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News Release Information

24-887-CHI
Thursday, August 01, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Kalamazoo-Portage — May 2023

Workers in the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.69 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 ($56.32), legal ($47.42), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($44.56). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($15.80), personal care and service ($17.45), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.72). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Kalamazoo area included production (11.1 percent), office and administrative support (10.9 percent), and food preparation and serving related (9.3 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); life, physical, and social science (1.2 percent); and protective service (1.3 percent). (See table A.)

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

Total, all occupations

100.0100.031.4827.69

Management

6.96.366.2356.32

Business and financial operations

6.64.943.5537.04

Computer and mathematical

3.41.754.3942.15

Architecture and engineering

1.72.947.6441.56

Life, physical, and social science

0.91.242.2437.34

Community and social service

1.62.128.3626.08

Legal

0.80.564.3447.42

Educational instruction and library

5.85.531.9230.67

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.41.336.3126.90

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.16.849.0744.56

Healthcare support

4.74.718.3717.99

Protective service

2.31.327.7424.44

Food preparation and serving related

8.79.316.5815.80

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.818.4317.72

Personal care and service

2.01.818.4817.45

Sales and related

8.88.325.6223.08

Office and administrative support

12.210.923.0521.85

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.219.2219.56

Construction and extraction

4.13.829.5729.20

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.93.928.1326.65

Production

5.811.122.9021.72

Transportation and material moving

9.18.722.4520.42

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Kalamazoo had 15,540 jobs in production, accounting for 11.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.72, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (3,140); inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,330); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,150). Mean hourly wages among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($34.00), structural metal fabricators and fitters ($31.54), and computer numerically controlled tool programmers ($30.34). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($15.71) and bakers ($15.99). (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_28020.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 Kalamazoo area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 5.1 times the national rate in Kalamazoo, and paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 5.0 times the U.S. average. Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers had a location quotient of 1.2 in Kalamazoo, 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 Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.


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 Kalamazoo-Portage, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,591 establishments with a response rate of 71 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 Kalamazoo-Portage, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Kalamazoo County and Van Buren 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, Kalamazoo metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

15,5401.921.7245,180

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,1501.934.0070,710

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

2801.220.0641,710

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

300.631.5465,610

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

3,1402.318.8739,240

Bakers

2401.215.9933,260

Butchers and meat cutters

1701.318.0537,550

Food batchmakers

2201.418.7839,070

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

1001.821.6144,950

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

5203.218.7438,980

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

2303.319.1139,750

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

1206.620.7843,230

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

(5)(5)20.3142,230

Machinists

9503.623.6549,190

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

7405.119.2640,070

Tool and die makers

1302.428.0958,420

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

2900.724.7651,510

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

(5)(5)20.5542,750

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

802.919.0539,620

Prepress technicians and workers

301.522.9847,800

Printing press operators

2401.822.4746,740

Print binding and finishing workers

300.918.4538,380

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

3301.915.7132,680

Sewing machine operators

500.417.7036,820

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

5004.527.3556,880

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

1302.721.8545,440

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

602.4(5)(5)

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

1301.320.6442,940

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

801.6(5)(5)

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

1,3302.522.1446,050

Dental laboratory technicians

(5)(5)22.6047,010

Medical appliance technicians

403.522.8047,430

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

7702.319.1239,760

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

2401.720.9543,580

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

6603.820.1741,940

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

802.930.3463,100

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

401.220.6242,880

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

4505.023.1148,070

Helpers--production workers

1601.018.5438,560

Production workers, all other

2501.119.1339,790

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_28020.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: Thursday, August 01, 2024