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News Release Information

24-1292-CHI
Monday, July 22, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Wausau — May 2023

Workers in the Wausau, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.25 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 ($61.46), healthcare practitioners and technical ($50.00), and legal ($46.85). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.32), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.19), and personal care and service ($17.88). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Wausau area included production (16.8 percent), office and administrative support (12.6 percent), and transportation and material moving (9.9 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.5 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.7 percent). (See table A.)

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

Total, all occupations

100.0100.031.4827.25

Management

6.94.266.2361.46

Business and financial operations

6.65.743.5536.38

Computer and mathematical

3.42.054.3939.52

Architecture and engineering

1.71.747.6437.52

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.542.2436.26

Community and social service

1.61.328.3625.39

Legal

0.80.564.3446.85

Educational instruction and library

5.84.431.9225.99

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.40.736.3123.00

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.16.649.0750.00

Healthcare support

4.73.818.3718.29

Protective service

2.31.527.7424.83

Food preparation and serving related

8.76.816.5814.32

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.92.418.4317.19

Personal care and service

2.01.218.4817.88

Sales and related

8.88.725.6223.08

Office and administrative support

12.212.623.0521.77

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.119.2217.33

Construction and extraction

4.13.729.5729.48

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.94.728.1327.39

Production

5.816.822.9022.73

Transportation and material moving

9.19.922.4521.33

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Wausau had 11,700 jobs in production, accounting for 16.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.73, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (2,100) and food batchmakers (1,290). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders, with mean hourly wages of $32.84 and $28.75, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.10) and bakers ($16.43). (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 16.7 times the national rate in Wausau, and woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing, at 12.9 times the U.S. average.

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 Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.


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 Wausau, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,027 establishments with a response rate of 72 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 Wausau, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Marathon 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, Wausau metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages ($)
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

11,7002.922.7347,280

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

9903.232.8468,310

Coil winders, tapers, and finishers

408.224.0450,010

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

2201.820.8243,310

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

1405.324.6451,240

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

2,1003.119.4940,540

Bakers

400.416.4334,170

Butchers and meat cutters

601.020.9143,490

Food batchmakers

1,29016.721.4444,590

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

602.121.2744,240

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

302.723.8349,560

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

3404.221.3244,340

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

1905.519.3240,190

Machinists

3002.221.6645,050

Tool and die makers

702.826.6555,430

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

9404.924.8251,630

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

503.422.6147,040

Printing press operators

1101.622.3946,560

Print binding and finishing workers

502.717.7936,990

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

400.414.1029,320

Sewing machine operators

400.816.6534,630

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

1002.421.7645,260

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

1306.618.8739,240

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

36012.918.1837,820

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

500.928.2258,710

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

301.427.6057,410

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

2004.128.7559,800

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

1004.023.5649,010

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

5201.923.1448,130

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

5803.421.0843,850

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

4506.222.2146,200

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

4104.825.3052,620

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

402.928.5659,400

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

1106.121.0743,830

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

4109.227.3456,860

Helpers--production workers

1101.422.2846,340

Production workers, all other

1101.018.5138,500

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Wausau, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_48140.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: Monday, July 22, 2024