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News Release Information

25-587-CHI
Monday, May 12, 2025

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Fort Wayne — May 2024

Workers in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.77 in May 2024, compared to the nationwide average of $32.66, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Julie Wilson noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($58.35), healthcare practitioners and technical ($49.36), and legal ($47.25). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.76) and personal care and service ($15.74). (See table A.)

Production occupations accounted for 12.3 percent of Fort Wayne area employment, followed by office and administrative support occupations (10.9 percent) and transportation and material moving occupations (10.4 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.5 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.1 percent).

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Fort Wayne metropolitan area, May 2024
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Fort Wayne United States Fort Wayne

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 32.66 27.77

Management

7.1 4.7 68.15 58.35

Business and financial operations

6.7 4.6 45.04 37.44

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.0 56.16 40.88

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.7 49.99 40.09

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.5 43.12 37.01

Community and social service

1.7 1.7 30.31 26.63

Legal

0.8 0.5 66.19 47.25

Educational instruction and library

5.8 4.5 31.69 26.28

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.1 37.04 26.12

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.2 7.7 50.59 49.36

Healthcare support

4.8 4.9 19.06 18.22

Protective service

2.4 1.8 29.33 29.23

Food preparation and serving related

8.8 8.7 17.32 14.76

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.7 19.01 17.46

Personal care and service

2.0 1.6 18.95 15.74

Sales and related

8.7 8.8 26.00 23.13

Office and administrative support

11.8 10.9 24.12 22.35

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 20.06 22.04

Construction and extraction

4.1 4.5 30.73 29.51

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.4 29.63 27.72

Production

5.7 12.3 24.08 24.22

Transportation and material moving

8.9 10.4 23.44 21.46

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Fort Wayne had 27,470 jobs in production, accounting for 12.3 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $24.22, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (8,370), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,970), and machinists (1,740). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($31.55) and computer numerically controlled tool programmers ($30.20). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($15.15) and bakers ($16.88). (Detailed data for the office and administrative support occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0023060.)

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 2.00 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, extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, were employed at 7.34 times the national rate in Fort Wayne, and machinists, at 4.01 times the U.S. average. Laundry and dry-cleaning workers had a location quotient of 0.94 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.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

Effective with the May 2024 OEWS news release, the OEWS program has implemented new metropolitan area definitions based on the 2020 decennial census and delineated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Bulletin 23-01. This news release does not include data for Colorado and its areas because of quality concerns with Colorado’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data. See the national OEWS news release for more information.


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 530 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 is 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 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,096 establishments with a response rate of 72 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 2024
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

27,470 2.16 24.22 50,380

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,970 1.98 31.55 65,620

Coil winders, tapers, and finishers

80 4.41 21.86 45,480

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

900 2.37 19.50 40,550

Engine and other machine assemblers

70 1.32 20.54 42,710

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

100 1.29 23.44 48,760

Fiberglass laminators and fabricators

80 2.81 21.00 43,680

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

8,370 3.95 25.05 52,090

Bakers

200 0.59 16.88 35,120

Butchers and meat cutters

150 0.72 19.84 41,260

Food batchmakers

490 1.97 22.73 47,280

Food cooking machine operators and tenders

40 0.98 21.65 45,030

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

700 7.34 23.62 49,120

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

160 5.03 29.59 61,550

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

1,210 4.78 22.05 45,860

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

30 4.51 22.60 47,010

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

270 2.64 22.30 46,370

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

120 4.47 24.91 51,800

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

50 2.65 25.04 52,080

Machinists

1,740 4.01 25.02 52,040

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

200 6.64 28.72 59,730

Foundry mold and coremakers

50 2.71 19.60 40,760

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

470 2.09 20.05 41,710

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

340 1.82 20.66 42,980

Tool and die makers

360 4.48 29.72 61,810

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

870 1.40 25.20 52,420

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

220 4.24 20.89 43,460

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

70 3.19 26.37 54,850

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

160 3.52 19.36 40,280

Prepress technicians and workers

40 1.06 24.19 50,310

Printing press operators

300 1.44 22.73 47,270

Print binding and finishing workers

100 1.94 18.58 38,640

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

270 0.94 15.15 31,520

Sewing machine operators

190 1.21 17.70 36,820

Upholsterers

90 2.91 19.29 40,130

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

230 1.99 21.05 43,780

Furniture finishers

90 4.50 21.99 45,750

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

70 1.04 18.88 39,280

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

110 1.20 20.05 41,710

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

190 1.01 27.64 57,480

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

90 0.47 22.21 46,200

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

80 1.01 22.37 46,520

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

70 1.67 22.78 47,390

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

50 2.75 17.87 37,170

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

290 1.98 24.75 51,490

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

170 2.39 23.87 49,650

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

140 1.67 22.44 46,670

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

1,360 1.58 23.67 49,230

Dental laboratory technicians

90 1.75 22.36 46,510

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

700 1.26 20.21 42,050

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

50 4.15 24.17 50,270

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

480 2.07 23.38 48,630

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

890 3.45 23.10 48,050

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

140 3.48 30.20 62,810

Etchers and engravers

30 2.68 20.48 42,600

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

80 1.56 22.30 46,370

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

240 1.74 22.04 45,850

Helpers--production workers

80 0.33 18.31 38,080

Production workers, all other

170 0.42 20.15 41,910

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0023060.
(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.

 

Last Modified Date: Monday, May 12, 2025