Workers in the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.44 in May 2016, about 19 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 average in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal, computer and mathematical, and management. Three occupational groups had wages that were not significantly different from their respective national averages, including production; construction and extraction; and education, training, and library.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 8 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, sales and related, and food preparation and serving related. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, computer and mathematical, and management. (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. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman had 19,500 jobs in production, accounting for 9.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.78, compared to the national wage of $17.88.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,570); team assemblers (1,490); and cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic (1,090). Among the higher paying jobs were power distributors and dispatchers with mean hourly wages of $32.25 and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, $28.97. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.88) and pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($9.98). (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_49660.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 Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Youngstown were employed at 7.7 times the national rate, and rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, at 7.2 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, butchers and meat cutters in Youngstown 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 Ohio Department of Job & Family Services and Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

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 Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,895 establishments with a response rate of 76 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 Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Mahoning and Trumbull Counties of Ohio, and Mercer County of Pennsylvania.

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, Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	19,500	1.4	$17.78	$36,980
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,570	1.7	28.97	60,260
Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers	460	1.4	15.12	31,450
Electromechanical equipment assemblers	150	2.2	17.45	36,300
Engine and other machine assemblers	90	1.5	19.77	41,120
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	180	1.5	22.26	46,310
Team assemblers	1,490	0.9	15.19	31,600
Assemblers and fabricators, all other	1,050	3.0	13.65	28,390
Bakers	510	1.8	11.48	23,870
Butchers and meat cutters	200	1.0	15.12	31,450
Food batchmakers	(5)	(5)	15.24	31,690
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	480	2.1	17.31	36,000
Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic	50	1.3	22.21	46,190
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	520	4.7	17.48	36,360
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	18.12	37,690
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	320	7.2	20.64	42,930
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,090	3.6	17.57	36,530
Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	110	5.8	19.20	39,940
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	390	3.4	16.41	34,140
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	1.7	18.36	38,190
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	1.4	18.71	38,910
Machinists	920	1.5	20.14	41,900
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	210	7.7	20.62	42,890
Pourers and casters, metal	60	4.4	16.84	35,020
Foundry mold and coremakers	70	3.7	20.38	42,390
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	310	1.4	18.31	38,080
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	610	3.4	17.23	35,830
Tool and die makers	410	3.7	26.69	55,520
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	960	1.6	17.76	36,940
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	130	1.8	16.12	33,540
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	4.1	20.59	42,820
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	110	2.0	16.43	34,180
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	70	1.9	17.74	36,900
Prepress technicians and workers	(5)	(5)	17.93	37,300
Printing press operators	250	0.9	17.67	36,760
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	480	1.5	9.88	20,550
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	70	1.0	9.98	20,760
Sewing machine operators	110	0.5	12.39	25,770
Upholsterers	(5)	(5)	15.05	31,310
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	170	1.1	19.16	39,860
Furniture finishers	40	1.6	16.12	33,520
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	100	1.3	12.50	26,000
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	140	1.2	12.88	26,780
Power distributors and dispatchers	40	2.4	32.25	67,080
Stationary engineers and boiler operators	60	1.1	23.15	48,140
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	340	1.9	22.93	47,700
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	1.0	15.59	32,430
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	140	3.5	14.23	29,600
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	100	0.5	16.17	33,640
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	0.5	13.22	27,490
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	180	1.6	15.72	32,700
Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders	50	1.5	17.08	35,530
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,090	1.4	19.42	40,400
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	30	0.8	19.19	39,920
Medical appliance technicians	30	1.4	16.51	34,330
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	(5)	(5)	12.62	26,250
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	440	0.7	13.85	28,810
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	190	1.4	17.68	36,770
Painters, transportation equipment	70	0.8	19.61	40,780
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	70	1.1	14.50	30,170
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	0.5	11.23	23,360
Helpers--production workers	710	1.1	13.53	28,140
Production workers, all other	480	1.2	13.34	27,740
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_49660.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.