Workers in the Gary Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.54 in May 2016, about 14 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 15 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Four groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction and transportation and material moving.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; installation, maintenance, and repair; and food preparation and serving related. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and office and administrative support. (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 23,320 jobs in production, accounting for 8.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.99, significantly above the national wage of $17.88.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic (2,150), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,910), and team assemblers (1,640). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers with mean hourly wages of $30.94 and chemical plant and system operators, $30.53. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($9.46) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.88). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/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 in Gary were employed at 39.0 times the national rate, and metal-refining furnace operators and tenders, at 35.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, bakers in Gary had a location quotient of 1.0, 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. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Gary Metropolitan Division included 2,401 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 2016 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.

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 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/current/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 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	23,320	1.4	$19.99	$41,570
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,910	1.7	30.94	64,350
Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers	40	0.1	25.12	52,250
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	190	1.3	18.86	39,240
Team assemblers	1,640	0.8	14.06	29,240
Assemblers and fabricators, all other	230	0.5	14.24	29,610
Bakers	330	1.0	11.58	24,080
Butchers and meat cutters	270	1.1	15.59	32,430
Food batchmakers	250	0.9	19.46	40,470
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	90	1.3	12.16	25,290
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	210	0.8	22.70	47,210
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	620	4.5	17.27	35,920
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	2,150	39.0	27.67	57,550
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	670	1.8	17.79	37,000
Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	110	4.8	19.57	40,700
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	18.37	38,210
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	140	2.2	19.01	39,540
Machinists	1,400	1.9	20.69	43,030
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	1,180	35.2	20.45	42,540
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	630	2.3	15.85	32,970
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	25.58	53,220
Tool and die makers	70	0.5	26.65	55,430
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,050	1.4	20.32	42,260
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	21.77	45,280
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	410	6.0	15.43	32,090
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	(5)	(5)	19.93	41,460
Prepress technicians and workers	60	0.9	18.25	37,960
Printing press operators	230	0.7	17.37	36,130
Print binding and finishing workers	30	0.3	14.91	31,020
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	530	1.3	9.88	20,550
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	70	0.8	9.46	19,680
Sewing machine operators	130	0.5	11.66	24,260
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	300	1.6	12.04	25,050
Stationary engineers and boiler operators	50	0.8	23.80	49,500
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	200	0.9	21.32	44,340
Chemical plant and system operators	150	2.5	30.53	63,510
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	(5)	(5)	22.77	47,370
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	200	1.4	23.84	49,590
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.5	20.68	43,010
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	1.9	18.36	38,180
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	(5)	(5)	14.33	29,800
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	280	1.1	21.20	44,100
Cutters and trimmers, hand	90	3.2	15.18	31,570
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	1.3	13.54	28,170
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	30	0.2	19.71	40,990
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	17.59	36,580
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,370	1.4	18.99	39,490
Dental laboratory technicians	80	1.1	20.00	41,600
Medical appliance technicians	(5)	(5)	12.83	26,690
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	(5)	(5)	17.46	36,310
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	550	0.8	15.89	33,040
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	0.5	13.85	28,800
Painters, transportation equipment	70	0.6	26.40	54,900
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	200	1.2	15.75	32,770
Helpers--production workers	670	0.8	12.85	26,730
Production workers, all other	200	0.4	18.01	37,460
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Gary, IN Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_23844.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.