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News Release Information

17-525-CHI
Wednesday, June 21, 2017

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Elkhart-Goshen — May 2016

Workers in the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $19.77 in May 2016, about 17 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, 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 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; computer and mathematical; and architecture and engineering. 

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 3 of the 22 occupational groups: production; transportation and material moving; and installation, maintenance, and repair. Conversely, 19 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including food preparation and serving related; office and administrative support; and sales and related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2016
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesElkhartUnited StatesElkhartPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$23.86$19.77*-17

Management

5.14.2*56.7447.42*-16

Business and financial operations

5.22.7*36.0929.23*-19

Computer and mathematical

3.00.8*42.2529.64*-30

Architecture and engineering

1.81.5*40.5329.81*-26

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.2*35.0627.62*-21

Community and social service

1.40.8*22.6920.06*-12

Legal

0.80.4*50.9528.27*-45

Education, training, and library

6.23.6*26.2119.93*-24

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.40.6*28.0723.55*-16

Healthcare practitioners and technical

5.93.4*38.0633.96*-11

Healthcare support

2.91.3*14.6513.68*-7

Protective service

2.41.0*22.0318.67*-15

Food preparation and serving related

9.25.8*11.4710.08*-12

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.21.8*13.4712.82*-5

Personal care and service

3.21.4*12.7411.67*-8

Sales and related

10.47.1*19.5020.575

Office and administrative support

15.712.3*17.9116.67*-7

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*13.3717.09*28

Construction and extraction

4.02.7*23.5121.83*-7

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.6*22.4519.76*-12

Production

6.535.9*17.8817.76-1

Transportation and material moving

6.97.9*17.3415.91*-8

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area 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. Elkhart-Goshen had 45,530 jobs in production, accounting for 35.9 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.76, compared to the national wage of $17.88.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (16,750), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (2,230), and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,920). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers with mean hourly wages of $25.40 and tool and die makers, $24.30. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.25) and bakers ($10.83). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/may/oes_21140.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 Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, fiberglass laminators and fabricators in Elkhart were employed at 84.2 times the national rate, and upholsterers, at 28.8 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, printing press operators in Elkhart had a location quotient of 0.9, 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.

Note

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 data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, 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.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 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 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,368 establishments with a response rate of 77 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2016 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 Elkhart-Goshen, Ind. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Elkhart County.

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/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, Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2016
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

45,5305.5$17.76$36,940

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

2,2304.025.4052,830

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

(5)(5)13.5628,210

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

2403.517.7536,910

Fiberglass laminators and fabricators

1,47084.214.0329,180

Team assemblers

16,75016.720.2242,050

Assemblers and fabricators, all other

2,75013.216.4334,180

Bakers

1801.110.8322,530

Butchers and meat cutters

800.711.1223,130

Food batchmakers

(5)(5)12.1525,270

Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic

7005.316.3233,940

Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic

401.923.8849,670

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

2003.117.4636,330

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

602.318.1637,770

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

9305.414.2429,630

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

2303.416.4834,280

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

(5)(5)16.2633,830

Machinists

7202.017.1035,580

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

1,62012.315.3832,000

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

3002.918.8239,150

Tool and die makers

2203.524.3050,530

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

1,9205.617.2635,890

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

1503.616.6534,620

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

1005.716.0133,310

Layout workers, metal and plastic

404.4(5)(5)

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

(5)(5)13.5128,110

Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners

404.812.6826,370

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

(5)(5)14.0029,110

Printing press operators

1400.917.4336,260

Print binding and finishing workers

300.712.4125,810

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

1100.69.2519,240

Sewing machine operators

9107.214.3629,870

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

1108.114.0929,300

Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers

(5)(5)12.2125,410

Upholsterers

84028.815.4332,090

Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other

(5)(5)10.7022,270

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

1,00011.418.6538,790

Furniture finishers

37023.714.5430,240

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

3507.613.9128,940

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

73010.714.6830,530

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

500.520.2142,040

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

401.512.3825,740

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

25010.214.7930,770

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

2201.915.8532,960

Cutters and trimmers, hand

403.414.3629,880

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

3506.313.5328,140

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

801.214.8830,950

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

1,4703.217.3436,070

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

8002.313.7828,670

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

5106.614.4730,090

Painters, transportation equipment

(5)(5)16.8635,060

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

906.514.0829,280

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders

28018.413.7328,560

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

802.319.3540,240

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

700.914.9031,000

Helpers--production workers

1,7304.513.3127,690

Production workers, all other

3901.714.5830,320

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Elkhart-Goshen, IN, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_21140.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) Estimate not released.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2017