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News Release Information

23-1143-CHI
Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Occupational Employment and Wages in Grand Rapids-Wyoming — May 2022

Workers in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.40 in May 2022, 11 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 20 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Grand Rapids area employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, transportation and material moving, and architecture and engineering. Sixteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including educational instruction and library, computer and mathematical, and sales and related. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Grand Rapids metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2022
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage
United States Grand Rapids United States Grand Rapids Percent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 $29.76 $26.40* -11

Management

6.7 5.9* 63.08 55.63* -12

Business and financial operations

6.5 5.6* 41.39 36.64* -11

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.1* 51.99 40.07* -23

Architecture and engineering

1.7 2.9* 45.52 38.53* -15

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.5* 40.21 36.97* -8

Community and social service

1.6 1.3* 26.81 24.22* -10

Legal

0.8 0.5* 59.87 47.38* -21

Educational instruction and library

5.7 4.2* 30.41 27.56* -9

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.3* 36.78 25.95* -29

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 6.7* 46.52 44.78* -4

Healthcare support

4.6 3.6* 17.10 16.76* -2

Protective service

2.3 1.2* 25.97 23.36* -10

Food preparation and serving related

8.5 7.5* 15.45 15.33 -1

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 3.2* 17.26 16.08* -7

Personal care and service

1.9 1.7* 17.41 15.98* -8

Sales and related

8.9 7.6* 24.22 23.32* -4

Office and administrative support

12.6 11.4* 21.90 20.84* -5

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1* 18.21 18.55 2

Construction and extraction

4.1 3.7* 28.08 26.23* -7

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.0 26.77 25.47* -5

Production

5.9 14.2* 21.81 20.31* -7

Transportation and material moving

9.2 10.9* 21.12 18.90* -11

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Grand Rapids had 78,330 jobs in production, accounting for 14.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $20.31, significantly below the national wage of $21.81.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (19,480); inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (5,200); and cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic (4,990). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were gas plant operators and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $46.28 and $31.03, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.81) and bakers ($15.24). (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_24340.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 Grand Rapids area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, tool and die makers were employed at 7.8 times the national rate in Grand Rapids, and cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, at 7.4 times the U.S. average. Sewing machine operators had a location quotient of 1.1 in Grand Rapids, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

The May 2022 OEWS estimates use the model-based (MB3) estimation method implemented with the May 2021 estimates release. Additional updates were made to the MB3 wage processing methodology for May 2022. For more information, see the May 2022 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement.

The May 2022 estimates are the first OEWS estimates to be produced using the 2022 NAICS, which replaces the 2017 NAICS used for the May 2017-May 2021 estimates. See North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at BLS for details.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS 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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS 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. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 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 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 3,333 establishments with a response rate of 74 percent. For more information about OEWS 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.

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 Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Barry County, Kent County, Montcalm County, and Ottawa County.

For more information

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

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Grand Rapids metropolitan area, May 2022
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

78,330 2.4 $20.31 $42,240

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

4,720 1.9 31.03 64,550

Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers

2,340 2.3 18.55 38,590

Engine and other machine assemblers

900 4.9 24.29 50,520

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

660 3.0 25.90 53,870

Fiberglass laminators and fabricators

80 1.0 18.26 37,970

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

19,480 3.6 17.79 37,000

Bakers

1,210 1.6 15.24 31,700

Butchers and meat cutters

420 0.9 18.42 38,310

Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers

190 0.4 18.11 37,670

Slaughterers and meat packers

310 1.1 17.68 36,780

Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders

120 1.6 16.21 33,710

Food batchmakers

1,170 1.9 21.12 43,930

Food processing workers, all other

120 0.7 16.79 34,930

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

240 1.0 19.61 40,800

Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

110 2.9 22.50 46,790

Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

180 1.8 19.58 40,730

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

4,990 7.4 21.69 45,120

Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

70 2.9 21.90 45,550

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

530 1.9 19.60 40,780

Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

160 2.2 21.39 44,490

Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

110 1.9 20.33 42,290

Machinists

3,430 2.9 22.55 46,910

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

100 1.4 19.95 41,500

Model makers, metal and plastic

80 6.8 29.93 62,240

Foundry mold and coremakers

100 2.3 20.97 43,620

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

2,970 4.8 18.26 37,970

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1,330 2.6 17.40 36,200

Tool and die makers

1,800 7.8 28.51 59,290

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

2,130 1.4 21.16 44,000

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders

470 4.1 20.49 42,620

Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

130 2.3 19.81 41,210

Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

540 4.6 17.60 36,600

Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners

40 2.0 20.74 43,130

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

70 0.9 20.98 43,640

Prepress technicians and workers

90 1.0 21.50 44,710

Printing press operators

960 1.7 20.73 43,110

Print binding and finishing workers

200 1.4 18.49 38,450

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

810 1.3 14.81 30,800

Sewing machine operators

450 1.1 17.72 36,850

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers

50 0.8 18.07 37,580

Upholsterers

470 4.7 19.58 40,720

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

420 1.2 20.80 43,260

Furniture finishers

140 2.5 23.57 49,020

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

240 1.4 18.58 38,640

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

660 2.8 18.44 38,360

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

470 1.1 25.60 53,250

Gas plant operators

60 1.2 46.28 96,270

Plant and system operators, all other

40 0.8 45.31 94,240

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

700 1.6 22.61 47,020

Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders

190 1.0 19.74 41,050

Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders

100 1.0 21.08 43,840

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

110 2.0 17.72 36,860

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

570 1.4 20.82 43,300

Cutters and trimmers, hand

40 1.2 18.16 37,770

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

340 1.7 19.43 40,400

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

440 2.0 (5) (5)

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

5,200 2.4 19.95 41,500

Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers

160 1.7 24.61 51,190

Dental laboratory technicians

250 2.0 21.71 45,150

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

3,970 2.9 18.64 38,760

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

40 1.0 17.76 36,930

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

1,340 2.4 19.88 41,350

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

1,610 2.4 21.76 45,250

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

360 3.5 28.33 58,930

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders

80 1.8 21.39 44,500

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

170 3.4 19.39 40,320

Cooling and freezing equipment operators and tenders

40 1.7 27.11 56,390

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

390 2.7 18.80 39,110

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

450 1.3 19.77 41,130

Helpers--production workers

1,110 1.6 17.38 36,140

Production workers, all other

3,020 3.2 16.23 33,760

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_24340.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2023