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News Release Information

18-429-CHI
Friday, May 18, 2018

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Gary — May 2017

Workers in the Gary Metropolitan Division had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.85 in May 2017, about 14 percent below the nationwide average of $24.34, 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 14 of the 22 major occupational groups including management; computer and mathematical; and life, physical, and social science. Two groups, construction and extraction and production, had wages significantly higher than their respective national averages.

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 construction and extraction. Conversely, 10 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and office and administrative support. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Gary Metropolitan Division, and measures of statistical significance, May 2017
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesGaryUnited StatesGaryPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$24.34$20.85*-14

Management

5.14.4*57.6543.17*-25

Business and financial operations

5.22.9*36.7029.20*-20

Computer and mathematical

3.01.0*43.1829.50*-32

Architecture and engineering

1.81.841.4438.22-8

Life, physical, and social science

0.80.6*35.7625.46*-29

Community and social service

1.51.2*23.1020.59*-11

Legal

0.80.5*51.62(2)

Education, training, and library

6.15.926.6720.25*-24

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.40.8*28.3419.16*-32

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.07.1*38.8336.81-5

Healthcare support

2.93.015.0513.90*-8

Protective service

2.42.322.6919.31*-15

Food preparation and serving related

9.311.0*11.8810.30*-13

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

3.13.213.9113.15*-5

Personal care and service

3.63.1*13.1112.02*-8

Sales and related

10.210.519.5616.35*-16

Office and administrative support

15.413.7*18.2416.34*-10

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*13.8713.48-3

Construction and extraction

4.05.4*24.0128.50*19

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.95.3*23.0222.90-1

Production

6.38.6*18.3019.02*4

Transportation and material moving

7.07.6*17.8218.011

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Gary Metropolitan Division is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
(2) Estimate not released.
* 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. Gary had 23,060 jobs in production, accounting for 8.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.02, significantly above the national wage of $18.30.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers (2,490); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (2,020); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,480). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were power plant operators with mean hourly wages of $36.30 and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, $30.15. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($9.03) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.25). (Detailed data for production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/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 some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 10.5 times the national rate in Gary, and extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, at 4.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers had a location quotient of 1.0 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.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the release of the May 2017 estimates, the OES program has replaced 21 detailed occupations found in the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) with 10 new aggregations of those occupations. In addition, selected 4- and 5-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industries previously published by OES will no longer be published separately. Some of the 4-digit NAICS industries that are no longer being published separately will instead be published as OES-specific industry aggregations. More information about the new occupational and industry aggregations is available at www.bls.gov/oes/changes_2017.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 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 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Gary Metropolitan Division included 2,355 establishments with a response rate of 77 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2017 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 2017 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/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, Gary Metropolitan Division, May 2017
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

23,0601.4$19.02$39,570

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

2,0201.830.1562,710

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

400.1(5)(5)

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

1801.218.3338,120

Assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers

2,4901.014.1029,320

Bakers

3701.111.7424,420

Butchers and meat cutters

2100.814.2629,670

Food batchmakers

2500.919.9341,450

Food cooking machine operators and tenders

1101.812.4625,910

Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic

2901.121.8545,450

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

6504.718.1537,750

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

50010.525.2952,600

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

1,1203.116.6534,630

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

(5)(5)16.6934,720

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

(5)(5)17.2035,770

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

1903.419.4040,350

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

902.717.7336,870

Machinists

1,3401.920.3342,280

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

3301.113.0827,200

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

(5)(5)22.2346,230

Tool and die makers

1100.823.8049,510

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

1,1501.621.0143,710

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

(5)(5)18.9939,500

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

3004.217.5036,400

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

1102.616.8835,100

Prepress technicians and workers

500.819.9541,500

Printing press operators

2400.816.9335,210

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

5101.310.2521,320

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

(5)(5)9.0318,790

Sewing machine operators

(5)(5)12.4925,980

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers

(5)(5)19.9141,410

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

301.2(5)(5)

Upholsterers

(5)(5)14.8230,810

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

3001.610.8722,620

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

400.314.3029,750

Power plant operators

(5)(5)36.3075,510

Stationary engineers and boiler operators

601.024.8151,600

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

2501.121.3344,360

Chemical plant and system operators

1803.229.7361,830

Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers

(5)(5)27.0756,310

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

2701.825.7853,610

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

700.817.9837,390

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

1402.317.0835,520

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

(5)(5)14.4430,030

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

3101.319.1939,910

Cutters and trimmers, hand

(5)(5)15.2931,800

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

1601.413.6728,420

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

800.513.9829,070

Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders

902.618.1537,750

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

1,4801.517.2935,950

Dental laboratory technicians

801.122.0545,860

Medical appliance technicians

(5)(5)13.2827,610

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians

(5)(5)18.7038,900

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

6500.917.8937,220

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

800.515.1131,440

Painters, transportation equipment

1001.124.8151,600

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

1101.416.3534,000

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

2201.215.6632,570

Helpers--production workers

5100.713.9328,970

Production workers, all other

2200.516.6234,570

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Gary, IN Metropolitan Division, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_23844.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: Friday, May 18, 2018