Workers in the Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $23.25 in May 2013, about 4 percent above the nationwide average of $22.33, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly higher than their respective national averages in 10 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction; life, physical, and social science; and community and social service. Four groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; architecture and engineering; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; management; and education, training, and library. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including construction and extraction; healthcare practitioners and technical; and food preparation and serving related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Lake County-Kenosha County had 32,190 jobs in production, accounting for 8.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.57, compared to the national wage of $16.79.

With employment of 4,660, team assemblers was the largest occupation within the production group, followed by machinists (2,410) and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (2,270). Among the higher paying jobs were stationary engineers and boiler operators and power plant operators, with mean hourly wages of $34.94 and $33.77, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were food cooking machine operators and tenders ($9.57) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.70). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2013/may/oes_29404.htm.)

Location quotients allow for the exploration of an area’s occupational make-up 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 Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division, above average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders of metal and plastic were employed at 3.5 times the national rate in Lake County, and computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers of metal and plastic, at 3.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, electrical and electronic equipment assemblers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Lake County, 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 Illinois Department of Employment Security and the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

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 Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division included 3,703 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis. Metropolitan Division includes Lake County of Illinois and Kenosha County of Wisconsin.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/midwest. 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: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Lake County-Kenosha County Metropolitan Division, May 2013

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual(4)
Production Occupations	32,190	1.3	$17.57	$36,550
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	2,270	1.4	27.89	58,000
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers	590	1.0	12.90	26,840
Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers	(5)	(5)	14.58	30,340
Engine and Other Machine Assemblers	80	0.7	17.03	35,420
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	120	0.5	17.74	36,890
Team Assemblers	4,660	1.5	13.69	28,460
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	760	1.1	12.30	25,580
Bakers	450	1.0	11.80	24,550
Butchers and Meat Cutters	390	1.0	13.89	28,890
Slaughterers and Meat Packers	50	0.2	12.51	26,020
Food Batchmakers	600	1.9	12.56	26,130
Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders	120	1.2	9.57	19,910
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	18.58	38,640
Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	210	3.1	20.72	43,100
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	0.4	15.65	32,540
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	0.8	18.08	37,600
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	1,020	1.9	15.06	31,320
Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	17.46	36,320
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	710	3.5	15.98	33,240
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	300	2.6	18.56	38,600
Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	15.24	31,700
Machinists	2,410	2.2	19.05	39,630
Model Makers, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	22.08	45,930
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	570	1.6	15.94	33,160
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	410	1.5	16.50	34,310
Tool and Die Makers	280	1.2	23.29	48,440
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	700	0.7	18.70	38,900
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	130	0.9	16.98	35,310
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	70	1.2	16.45	34,220
Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	0.8	(5)	(5)
Prepress Technicians and Workers	90	0.8	19.28	40,100
Printing Press Operators	590	1.2	17.35	36,100
Print Binding and Finishing Workers	170	1.2	22.40	46,590
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	490	0.9	9.70	20,170
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials	(5)	(5)	9.84	20,470
Sewing Machine Operators	110	0.3	15.47	32,170
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers	80	1.3	12.34	25,670
Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers, All Other	(5)	(5)	12.62	26,250
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	130	0.6	22.16	46,100
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing	(5)	(5)	17.80	37,020
Power Plant Operators	100	0.9	33.77	70,230
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators	160	1.6	34.94	72,680
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	230	0.7	27.80	57,830
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	130	1.4	11.12	23,140
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand	100	1.2	15.97	33,220
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	(5)	(5)	17.33	36,050
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	(5)	(5)	17.96	37,360
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	(5)	(5)	16.85	35,050
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	210	1.0	14.16	29,450
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	1,960	1.5	17.35	36,080
Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers	40	0.6	18.70	38,900
Dental Laboratory Technicians	60	0.6	18.29	38,040
Medical Appliance Technicians	60	1.5	24.41	50,770
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians	(5)	(5)	14.28	29,690
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	1,720	1.6	13.15	27,360
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	180	0.7	14.13	29,390
Painters, Transportation Equipment	120	0.9	26.30	54,700
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers	100	2.2	17.04	35,450
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators	50	0.5	14.76	30,700
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic	50	0.6	15.99	33,270
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	350	1.3	15.09	31,380
Helpers--Production Workers	930	0.8	12.03	25,020
Production Workers, All Other	(5)	(5)	13.86	28,840
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Lake County-Kenosha County, IL-WI Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/tables.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. (5) Estimate not released.