Occupational Employment and Wages in Knoxville — May 2023

Workers in the Knoxville, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.35 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($58.03) and legal ($52.60). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.35) and personal care and service ($14.95). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Knoxville area included office and administrative support (13.8 percent), food preparation and serving related (9.9 percent), and transportation and material moving (9.5 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.6 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.9 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.0 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group-office and administrative support-was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Knoxville had 57,000 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 13.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.19, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included customer service representatives (8,280), general office clerks (7,440), and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers (6,350). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and postal service clerks, with mean hourly wages of $32.09 and $30.17, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($13.90) and switchboard operators, including answering service ($14.79). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_28940.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 Knoxville area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, file clerks were employed at 1.9 times the national rate in Knoxville, and production, planning, and expediting clerks, at 1.6 times the U.S. average. Receptionists and information clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Knoxville, indicating that this particular occupation's local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development.

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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Knoxville, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,049 establishments with a response rate of 59 percent.

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 Knoxville, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Anderson County, Blount County, Campbell County, Grainger County, Knox County, Loudon County, Morgan County, Roane County, and Union County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

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.

Occupation	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level	Location quotient	Hourly	Annual
Office and administrative support occupations	57,000	1.1	21.19	44,080
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	6,350	1.6	32.09	66,750
Switchboard operators, including answering service	100	0.8	14.79	30,760
Telephone operators	50	3.7	17.43	36,260
Bill and account collectors	490	0.9	19.37	40,290
Billing and posting clerks	1,120	1.0	19.85	41,290
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	5,800	1.4	21.68	45,100
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	430	1.0	23.41	48,690
Procurement clerks	240	1.4	21.44	44,600
Tellers	1,200	1.3	17.46	36,310
Financial clerks, all other	80	0.7	22.64	47,080
Court, municipal, and license clerks	500	1.2	21.75	45,240
Customer service representatives	8,280	1.1	18.60	38,690
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	220	0.5	18.66	38,820
File clerks	410	1.9	18.50	38,480
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	780	1.1	13.90	28,900
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	280	0.6	17.58	36,570
Library assistants, clerical	200	0.9	17.24	35,870
Loan interviewers and clerks	870	1.6	19.50	40,550
Order clerks	300	1.2	19.42	40,390
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	360	1.3	20.41	42,450
Receptionists and information clerks	2,750	1.0	15.25	31,710
Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks	150	0.5	23.84	49,590
Information and record clerks, all other	160	0.4	22.74	47,300
Cargo and freight agents	70	0.2	22.02	45,800
Couriers and messengers	230	1.2	16.30	33,910
Public safety telecommunicators	80	0.3	20.27	42,160
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	550	1.0	20.81	43,280
Meter readers, utilities	70	1.2	25.13	52,270
Postal service clerks	150	0.7	30.17	62,760
Postal service mail carriers	1,000	1.1	28.68	59,640
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	510	1.6	27.05	56,260
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	1,760	1.6	24.44	50,840
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	2,790	1.2	20.03	41,660
Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping	70	0.5	20.54	42,710
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	530	0.4	29.93	62,250
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	360	0.9	21.18	44,050
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	2,460	1.2	17.60	36,610
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	4,840	1.0	20.36	42,340
Data entry keyers	350	0.8	18.16	37,770
Word processors and typists	50	0.5	19.22	39,980
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	1,140	1.7	20.02	41,630
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	100	0.5	15.17	31,560
Office clerks, general	7,440	1.1	18.06	37,560
Office machine operators, except computer	50	0.7	18.45	38,380
Office and administrative support workers, all other	510	1.1	19.71	41,000

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