Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

News Release Information

24-896-CHI
Friday, August 02, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Cleveland-Elyria — May 2023

Workers in the Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $30.37 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($59.65), legal ($53.53), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($50.40). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($15.69), personal care and service ($17.55), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($18.03). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Cleveland area included office and administrative support (12.0 percent), transportation and material moving (8.9 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.5 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); legal (0.9 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.2 percent). (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Cleveland metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage ($)
United StatesClevelandUnited StatesCleveland

Total, all occupations

100.0100.031.4830.37

Management

6.97.066.2359.65

Business and financial operations

6.66.743.5539.37

Computer and mathematical

3.42.854.3945.87

Architecture and engineering

1.71.747.6445.34

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.642.2439.85

Community and social service

1.61.728.3628.07

Legal

0.80.964.3453.53

Educational instruction and library

5.85.431.9232.76

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.236.3130.10

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.18.249.0750.40

Healthcare support

4.74.218.3718.19

Protective service

2.32.427.7426.36

Food preparation and serving related

8.78.516.5815.69

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.618.4318.03

Personal care and service

2.01.818.4817.55

Sales and related

8.88.525.6224.52

Office and administrative support

12.212.023.0522.63

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.119.2222.03

Construction and extraction

4.13.029.5730.50

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.828.1327.40

Production

5.88.022.9022.48

Transportation and material moving

9.18.922.4521.68

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Cleveland had 79,970 jobs in production, accounting for 8.0 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.48, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (14,250); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (5,070); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (5,010). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were power distributors and dispatchers with mean hourly wages of $40.84 and stationary engineers and boiler operators ($33.86). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.26) and pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($14.33). (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_17460.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 Cleveland area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 4.2 times the national rate in Cleveland, and computer numerically controlled tool operators, at 3.7 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Cleveland, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services.


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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area included 5,015 establishments with a response rate of 59 percent.

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 Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cuyahoga County, Geauga County, Lake County, Lorain County, and Medina County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

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, Cleveland metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

79,9701.422.4846,760

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

5,0701.232.9568,530

Coil winders, tapers, and finishers

901.121.3744,460

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

2,5801.519.2139,950

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

1500.424.0049,910

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

14,2501.519.9941,580

Bakers

1,6601.215.4332,090

Butchers and meat cutters

1,1401.317.3035,980

Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers

1200.115.7832,830

Slaughterers and meat packers

600.1(5)(5)

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

1000.815.7732,800

Food batchmakers

9300.818.2738,000

Food cooking machine operators and tenders

900.518.5338,540

Food processing workers, all other

(5)(5)17.1735,720

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

6701.620.2742,150

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

1202.024.1850,280

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

4802.923.4448,760

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

3,4602.923.1848,220

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

1303.422.6847,170

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

1,4002.820.6943,030

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

5604.422.4646,710

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

1601.821.5344,790

Machinists

3,3901.825.0952,190

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

4403.226.7155,560

Pourers and casters, metal

902.522.9347,690

Foundry mold and coremakers

1101.425.6053,240

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

1,6701.619.5640,680

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

2,7103.220.0741,740

Tool and die makers

1,2203.230.4163,240

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

3,0101.124.0750,060

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

4402.023.3048,470

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

4204.223.2548,360

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

6203.019.5340,630

Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners

400.928.6159,520

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

2501.922.0845,930

Prepress technicians and workers

1901.223.0447,930

Printing press operators

1,5701.621.6144,940

Print binding and finishing workers

3001.218.9239,360

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

1,2201.014.2629,660

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

1600.814.3329,810

Sewing machine operators

1,2001.616.2233,730

Sewers, hand

301.519.0939,700

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers

900.918.5938,660

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

400.618.0337,510

Upholsterers

1000.621.6845,100

Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other

400.420.2842,180

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

4500.823.3448,540

Furniture finishers

901.020.8643,390

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

1400.521.4444,600

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

1900.521.3744,460

Woodworkers, all other

501.023.2248,290

Power distributors and dispatchers

1402.440.8484,950

Stationary engineers and boiler operators

600.333.8670,430

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

8601.129.0860,490

Chemical plant and system operators

(5)(5)32.4667,510

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

1,6802.125.7553,560

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

1800.525.4752,980

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

1000.620.2442,090

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

1501.919.6240,810

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

9001.323.1948,230

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

5901.721.1043,890

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

5101.419.2840,110

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

800.825.1152,240

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

5,0101.322.9347,680

Dental laboratory technicians

1900.825.7153,470

Medical appliance technicians

1001.227.4557,100

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians

1501.221.3344,370

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

2,1700.919.8541,280

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

500.720.5542,750

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

1,5501.521.9145,580

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

4,5503.724.0650,030

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

4602.531.2464,980

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders

1501.920.8143,290

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

2702.720.3542,320

Etchers and engravers

801.518.3138,080

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

3501.422.9047,630

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

7101.121.8345,400

Helpers--production workers

7000.619.0739,660

Production workers, all other

1,7901.120.3142,250

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17460.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, August 02, 2024