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News Release Information

23-999-CHI
Thursday, June 22, 2023

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in St. Cloud — May 2022

Workers in the St. Cloud, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.23 in May 2022, 9 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 13 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 healthcare practitioners and technical, construction and extraction, and protective service.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, St. Cloud area employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, healthcare practitioners and technical, and construction and extraction. Eleven groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including computer and mathematical, business and financial operations, and protective service. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the St. Cloud metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2022
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesSt. CloudUnited StatesSt. CloudPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$29.76$27.23*-9

Management

6.75.5*63.0851.52*-18

Business and financial operations

6.55.0*41.3936.84*-11

Computer and mathematical

3.41.5*51.9938.94*-25

Architecture and engineering

1.71.0*45.5236.75*-19

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.6*40.2135.64*-11

Community and social service

1.61.626.8126.900

Legal

0.80.5*59.8746.71*-22

Educational instruction and library

5.76.0*30.4127.43*-10

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.0*36.7826.49*-28

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.17.8*46.5253.11*14

Healthcare support

4.65.1*17.1017.191

Protective service

2.30.9*25.9727.04*4

Food preparation and serving related

8.57.4*15.4514.68*-5

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.917.2617.491

Personal care and service

1.91.6*17.4117.03*-2

Sales and related

8.99.024.2221.98*-9

Office and administrative support

12.612.821.9021.77-1

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*18.2119.18*5

Construction and extraction

4.15.2*28.0830.42*8

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.2*26.7726.700

Production

5.910.6*21.8121.15*-3

Transportation and material moving

9.29.7*21.1220.30*-4

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the St. Cloud, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment 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. St. Cloud had 10,570 jobs in production, accounting for 10.6 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.15, significantly below the national wage of $21.81.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (1,480); welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (590); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (570). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and stationary engineers and boiler operators, with mean hourly wages of $31.56 and $30.31, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($16.21) and helpers--production workers ($16.31). (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_41060.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 St. Cloud area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, ophthalmic laboratory technicians were employed at 25.1 times the national rate in St. Cloud, and cabinetmakers and bench carpenters, at 6.2 times the U.S. average. Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers had a location quotient of 0.9 in St. Cloud, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

The May 2022 OEWS estimates use the model-based (MB3) estimation method implemented with the May 2021 estimates release. Additional updates were made to the MB3 wage processing methodology for May 2022. For more information, see the May 2022 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement.

The May 2022 estimates are the first OEWS estimates to be produced using the 2022 NAICS, which replaces the 2017 NAICS used for the May 2017-May 2021 estimates. See North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at BLS for details.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS 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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS 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. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 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 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the St. Cloud, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,338 establishments with a response rate of 67 percent. For more information about OEWS 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.

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 St. Cloud, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Benton County and Stearns County.

For more information

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

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, St. Cloud metropolitan area, May 2022
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

10,5701.8$21.15$44,000

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

5701.331.5665,650

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

300.219.0939,710

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

1303.424.5751,100

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

1,4801.520.5542,740

Bakers

2501.817.1535,670

Butchers and meat cutters

2202.519.7941,150

Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders

402.620.2442,090

Food batchmakers

3002.717.1135,600

Food processing workers, all other

501.419.5240,600

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

501.321.8445,430

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

800.721.1143,910

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

1002.022.4146,620

Machinists

5102.425.5653,170

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

1301.220.7343,110

Tool and die makers

401.026.8255,780

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

5902.125.9854,040

Prepress technicians and workers

603.719.2139,970

Printing press operators

1801.823.7949,480

Print binding and finishing workers

903.220.8143,280

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

2001.616.2133,720

Sewing machine operators

1501.916.7234,770

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

4106.220.7343,110

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

1303.020.8743,420

Stationary engineers and boiler operators

703.230.3163,050

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

400.530.1362,670

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

804.224.2750,480

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

1401.821.5344,780

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

401.122.7947,410

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

501.319.5540,670

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

3700.922.2346,230

Dental laboratory technicians

903.922.8547,530

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians

34025.117.9037,230

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

4201.718.6338,750

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

1801.822.3346,450

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

2402.024.8651,710

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

804.228.3558,970

Helpers--production workers

2501.916.3133,930

Production workers, all other

1400.819.4840,510

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the St. Cloud, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_41060.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023