Workers in the York-Hanover Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.25 in May 2015, 13 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 15 of the 22 major occupational groups, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; legal; and computer and mathematical. No occupation group had an average hourly wage that was significantly higher than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, York employment shares were significantly higher in 5 of the 22 occupational groups—production; transportation and material moving; installation, maintenance, and repair; construction and extraction; and architecture and engineering. Conversely, 14 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation; these groups included management; computer and mathematical; and business and financial operations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

 

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and York metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2015

Major occupational group	Percent of total employment			Mean hourly wage
	United States	York		United States	York		Percent difference (1)
Total, all occupations	100%	100%		$23.23	$20.25	*	-13
Management	5.0	3.3	*	55.30	51.79	*	-6
Business and financial operations	5.1	3.7	*	35.48	32.05	*	-10
Computer and mathematical	2.9	1.2	*	41.43	34.07	*	-18
Architecture and engineering	1.8	2.1	*	39.89	34.19	*	-14
Life, physical, and social science	0.8	0.4	*	34.24	28.99	*	-15
Community and social service	1.4	1.4		22.19	19.23	*	-13
Legal	0.8	0.3	*	49.74	36.98	*	-26
Education, training, and library	6.2	5.4	*	25.48	24.16	*	-5
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media	1.3	0.7	*	27.39	17.93	*	-35
Healthcare practitioners and technical	5.8	6.0		37.40	34.37	*	-8
Healthcare support	2.9	2.7		14.19	14.04		-1
Protective service	2.4	1.5	*	21.45	20.19		-6
Food preparation and serving related	9.1	8.8	*	10.98	10.25	*	-7
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance	3.2	2.7	*	13.02	12.37		-5
Personal care and service	3.1	2.8	*	12.33	11.50	*	-7
Sales and related	10.5	9.6	*	18.90	16.17	*	-14
Office and administrative support	15.8	15.2	*	17.47	16.29	*	-7
Farming, fishing, and forestry	0.3	0.1	*	12.67	12.71		0
Construction and extraction	4.0	4.4	*	22.88	21.57	*	-6
Installation, maintenance, and repair	3.9	4.7	*	22.11	22.16		0
Production	6.6	11.9	*	17.41	17.57		1
Transportation and material moving	6.9	11.1	*	16.90	16.83		0
Footnotes: (1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in York is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage. * The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area 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. York had 21,020 jobs in production, accounting for 11.9 percent of local area employment, nearly twice the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.57, close to the national wage of $17.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group include team assemblers (2,230); inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,440); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,230). Among the higher-paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $28.17 and $21.94, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.47) and food batchmakers ($11.44). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_49620.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 as it does nationally. In the York 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 4.5 times the national rate in York, and paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed 8.0 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, electrical and electronic equipment assemblers had a location quotient of 1.0 in York, 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 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 program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and 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. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year. May 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 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 York-Hanover Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,018 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 2015 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 York-Hanover, Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes York County in Pennsylvania.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at https://www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic. 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, York-Hanover Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment (2)		Mean wages
	Level	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	21,020	1.8	$17.57	$36,540
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,230	1.6	28.17	58,590
Coil winders, tapers, and finishers	(5)	(5)	13.17	27,400
Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers	280	1.0	15.22	31,670
Electromechanical equipment assemblers	350.0	5.8	15.81	32,880
Engine and other machine assemblers	200	4.0	15.20	31,620
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	(5)	(5)	19.12	39,780
Team assemblers	2,230	1.6	14.86	30,910
Assemblers and fabricators, all other	360	1.2	14.80	30,780
Bakers	390.0	1.7	12.90	26,830
Butchers and meat cutters	140	0.8	14.05	29,230
Food batchmakers	250.0	1.5	11.44	23,800
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	300	6.8	18.32	38,090
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	420	2.2	19.21	39,960
Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic	70	2.0	23.18	48,210
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	1.3	16.68	34,690
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	570.0	2.3	16.54	34,400
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	210	2.3	17.42	36,230
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	19.21	39,950
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120.0	4.8	19.71	41,000
Machinists	1,120	2.2	18.88	39,270
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	30	1.3	19.75	41,090
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	310	1.8	16.94	35,230
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	510.0	3.7	17.62	36,660
Tool and die makers	430.0	4.5	21.94	45,620
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	890	1.8	20.37	42,370
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	16.59	34,510
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	100	2.1	14.43	30,020
Metal workers and plastic workers, all other	(5)	(5)	13.55	28,190
Prepress technicians and workers	140.0	3.2	17.60	36,600
Printing press operators	560.0	2.6	17.68	36,770
Print binding and finishing workers	280	4.1	13.92	28,960
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	200	0.8	10.47	21,770
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	40	0.7	11.87	24,680
Upholsterers	40	1.1	14.33	29,810
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	130	1.1	15.68	32,610
Furniture finishers	30	1.6	12.11	25,200
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	100	1.7	14.88	30,960
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	180	1.8	13.44	27,960
Stationary engineers and boiler operators	70	1.6	26.53	55,190
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	270	1.8	23.62	49,130
Gas plant operators	(5)	(5)	27.43	57,040
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	210	2.4	16.28	33,860
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	1.7	(5)	(5)
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	21.09	43,860
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	90	2.4	13.39	27,840
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	220	1.3	18.38	38,220
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	1.9	15.63	32,510
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	1.7	19.08	39,700
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,440	2.2	16.83	35,000
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	70	2.0	12.58	26,170
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	1,080	2.2	15.75	32,760
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	200.0	1.8	16.84	35,040
Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders	40.0	1.8	16.05	33,390
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	50.0	2.4	15.92	33,110
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	15.37	31,970
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	930.0	8.0	16.89	35,120
Helpers--production workers	1,190	2.1	13.06	27,160
Production workers, all other	140	0.4	16.13	33,550
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the York-Hanover Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_49620.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) Estimates not released.