Workers in the Duluth, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.13 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 ($51.51), healthcare practitioners and technical ($48.18), and legal ($45.46). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.82), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($18.05), and personal care and service ($18.06). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Duluth area included office and administrative support (12.1 percent), food preparation and serving related (10.0 percent), and sales and related (8.5 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.4 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.0 percent); and life, physical, and social science (1.2 percent). (See table A.)

One occupational group—office and administrative support—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Duluth had 15,000 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 12.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.83, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included office clerks, general (2,500); customer service representatives (2,120); secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive (1,270); and bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (1,240). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were production, planning, and expediting clerks and first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, with mean hourly wages of $32.58 and $31.21, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($15.24) and receptionists and information clerks ($16.20). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_20260.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 Duluth area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, court, municipal, and license clerks were employed at 3.4 times the national rate in Duluth, and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks, at 2.0 times the U.S. average. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Duluth, 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 Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development, and 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 Duluth, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,781 establishments with a response rate of 70 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 Duluth, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Carlton County, MN; St. Louis County, MN; and Douglas County, WI.

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 office and administrative support occupations, Duluth metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	15,000	1.0	22.83	47,480
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	970	0.8	31.21	64,920
Switchboard operators, including answering service	50	1.4	18.47	38,420
Bill and account collectors	80	0.5	21.75	45,250
Billing and posting clerks	320	0.9	23.67	49,230
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	1,240	1.0	23.06	47,960
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	100	0.8	26.74	55,610
Tellers	380	1.4	17.95	37,330
Court, municipal, and license clerks	440	3.4	24.57	51,110
Customer service representatives	2,120	0.9	21.17	44,040
File clerks	40	0.6	19.81	41,200
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	430	2.0	15.24	31,690
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	210	1.6	18.45	38,380
Library assistants, clerical	60	0.9	17.00	35,350
Loan interviewers and clerks	140	0.8	22.76	47,330
New accounts clerks	60	1.9	20.48	42,590
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	150	1.8	22.33	46,440
Receptionists and information clerks	700	0.9	16.20	33,690
Information and record clerks, all other	40	0.4	22.45	46,690
Public safety telecommunicators	100	1.3	27.99	58,220
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	170	1.0	27.23	56,640
Postal service clerks	100	1.6	27.52	57,250
Postal service mail carriers	360	1.3	27.98	58,200
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	60	0.6	29.33	61,010
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	260	0.8	32.58	67,760
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	460	0.7	20.31	42,250
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	260	0.7	30.90	64,270
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	110	0.9	25.78	53,630
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	750	1.2	21.61	44,950
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	1,270	0.9	22.54	46,880
Data entry keyers	70	0.6	14.28	29,710
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	160	0.8	23.20	48,250
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	40	0.7	19.70	40,980
Office clerks, general	2,500	1.2	21.91	45,570
Office machine operators, except computer	50	2.4	19.77	41,120
Office and administrative support workers, all other	110	0.8	20.58	42,800
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Duluth, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_20260.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.