Workers in the Jackson, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.44 in May 2019, compared to the nationwide average of $25.72, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, no wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 22 major occupational groups. Thirteen groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Jackson area employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, architecture and engineering, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Conversely, ten groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical, transportation and material moving, and construction and extraction. (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. Jackson had 7,680 jobs in production, accounting for 13.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.63, compared to the national wage of $19.30.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (1,730), machinists (1,130), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (710). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $28.05 and $24.58, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were bakers ($13.79) and butchers and meat cutters ($13.99). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_27100.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 Jackson 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 15.2 times the national rate in Jackson, and plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, at 11.3 times the U.S. average.

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 Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

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 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, 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.

The OES survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 180,000 to 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 2019 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, November 2017, May 2017, and November 2016. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 71 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Jackson, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 824 establishments with a response rate of 69 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.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.

The May 2019 OES estimates are the first set of OES estimates to be based in part on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC. These estimates use a hybrid of the 2010 and 2018 SOC systems. More information on the hybrid classification system is available at www.bls.gov/oes/soc_2018.htm.

The May 2019 OES estimates are based on the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). More 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 Jackson, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Jackson County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OES program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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 for production occupations, Jackson, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2019

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	7,680	2.2	$19.63	$40,820
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	710	2.9	28.05	58,350
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	60	0.6	15.44	32,110
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	(5)	(5)	14.66	30,500
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	1,730	3.3	18.87	39,250
Bakers	60	0.8	13.79	28,680
Butchers and meat cutters	(5)	(5)	13.99	29,090
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	190	2.6	20.38	42,390
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	110	3.7	19.19	39,920
Machinists	1,130	7.7	19.15	39,820
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	1.8	15.51	32,270
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	0.6	16.15	33,590
Tool and die makers	410	15.2	24.58	51,120
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	230	1.5	19.71	41,000
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	4.5	16.87	35,090
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	12.1	21.64	45,010
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	11.3	15.03	31,260
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	(5)	(5)	14.13	29,390
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	70	1.4	19.73	41,040
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	40	3.6	14.51	30,170
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	500	2.3	18.89	39,290
Dental laboratory technicians	40	2.7	21.81	45,360
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	14.59	30,350
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.8	19.83	41,250
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	170	3.0	16.19	33,680
Helpers--production workers	(5)	(5)	14.39	29,930
Production workers, all other	40	0.5	16.26	33,820
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Jackson, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_27100.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are 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.