Workers in the Flint, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.55 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 ($52.79), healthcare practitioners and technical ($47.99), and legal ($43.60). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($15.25), personal care and service ($16.76), and healthcare support ($17.30). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Flint area included office and administrative support (11.9 percent), food preparation and serving related (10.2 percent), and sales and related (9.3 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.3 percent); legal (0.6 percent); and computer and mathematical (1.1 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. Flint had 15,720 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 11.9 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.06, compared to the national wage of $23.05.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the office and administrative support group included general office clerks (2,970) and customer service representatives (2,140). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers and postal service clerks, with mean hourly wages of $30.21 and $29.81, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($14.21). (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_22420.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 Flint area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, billing and posting clerks were employed at 2.3 times the national rate in Flint, and postal service mail carriers, at 1.7 times the U.S. average. Payroll and timekeeping clerks had a location quotient of 0.9 in Flint, 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 Flint, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,456 establishments with a response rate of 65 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 Flint, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Genesee 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 office and administrative support occupations, Flint metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	15,720	1.0	21.06	43,800
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	930	0.7	30.21	62,830
Switchboard operators, including answering service	40	1.1	17.78	36,970
Bill and account collectors	130	0.8	19.73	41,050
Billing and posting clerks	880	2.3	20.62	42,890
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	1,030	0.8	22.04	45,850
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	130	0.9	24.75	51,480
Tellers	440	1.5	17.68	36,770
Financial clerks, all other	50	1.3	22.34	46,470
Court, municipal, and license clerks	220	1.6	24.08	50,090
Customer service representatives	2,140	0.9	19.32	40,190
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	210	1.6	28.07	58,380
File clerks	40	0.5	21.01	43,700
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	100	0.4	14.21	29,570
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	50	0.4	21.69	45,120
Library assistants, clerical	70	1.0	16.52	34,350
Loan interviewers and clerks	260	1.5	22.70	47,210
New accounts clerks	100	2.9	21.88	45,500
Order clerks	100	1.3	21.96	45,680
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	90	1.0	20.51	42,670
Receptionists and information clerks	930	1.1	16.39	34,090
Information and record clerks, all other	40	0.3	21.48	44,670
Couriers and messengers	120	1.9	16.62	34,570
Public safety telecommunicators	110	1.3	22.28	46,340
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	170	1.0	20.01	41,610
Postal service clerks	80	1.1	29.81	62,000
Postal service mail carriers	500	1.7	28.47	59,220
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	30	0.3	26.46	55,030
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	180	0.5	25.43	52,900
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	530	0.7	19.26	40,070
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	250	0.6	28.95	60,210
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	1,040	1.6	19.10	39,720
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	1,280	0.8	20.09	41,780
Data entry keyers	90	0.7	17.97	37,380
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	150	0.7	22.66	47,120
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	30	0.6	17.73	36,880
Office clerks, general	2,970	1.4	19.74	41,060
Office and administrative support workers, all other	60	0.4	20.96	43,600
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Flint, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_22420.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.