Workers in the Akron, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.24 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 ($56.40), legal ($51.49), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($45.88). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.90), personal care and service ($16.97), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.04). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Akron area included office and administrative support (12.3 percent), transportation and material moving (11.0 percent), and sales and related (8.7 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.6 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Akron had 25,300 jobs in production, accounting for 7.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.58, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (4,100); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,750); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,620). Mean hourly wages among the higher-paying jobs in this group were power distributors and dispatchers ($45.95), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($31.74), and computer numerically controlled tool programmers ($30.53). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.73) and sewing machine operators ($15.47). (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_10420.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 Akron 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 3.3 times the national rate in Akron, and computer numerically controlled tool operators, at 2.9 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Akron, 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 Akron, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,716 establishments with a response rate of 64 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 Akron, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Portage County and Summit 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, Akron metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	25,300	1.4	21.58	44,880
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,750	1.2	31.74	66,020
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	830	1.5	19.09	39,700
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	70	0.5	22.05	45,860
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	4,100	1.3	19.63	40,820
Bakers	550	1.2	15.96	33,190
Butchers and meat cutters	380	1.3	16.29	33,880
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	90	0.3	15.89	33,050
Food batchmakers	410	1.1	17.05	35,460
Food processing workers, all other	170	1.2	15.89	33,040
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	240	1.8	19.35	40,250
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	4.1	22.81	47,440
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	1.5	21.61	44,950
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	900	2.4	20.49	42,620
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	420	2.7	18.82	39,140
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	1.7	20.47	42,570
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	2.8	21.41	44,530
Machinists	970	1.6	23.16	48,170
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	70	1.7	21.29	44,280
Foundry mold and coremakers	90	3.4	18.76	39,010
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	930	2.8	19.51	40,570
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	880	3.3	19.05	39,620
Tool and die makers	290	2.3	27.96	58,160
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,230	1.4	23.67	49,240
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	120	1.7	23.24	48,350
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	100	3.3	23.49	48,870
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	1.4	20.03	41,670
Prepress technicians and workers	60	1.2	24.17	50,270
Printing press operators	740	2.3	20.24	42,110
Print binding and finishing workers	140	1.7	18.84	39,190
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	440	1.1	13.73	28,560
Sewing machine operators	230	0.9	15.47	32,180
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	70	0.4	21.57	44,860
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	60	0.5	18.34	38,140
Power distributors and dispatchers	210	11.0	45.95	95,580
Stationary engineers and boiler operators	30	0.4	28.32	58,900
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	300	1.2	27.28	56,730
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	470	1.9	25.51	53,060
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	80	0.7	20.47	42,590
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	1.0	17.27	35,920
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	50	1.8	18.63	38,750
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	310	1.4	20.79	43,250
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	160	1.4	20.13	41,870
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	510	4.2	20.01	41,630
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,620	1.3	21.87	45,500
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	150	3.0	22.29	46,370
Dental laboratory technicians	130	1.8	24.33	50,600
Medical appliance technicians	70	2.6	23.76	49,410
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	560	0.7	17.92	37,280
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	520	1.6	22.82	47,470
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	1,160	2.9	23.97	49,860
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	130	2.3	30.53	63,500
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	40	1.3	18.18	37,810
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	130	1.7	19.85	41,280
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	280	1.4	21.03	43,740
Helpers--production workers	230	0.6	17.32	36,030
Production workers, all other	540	1.1	20.62	42,890
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Akron, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_10420.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.