Workers in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.51 in May 2019, about 12 percent below the nationwide average of $25.72, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, no wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 22 major occupational groups. Nineteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including management; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Fort Wayne area employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, transportation and material moving, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Conversely, eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including educational instruction and library, office and administrative support, and business and financial operations. (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. Fort Wayne had 25,440 jobs in production, accounting for 11.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $20.26, compared to the national wage of $19.30.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (6,820), machinists (2,040), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,750). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and computer numerically controlled tool programmers, with mean hourly wages of $29.08 and $26.43, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($11.67) and sewing machine operators ($12.73). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_23060.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 Fort Wayne area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 7.3 times the national rate in Fort Wayne, and tool and die makers, at 4.0 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Fort Wayne, 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 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 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. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2019 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, and November 2016. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,025 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.

The May 2019 OES estimates are the first set of OES estimates to be based in part on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC. These estimates use a hybrid of the 2010 and 2018 SOC systems. More information on the hybrid classification system is available at www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm.

The May 2019 OES estimates are based on the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). More information about the 2017 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 Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Allen, Wells, and Whitley Counties.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OES program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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 for production occupations, Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2019

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	25,440	1.9	$20.26	$42,130
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,750	1.9	29.08	60,490
Coil winders, tapers, and finishers	110	6.0	17.20	35,780
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	(5)	(5)	17.52	36,440
Engine and other machine assemblers	(5)	(5)	16.61	34,560
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	70	0.6	18.80	39,090
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	6,820	3.3	22.80	47,420
Bakers	210	0.8	12.92	26,870
Butchers and meat cutters	170	0.8	15.49	32,210
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	16.79	34,930
Food batchmakers	(5)	(5)	15.19	31,590
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	830	7.3	17.91	37,250
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	740	2.6	16.04	33,360
Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	18.66	38,800
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	220	1.9	15.34	31,900
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	4.3	19.50	40,560
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	21.75	45,240
Machinists	2,040	3.6	21.98	45,720
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	90	3.7	20.72	43,100
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	440	1.7	16.27	33,830
Tool and die makers	420	4.0	24.44	50,840
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	770	1.3	18.48	38,440
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	210	4.1	16.88	35,100
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	18.41	38,300
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	210	3.4	16.58	34,480
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	30	0.9	19.85	41,280
Prepress technicians and workers	40	1.0	19.37	40,300
Printing press operators	240	0.9	19.25	40,030
Print binding and finishing workers	130	2.0	15.48	32,190
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	300	1.0	11.67	24,280
Sewing machine operators	160	0.8	12.73	26,470
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	180	1.2	16.92	35,190
Furniture finishers	60	2.6	13.41	27,890
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	(5)	(5)	15.93	33,130
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	200	1.7	14.60	30,360
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	150	0.8	23.23	48,320
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	1.0	14.99	31,180
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	50	1.1	20.77	43,210
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	250	1.4	17.83	37,090
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	220	2.5	15.47	32,170
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	18.98	39,490
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,090	1.3	18.90	39,320
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	(5)	(5)	19.61	40,800
Dental laboratory technicians	90	1.8	20.22	42,070
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	(5)	(5)	14.97	31,130
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	490	0.8	13.95	29,030
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	100	5.2	17.96	37,350
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	400	1.8	17.44	36,270
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	640	2.8	19.73	41,030
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	60	1.5	26.43	54,980
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	14.21	29,570
Helpers--production workers	740	1.6	13.33	27,720
Production workers, all other	310	0.9	16.88	35,100
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_23060.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.