—food preparation and serving related—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville had 28,740 jobs in food preparation and serving related, accounting for 10.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 8.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $10.13, compared to the national wage of $10.30.

With employment of 6,870, combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food was the largest occupation within the food preparation and serving related group, followed by waiters and waitresses (6,350) and restaurant cooks (2,920). Among the higher paying jobs were chefs and head cooks, and first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, with mean hourly wages of $18.17 and $16.13, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were dishwashers ($8.49) and fast food cooks ($8.59). (Detailed occupational data for food preparation and serving related are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2011/may/oes_16700.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 Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area, above average concentrations of employment were found in a few of the occupations within the food preparation and serving related group. For instance, chefs and head cooks were employed at 3.1 times the national rate in Charleston, and restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop hosts and hostesses at 1.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, food preparation workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Charleston, 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. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and nearly 800 non-military detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas.

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 also are surveyed, but their data are not included in this release. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 establishments in May and November of each year for a 3-year period. The nationwide response rate for the May 2011 survey was 77.3 percent based on establishments and 73.3 percent based on employment. May 2011 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2011, November 2010, May 2010, November 2009, May 2009, and November 2008. The sample in the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,447 establishments with a response rate of 77 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2011 OES estimates mark the first set of estimates based in part on data collected using the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Nearly all the occupations in this release are 2010 SOC occupations; however, some are not. The May 2012 OES data will reflect the full set of detailed occupations in the 2010 SOC. For a list of all occupations, including 2010 SOC occupations, and how data collected on two structures were combined, see the OES Frequently Asked Questions online at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm#Ques41.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.

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 Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville, S.C. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties.