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Friday, August 25, 2023
Workers in the Wausau, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.25 in May 2022, 12 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 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Only one group had significantly higher wages than their respective national average: healthcare practitioners and technical.
When compared to the nationwide distribution, Wausau area employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, transportation and material moving, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Sixteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including management, food preparation and serving related, and educational instruction and library. (See table A.)
Major occupational group | Percent of total employment | Mean hourly wage | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
United States | Wausau | United States | Wausau | Percent difference (1) | |
Total, all occupations | 100.0 | 100.0 | $29.76 | $26.25* | -12 |
Management | 6.7 | 4.1* | 63.08 | 58.98* | -6 |
Business and financial operations | 6.5 | 5.5* | 41.39 | 35.01* | -15 |
Computer and mathematical | 3.4 | 2.3* | 51.99 | 39.44* | -24 |
Architecture and engineering | 1.7 | 2.0* | 45.52 | 36.67* | -19 |
Life, physical, and social science | 0.9 | 0.6* | 40.21 | 32.03* | -20 |
Community and social service | 1.6 | 1.3* | 26.81 | 24.61* | -8 |
Legal | 0.8 | 0.5* | 59.87 | 44.48* | -26 |
Educational instruction and library | 5.7 | 4.5* | 30.41 | 24.19* | -20 |
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media | 1.4 | 0.8* | 36.78 | 24.74* | -33 |
Healthcare practitioners and technical | 6.1 | 6.9* | 46.52 | 49.19* | 6 |
Healthcare support | 4.6 | 3.8* | 17.10 | 16.98 | -1 |
Protective service | 2.3 | 1.4* | 25.97 | 22.60* | -13 |
Food preparation and serving related | 8.5 | 6.5* | 15.45 | 13.71* | -11 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance | 2.9 | 2.3* | 17.26 | 16.21* | -6 |
Personal care and service | 1.9 | 1.1* | 17.41 | 17.00 | -2 |
Sales and related | 8.9 | 8.6* | 24.22 | 22.62* | -7 |
Office and administrative support | 12.6 | 12.7 | 21.90 | 20.76* | -5 |
Farming, fishing, and forestry | 0.3 | 0.2* | 18.21 | 18.73 | 3 |
Construction and extraction | 4.1 | 3.4* | 28.08 | 28.02 | 0 |
Installation, maintenance, and repair | 3.9 | 4.4* | 26.77 | 26.21* | -2 |
Production | 5.9 | 17.0* | 21.81 | 21.76 | 0 |
Transportation and material moving | 9.2 | 10.0* | 21.12 | 20.03* | -5 |
Footnotes: |
One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Wausau had 11,780 jobs in production, accounting for 17.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.76, compared to the national wage of $21.81.
Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (1,850); food batchmakers (1,040); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (990); and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (980). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and computer numerically controlled tool programmers, with mean hourly wages of $31.09 and $26.21, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were bakers ($15.86) and sewing machine operators ($15.97). (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_48140.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 Wausau area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, food batchmakers were employed at 13.3 times the national rate in Wausau, and paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 11.5 times the U.S. average. Machinists had a location quotient of 1.1 in Wausau, 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 Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
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.
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 Wausau, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,018 establishments with a response rate of 71 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 Wausau, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Marathon 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.
Occupation (1) | Employment | Mean wages | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Level (2) | Location quotient (3) | Hourly | Annual (4) | |
Production occupations | 11,780 | 2.9 | $21.76 | $45,260 |
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers | 990 | 3.2 | 31.09 | 64,670 |
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers | 180 | 1.4 | 20.41 | 42,450 |
Structural metal fabricators and fitters | 230 | 8.5 | 23.92 | 49,750 |
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators | 1,850 | 2.7 | 18.09 | 37,630 |
Bakers | 40 | 0.5 | 15.86 | 32,990 |
Butchers and meat cutters | 60 | 1.0 | 18.98 | 39,490 |
Food batchmakers | 1,040 | 13.3 | 21.30 | 44,300 |
Food cooking machine operators and tenders | 40 | 3.0 | 22.76 | 47,340 |
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 50 | 1.8 | 19.94 | 41,480 |
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 400 | 4.7 | 19.37 | 40,300 |
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 100 | 3.0 | 18.05 | 37,550 |
Machinists | 160 | 1.1 | 21.30 | 44,310 |
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 50 | 0.8 | 22.62 | 47,050 |
Tool and die makers | 70 | 2.5 | 25.57 | 53,180 |
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers | 980 | 5.1 | 23.75 | 49,400 |
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders | 70 | 4.7 | 22.58 | 46,960 |
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic | 80 | 5.3 | 17.86 | 37,140 |
Printing press operators | 110 | 1.5 | 22.38 | 46,540 |
Print binding and finishing workers | 40 | 2.3 | 17.54 | 36,480 |
Sewing machine operators | 50 | 0.8 | 15.97 | 33,220 |
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters | 120 | 2.7 | 19.84 | 41,270 |
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood | 160 | 7.2 | 18.48 | 38,440 |
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing | 310 | 10.4 | 18.06 | 37,570 |
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators | 60 | 1.0 | 25.26 | 52,540 |
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders | 50 | 2.2 | 25.60 | 53,250 |
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders | 180 | 3.5 | 25.23 | 52,470 |
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders | 190 | 7.3 | 23.32 | 48,500 |
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders | 80 | 2.9 | 21.88 | 45,510 |
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers | 460 | 1.7 | 22.77 | 47,350 |
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders | 780 | 4.5 | 20.36 | 42,340 |
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders | 390 | 5.4 | 20.10 | 41,800 |
Computer numerically controlled tool operators | 400 | 4.8 | 23.90 | 49,720 |
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers | 30 | 2.6 | 26.21 | 54,510 |
Etchers and engravers | 30 | 7.6 | 21.52 | 44,770 |
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic | 90 | 4.7 | 20.79 | 43,250 |
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders | 500 | 11.5 | 25.56 | 53,160 |
Helpers--production workers | 200 | 2.3 | 22.21 | 46,190 |
Production workers, all other | 150 | 1.3 | 17.06 | 35,470 |
Footnotes: |
Last Modified Date: Friday, August 25, 2023