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News Release Information

24-883-CHI
Thursday, August 01, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Detroit-Warren-Dearborn — May 2023

Workers in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $30.94 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 ($64.06), legal ($54.11), and computer and mathematical ($48.33). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($16.70), healthcare support ($17.71), and personal care and service ($17.81). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Detroit area included office and administrative support (11.8 percent), production (9.8 percent), and transportation and material moving (8.7 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.5 percent); legal (0.8 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent). (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Detroit metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Detroit United States Detroit

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 30.94

Management

6.9 6.7 66.23 64.06

Business and financial operations

6.6 6.7 43.55 41.61

Computer and mathematical

3.4 3.4 54.39 48.33

Architecture and engineering

1.7 3.8 47.64 45.16

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.5 42.24 40.71

Community and social service

1.6 1.4 28.36 26.34

Legal

0.8 0.8 64.34 54.11

Educational instruction and library

5.8 4.1 31.92 29.45

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.1 36.31 29.16

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 6.6 49.07 46.55

Healthcare support

4.7 4.2 18.37 17.71

Protective service

2.3 1.8 27.74 26.25

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 8.1 16.58 16.70

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.6 18.43 18.23

Personal care and service

2.0 1.9 18.48 17.81

Sales and related

8.8 8.4 25.62 26.12

Office and administrative support

12.2 11.8 23.05 23.16

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 19.22 20.92

Construction and extraction

4.1 3.5 29.57 30.75

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 3.8 28.13 27.86

Production

5.8 9.8 22.90 23.73

Transportation and material moving

9.1 8.7 22.45 23.27

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Detroit had 186,670 jobs in production, accounting for 9.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.73, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (59,500); cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic (12,930); and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (12,400). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were power plant operators and gas plant operators, with mean hourly wages of $46.38 and $46.27, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($13.87); tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers ($15.15); and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($15.75). (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_19820.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 Detroit area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, model makers, metal and plastic were employed at 14.8 times the national rate in Detroit, and engine and other machine assemblers, at 10.3 times the U.S. average. Butchers and meat cutters had a location quotient of 1.0 in Detroit, 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 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 7,042 establishments with a response rate of 68 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 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lapeer County, Livingston County, Macomb County, Oakland County, St. Clair County, and Wayne 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, Detroit metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

186,670 1.7 23.73 49,350

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

11,150 1.3 34.53 71,810

Coil winders, tapers, and finishers

60 0.4 20.82 43,310

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

4,260 1.3 21.37 44,450

Engine and other machine assemblers

6,200 10.3 26.33 54,760

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

780 1.1 26.36 54,820

Fiberglass laminators and fabricators

70 0.3 22.03 45,820

Timing device assemblers and adjusters

80 16.7 22.00 45,760

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

59,500 3.2 23.15 48,160

Bakers

3,020 1.1 17.05 35,460

Butchers and meat cutters

1,680 1.0 18.41 38,290

Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers

60 0.0 17.68 36,780

Slaughterers and meat packers

130 0.1 19.68 40,930

Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders

280 1.1 18.21 37,870

Food batchmakers

1,060 0.5 18.17 37,800

Food cooking machine operators and tenders

90 0.3 20.55 42,750

Food processing workers, all other

190 0.2 18.13 37,710

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

520 0.7 22.08 45,930

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

630 5.5 24.38 50,710

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

560 1.8 25.60 53,240

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

12,930 5.8 23.81 49,510

Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

100 1.4 24.15 50,240

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

2,140 2.3 22.33 46,440

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

1,230 5.0 23.70 49,290

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

820 4.7 21.96 45,680

Machinists

10,080 2.8 25.53 53,110

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

500 1.9 20.34 42,310

Model makers, metal and plastic

530 14.8 31.78 66,100

Patternmakers, metal and plastic

170 6.4 29.70 61,780

Foundry mold and coremakers

310 2.1 24.70 51,380

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

4,620 2.3 19.35 40,260

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

2,760 1.7 22.71 47,240

Tool and die makers

4,690 6.4 31.83 66,200

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

5,380 1.0 24.19 50,320

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

1,480 3.6 22.38 46,550

Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

600 3.2 22.73 47,270

Layout workers, metal and plastic

110 1.3 28.06 58,370

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

1,410 3.5 18.43 38,340

Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners

170 2.1 23.05 47,950

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

370 1.5 22.01 45,790

Prepress technicians and workers

140 0.5 24.48 50,910

Printing press operators

1,730 0.9 21.07 43,830

Print binding and finishing workers

340 0.7 19.22 39,980

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

2,440 1.1 15.75 32,760

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

190 0.5 13.87 28,850

Sewing machine operators

1,000 0.7 18.05 37,550

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers

380 2.0 15.15 31,500

Upholsterers

440 1.4 20.31 42,250

Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other

(5) (5) 14.92 31,030

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

480 0.4 22.06 45,890

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

150 0.3 19.24 40,010

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

370 0.5 19.85 41,280

Power plant operators

550 1.4 46.38 96,480

Stationary engineers and boiler operators

200 0.5 36.51 75,940

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

890 0.6 28.51 59,300

Chemical plant and system operators

(5) (5) 37.91 78,860

Gas plant operators

210 1.0 46.27 96,250

Plant and system operators, all other

220 1.2 29.82 62,030

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

1,530 1.0 24.90 51,800

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

520 0.8 21.49 44,690

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

150 0.5 25.75 53,550

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

90 0.6 18.43 38,330

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

1,100 0.8 22.46 46,720

Cutters and trimmers, hand

50 0.5 20.51 42,650

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

290 0.4 20.48 42,600

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

610 0.9 19.31 40,160

Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders

160 0.9 24.47 50,900

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

12,400 1.7 21.82 45,380

Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers

330 1.1 24.38 50,700

Dental laboratory technicians

450 1.1 25.48 52,990

Medical appliance technicians

210 1.4 25.31 52,650

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians

170 0.7 20.27 42,170

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

3,960 0.9 18.02 37,470

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

150 1.1 17.66 36,730

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

2,660 1.4 21.70 45,130

Photographic process workers and processing machine operators

40 0.6 18.07 37,580

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

3,050 1.3 24.17 50,270

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

1,010 2.9 31.05 64,590

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders

60 0.4 20.48 42,590

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

190 1.0 19.43 40,420

Etchers and engravers

(5) (5) 25.45 52,930

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

410 0.9 22.31 46,410

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

700 0.6 21.93 45,610

Tire builders

40 0.1 19.18 39,890

Helpers--production workers

1,800 0.8 18.85 39,210

Production workers, all other

2,110 0.7 19.85 41,290

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_19820.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