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News Release Information

16-552-CHI
Monday, June 20, 2016

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Cincinnati-Middletown — May 2015

Workers in the Cincinnati-Middletown Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.61 in May 2015, about 3 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, 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 17 of the 22 major occupational groups including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; life, physical, and social science; and computer and mathematical. Three groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; healthcare practitioners and technical; and business and financial operations. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including sales and related; construction and extraction; and education, training, and library. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Cincinnati Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2015
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesCincinnatiUnited StatesCincinnatiPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$23.23$22.61*-3

Management

5.05.255.3052.71*-5

Business and Financial Operations

5.15.7*35.4832.23*-9

Computer and Mathematical

2.93.141.4337.49*-10

Architecture and Engineering

1.81.9*39.8938.49-4

Life, Physical, and Social Science

0.80.734.2430.07*-12

Community and Social Services

1.41.2*22.1921.20*-4

Legal

0.80.6*49.7445.84*-8

Education, Training, and Library

6.25.6*25.4827.789

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media

1.31.2*27.3921.32*-22

Healthcare Practitioner and Technical

5.86.6*37.4034.61*-7

Healthcare Support

2.93.0*14.1913.69*-4

Protective Service

2.42.0*21.4519.73*-8

Food Preparation and Serving Related

9.19.6*10.9810.27*-6

Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance

3.22.9*13.0212.29*-6

Personal Care and Service

3.12.6*12.3311.83*-4

Sales and Related

10.59.7*18.9020.18*7

Office and Administrative Support

15.816.017.4717.08*-2

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

0.3(2)*12.6713.93*10

Construction and Extraction

4.03.2*22.8821.75*-5

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair

3.93.922.1121.58*-2

Production

6.67.9*17.4118.21*5

Transportation and Material Moving

6.97.4*16.9016.15*-4

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Cincinnati is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
(2) Indicates a value of less than 0.05 percent
* 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. Cincinnati had 80,940 jobs in production, accounting for 7.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.21, significantly above the national wage of $17.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (6,720); packaging and filling machine operators and tenders (5,550); and machinists (5,310). Among the higher paying jobs were power distributors and dispatchers; and power plant operators, with mean hourly wages of $34.89 and $33.80, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($10.15) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.50). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2015/may/oes_17140.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 Cincinnati Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, engine and other machine assemblers were employed at 3.6 times the national rate in Cincinnati, and pressers, textile, garment, and related materials, at 2.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Cincinnati, 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; the Kentucky Department for Workforce Investment; and the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the issuance of data for May 2015, the OES program has incorporated redefined metropolitan area definitions as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. OES data are available for 394 metropolitan areas, 38 metropolitan divisions, and 167 OES-defined nonmetropolitan areas. A listing of the areas and their definitions can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.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.


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 Cincinnati Metropolitan Statistical Area included 7,342 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 Cincinnati-Middletown Ind.-Ky.-Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Brown, Butler, Clermont, Hamilton, and Warren Counties of Ohio, and Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, and Pendleton Counties of Kentucky, and Dearborn, Ohio, and Union Counties of Indiana.

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/2015/may/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, Cincinnati Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production Occupations

80,9401.2$18.21$37,870

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers

4,9101.129.3361,000

Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers

900.320.1841,980

Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers

2802.620.3542,330

Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

1,6901.116.6634,660

Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers

2100.618.8539,220

Engine and Other Machine Assemblers

1,0203.624.7551,470

Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters

4800.817.1935,760

Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators

1200.813.9629,030

Team Assemblers

6,7200.815.1231,440

Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other

3,5502.115.1431,480

Bakers

9200.712.8226,670

Butchers and Meat Cutters

1,1101.115.7732,790

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

5900.511.6724,280

Slaughterers and Meat Packers

4400.711.7824,500

Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders

(5)(5)12.4525,900

Food Batchmakers

8900.914.3329,800

Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

(5)(5)12.5626,130

Food Processing Workers, All Other

1800.512.9226,870

Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic

1,7101.619.2139,970

Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic

1800.927.0656,280

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

9801.816.9735,300

Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

(5)(5)19.2840,100

Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

(5)(5)21.9645,680

Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

1,7701.216.3534,010

Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

800.718.0737,590

Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

8001.515.7732,800

Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

3301.118.9839,470

Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

2001.418.9039,300

Machinists

5,3101.821.1443,970

Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders

(5)(5)17.8737,170

Pourers and Casters, Metal

(5)(5)18.1537,750

Model Makers, Metal and Plastic

(5)(5)25.5453,130

Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic

(5)(5)21.1644,000

Foundry Mold and Coremakers

1301.316.2033,700

Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

2,1102.116.1933,670

Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

1,5201.922.1846,140

Tool and Die Makers

8101.526.4955,110

Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers

2,7401.018.5438,570

Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

3600.918.4238,310

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

1100.722.5446,880

Layout Workers, Metal and Plastic

300.418.9539,420

Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

4201.616.9935,340

Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

1001.319.7141,000

Metal Workers and Plastic Workers, All Other

4502.725.0452,070

Prepress Technicians and Workers

4801.820.1141,830

Printing Press Operators

2,3001.818.4138,300

Print Binding and Finishing Workers

4901.314.9831,150

Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers

1,4401.010.5021,840

Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials

9702.710.1521,120

Sewing Machine Operators

5500.512.9226,870

Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers

400.711.8424,620

Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers

600.412.3225,630

Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

300.312.0325,020

Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers

500.415.0631,320

Upholsterers

1000.515.2531,710

Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers, All Other

400.311.8124,570

Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters

5300.816.8034,930

Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood

1100.314.0929,320

Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing

3700.713.4728,010

Power Distributors and Dispatchers

600.734.8972,570

Power Plant Operators

4901.733.8070,310

Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators

2701.125.3252,660

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators

6500.820.9143,490

Chemical Plant and System Operators

6002.324.9551,900

Plant and System Operators, All Other

1001.2(5)(5)

Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders

9201.823.3148,480

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

(5)(5)19.3240,190

Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

1800.815.9433,160

Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand

1600.815.6432,540

Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

2,0002.119.7241,030

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand

600.512.8926,820

Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

6501.415.6232,480

Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

3400.618.1437,730

Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders

1601.118.2037,850

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers

4,7901.319.8941,370

Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

1000.616.7834,900

Dental Laboratory Technicians

2100.819.8341,250

Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians

(5)(5)13.7728,650

Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders

5,5502.016.3934,090

Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

7801.217.7636,950

Painters, Transportation Equipment

2400.620.2142,030

Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators

1500.813.6128,310

Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders

2602.015.7232,690

Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders

1601.214.9631,110

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders

300.511.4923,910

Etchers and Engravers

400.514.0129,150

Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic

1400.515.4532,140

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

1,3802.016.9135,170

Tire Builders

1100.815.5932,430

Helpers--Production Workers

4,3401.312.8226,670

Production Workers, All Other

1,9801.117.0335,430

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Cincinnati-Middletown Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17140.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.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Monday, June 20, 2016