Workers in the Gary Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.51 in May 2015, about 12 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 15 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; computer and mathematical; and management. Four groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages, including construction and extraction; production; and installation, maintenance, and repair.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; food preparation and serving related; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; office and administrative support; and computer and mathematical. (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. Gary had 23,580 jobs in production, accounting for 8.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $20.14, significantly above the national wage of $17.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic (3,170); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,830); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,690). Among the higher paying jobs were chemical plant and system operators; and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $31.67 and $30.54, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($9.33) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.49). (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_23844.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 Gary Metropolitan Division, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 52.0 times the national rate in Gary, and metal-refining furnace operators and tenders, at 42.1 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Gary, 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 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 Gary Metropolitan Division included 2,432 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 Gary, Ind. Metropolitan Division includes Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties.

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, Gary Metropolitan Division, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	23,580	1.4	$20.14	$41,880
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	1,830	1.6	30.54	63,510
Engine and Other Machine Assemblers	30	0.5	16.23	33,750
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	160	1.0	19.12	39,780
Team Assemblers	1,630	0.8	13.25	27,570
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	230	0.5	14.84	30,870
Bakers	150	0.4	12.45	25,890
Butchers and Meat Cutters	290	1.1	15.19	31,600
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders	(5)	(5)	12.71	26,440
Food Batchmakers	100	0.4	13.35	27,770
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	170	0.6	19.03	39,590
Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	110	2.2	21.85	45,440
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	430	3.1	16.28	33,860
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	3,170	52.0	27.52	57,240
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	540	1.5	17.07	35,500
Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	90	3.3	19.08	39,690
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	210	1.5	16.99	35,340
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	40	0.6	21.87	45,500
Machinists	1,090	1.4	19.78	41,140
Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders	1,620	42.1	22.93	47,690
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	740	2.8	20.97	43,630
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	90	0.5	18.03	37,500
Tool and Die Makers	50	0.4	21.58	44,880
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	800	1.1	19.85	41,280
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	200	2.0	17.09	35,550
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	180	4.7	25.77	53,600
Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	480	7.0	18.76	39,030
Prepress Technicians and Workers	50	0.8	17.39	36,170
Printing Press Operators	220	0.7	16.40	34,120
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	510	1.3	9.49	19,750
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials	80	0.8	9.33	19,400
Sewing Machine Operators	110	0.4	10.22	21,260
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers	(5)	(5)	14.24	29,630
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	310	1.7	11.25	23,410
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators	50	0.7	23.64	49,180
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	190	0.9	21.16	44,020
Chemical Plant and System Operators	130	2.0	31.67	65,880
Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers	(5)	(5)	23.01	47,850
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders	200	1.6	24.49	50,940
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	230	3.8	16.36	34,030
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	270	1.1	20.16	41,930
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	120	4.1	12.54	26,090
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	80	0.6	13.16	27,380
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	80	0.6	18.25	37,950
Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders	910	24.1	20.10	41,800
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	1,690	1.7	17.77	36,960
Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers	40	0.7	19.63	40,820
Dental Laboratory Technicians	80	1.1	20.31	42,240
Medical Appliance Technicians	30	1.2	12.27	25,530
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	610	0.8	15.47	32,180
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	90	0.5	13.91	28,940
Painters, Transportation Equipment	40	0.4	24.66	51,290
Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders	(5)	(5)	14.32	29,780
Etchers and Engravers	(5)	(5)	11.50	23,920
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic	(5)	(5)	15.90	33,070
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	120	0.7	16.31	33,920
Helpers--Production Workers	570	0.7	12.24	25,450
Production Workers, All Other	220	0.5	15.71	32,670
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Gary Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/tables.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.