Workers in the Canton-Massillon, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.28 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 legal ($50.20), management ($49.51), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($42.81). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.57), personal care and service ($15.93), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($16.82). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Canton area included office and administrative support (12.1 percent), food preparation and serving related (10.4 percent), and production (9.9 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.4 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.5 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. Canton had 15,980 jobs in production, accounting for 9.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.25, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (2,520); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,160); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (1,110). Mean hourly wages among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($30.58); pourers and casters, metal ($28.72); and computer numerically controlled tool programmers ($28.02). At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($13.60) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.69). (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_15940.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 Canton area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, computer numerically controlled tool operators were employed at 4.3 times the national rate in Canton, and plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, at 3.7 times the U.S. average. Printing press operators had a location quotient of 0.9 in Canton, 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 Canton-Massillon, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,852 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 Canton-Massillon, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Carroll County and Stark 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, Canton metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	15,980	1.7	21.25	44,210
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,160	1.6	30.58	63,600
Coil winders, tapers, and finishers	30	2.7	23.43	48,740
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	240	0.9	19.30	40,150
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	50	0.8	22.71	47,230
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	2,520	1.6	19.58	40,730
Bakers	310	1.3	14.87	30,930
Butchers and meat cutters	230	1.6	15.81	32,880
Food batchmakers	640	3.6	18.56	38,600
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	90	2.8	18.68	38,840
Food processing workers, all other	140	2.1	18.38	38,220
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	1.3	20.60	42,840
Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	4.6	24.58	51,120
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	140	5.3	24.09	50,110
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	500	2.6	20.23	42,080
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	210	2.6	19.60	40,770
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	2.2	22.47	46,730
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	3.7	22.00	45,760
Machinists	380	1.2	23.87	49,640
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	370	16.9	25.17	52,360
Pourers and casters, metal	40	6.4	28.72	59,730
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	380	2.3	19.52	40,610
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	300	2.2	18.72	38,930
Tool and die makers	130	2.0	25.89	53,850
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	940	2.1	23.10	48,050
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	2.1	22.42	46,630
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	4.9	23.16	48,170
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	3.7	16.96	35,270
Printing press operators	150	0.9	20.54	42,710
Print binding and finishing workers	40	1.0	17.71	36,830
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	240	1.2	13.69	28,470
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	40	1.4	13.60	28,290
Sewing machine operators	230	1.9	14.52	30,200
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	140	1.4	19.65	40,880
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	30	0.7	19.19	39,920
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	180	1.4	23.98	49,880
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	110	0.9	22.10	45,970
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.6	20.06	41,710
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	3.3	18.29	38,030
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	140	1.3	20.97	43,620
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	2.0	20.13	41,870
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	1.0	19.22	39,980
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,110	1.8	21.58	44,880
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	810	2.0	19.66	40,900
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	250	1.5	21.36	44,420
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	850	4.3	22.42	46,630
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	(5)	(5)	28.02	58,290
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	50	3.2	18.84	39,190
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	80	2.0	18.67	38,820
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	170	1.7	20.80	43,270
Helpers--production workers	260	1.4	18.48	38,450
Production workers, all other	220	0.8	17.15	35,660
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Canton-Massillon, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_15940.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.