Workers in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.37 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 ($54.91), healthcare practitioners and technical ($47.23), and legal ($45.62). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.20), personal care and service ($15.56), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($16.74). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Fort Wayne area included production (11.8 percent), office and administrative support (11.5 percent), and transportation and material moving (10.7 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.5 percent); legal (0.5 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.2 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. Fort Wayne had 26,110 jobs in production, accounting for 11.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.96, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (8,250), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,780), and machinists (1,620). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and computer numerically controlled tool programmers, with mean hourly wages of $30.28 and $30.04, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($14.18) and bakers ($15.67). (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_23060.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 Fort Wayne area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal-refining furnace operators and tenders were employed at 9.4 times the national rate in Fort Wayne, and rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, at 5.5 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 1.0 in Fort Wayne, 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 Indiana 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 Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,107 establishments with a response rate of 75 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 Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Allen County, Wells County, and Whitley 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, Fort Wayne metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	26,110	2.0	22.96	47,760
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,780	1.8	30.28	62,980
Coil winders, tapers, and finishers	90	5.3	(5)	(5)
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	830	2.1	18.43	38,330
Engine and other machine assemblers	50	0.7	20.65	42,950
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	100	1.2	21.52	44,760
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	8,250	3.8	23.75	49,390
Bakers	220	0.7	15.67	32,600
Butchers and meat cutters	130	0.7	19.29	40,130
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders	40	1.3	20.12	41,850
Food batchmakers	380	1.5	21.14	43,980
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	30	0.7	17.65	36,710
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	430	4.6	22.41	46,600
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	200	5.5	28.65	59,580
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,090	4.2	19.55	40,660
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	290	2.7	19.71	41,000
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	4.4	24.30	50,530
Machinists	1,620	3.8	24.60	51,160
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	290	9.4	28.13	58,510
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	480	2.1	19.92	41,440
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	400	2.1	19.38	40,310
Tool and die makers	340	4.0	28.19	58,640
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	710	1.2	22.59	46,990
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	130	2.7	21.64	45,000
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	2.8	24.83	51,640
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	170	3.5	18.42	38,310
Prepress technicians and workers	30	1.0	22.08	45,930
Printing press operators	230	1.0	22.27	46,330
Print binding and finishing workers	100	1.7	17.68	36,770
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	280	1.1	14.18	29,490
Sewing machine operators	250	1.5	17.25	35,880
Textile winding, twisting, and drawing out machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	17.83	37,080
Upholsterers	110	2.9	21.03	43,750
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	220	1.7	21.17	44,040
Furniture finishers	90	4.3	19.97	41,530
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	80	1.2	18.00	37,430
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	140	1.6	19.81	41,210
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	180	1.0	25.87	53,800
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	80	0.5	21.16	44,010
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	1.2	19.20	39,930
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	40	2.2	17.70	36,820
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	300	2.0	22.11	45,980
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	160	2.1	22.38	46,540
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	1.3	21.07	43,820
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,330	1.6	22.38	46,560
Dental laboratory technicians	80	1.7	20.08	41,770
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	540	1.0	18.98	39,480
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	40	2.7	21.94	45,640
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	450	2.0	21.53	44,780
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	740	2.7	22.91	47,660
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	70	1.8	30.04	62,480
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	30	1.5	18.59	38,670
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	100	1.8	20.54	42,730
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	280	2.0	20.27	42,160
Helpers--production workers	200	0.8	17.51	36,410
Production workers, all other	100	0.3	17.60	36,600
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_23060.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.