Workers in the Gary Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.23 in May 2014, about 11 percent below the nationwide average of $22.71, 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 higher than their respective national averages in 4 of the 22 major occupational groups, including construction and extraction; production; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Sixteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; management; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; construction and extraction; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including office and administrative support; business and financial operations; and computer and mathematical. (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. Gary had 23,920 jobs in production, accounting for 9.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.89, significantly above the national wage of $17.06.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic (3,230); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,850); and metal-refining furnace operators and tenders (1,670). Among the higher paying jobs were power plant operators and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $32.34 and $30.23, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.40) and sewing machine operators ($10.34). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2014/may/oes_23844.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 Gary Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 49.0 times the national rate in Gary, and metal-refining furnace operators and tenders, at 40.6 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, printing press operators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Gary, 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 Indiana 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. May 2014 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, November 2012, May 2012, and November 2011. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 74.3 percent based on establishments and 70.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.1 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the Gary Metropolitan Division included 2,480 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 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 2014 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 Gary, Ind. Metropolitan Division  includes Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties.

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/2014/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.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Gary Metropolitan Division, May 2014

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	23,920	1.4	$19.89	$41,380
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	1,850	1.6	30.23	62,880
Engine and Other Machine Assemblers	30	0.5	15.74	32,740
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	100	0.7	20.23	42,090
Team Assemblers	1,580	0.7	12.54	26,080
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	210	0.5	13.16	27,370
Bakers	170	0.5	12.73	26,490
Butchers and Meat Cutters	410	1.5	13.12	27,290
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders	(5)	(5)	12.08	25,120
Food Batchmakers	100	0.4	14.86	30,900
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	270	0.9	19.20	39,940
Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	21.57	44,860
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	14.68	30,530
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	3,230	49.0	26.72	55,580
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	550	1.5	16.05	33,390
Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	90	2.5	19.22	39,980
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	200	1.4	16.69	34,720
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	50	0.6	20.29	42,200
Machinists	1,000	1.3	20.38	42,380
Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders	1,670	40.6	22.37	46,530
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	710	2.8	21.14	43,960
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	140	0.7	16.97	35,290
Tool and Die Makers	60	0.4	20.25	42,130
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	880	1.2	21.90	45,550
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	220	2.0	16.89	35,120
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	160	4.0	25.83	53,720
Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	480	6.7	18.10	37,650
Metal Workers and Plastic Workers, All Other	90	2.2	17.89	37,220
Prepress Technicians and Workers	70	0.9	17.33	36,040
Printing Press Operators	310	1.0	15.96	33,190
Print Binding and Finishing Workers	50	0.5	13.18	27,410
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	450	1.1	9.40	19,540
Sewing Machine Operators	120	0.4	10.34	21,510
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers	(5)	(5)	14.23	29,600
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	320	1.8	11.12	23,130
Power Plant Operators	220	2.8	32.34	67,260
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators	50	0.7	22.94	47,710
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	230	1.1	19.99	41,580
Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers	(5)	(5)	22.18	46,140
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders	200	1.6	23.04	47,910
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	160	2.7	15.52	32,290
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	270	1.1	17.87	37,170
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	(5)	(5)	12.32	25,630
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	110	0.8	18.51	38,510
Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders	950	23.5	19.72	41,020
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	1,400	1.5	19.26	40,060
Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers	40	0.9	23.42	48,710
Dental Laboratory Technicians	90	1.3	20.31	42,230
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians	40	0.8	12.53	26,060
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	570	0.8	15.10	31,400
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	80	0.5	13.10	27,250
Painters, Transportation Equipment	40	0.4	22.90	47,630
Etchers and Engravers	(5)	(5)	12.58	26,170
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	80	0.5	18.15	37,760
Helpers--Production Workers	760	0.9	11.61	24,150
Production Workers, All Other	180	0.4	16.31	33,920
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Gary, IN 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.