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).

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.

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.