Workers in the Lansing-East Lansing, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $29.69 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 ($58.22), legal ($54.36), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($44.42). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($15.93), personal care and service ($17.06), and healthcare support ($17.59). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Lansing area included office and administrative support (13.7 percent), business and financial operations (8.3 percent), and transportation and material moving (8.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.8 percent); arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.3 percent); and personal care and service (1.5 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. Lansing had 28,960 jobs in office and administrative support, accounting for 13.7 percent of local area employment, compared to the 12.2-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.62, 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 (5,340) and customer service representatives (5,170). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers with mean hourly wages of $32.82 and executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants ($31.86). At the lower end of the wage scale were clerical library assistants ($15.17) and hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks ($15.20). (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_29620.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 Lansing area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the office and administrative support group. For instance, insurance claims and policy processing clerks were employed at 2.9 times the national rate in Lansing, and eligibility interviewers, government programs, at 2.0 times the U.S. average. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks had a location quotient of 1.0 in Lansing, 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 Lansing-East Lansing, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,906 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 Lansing-East Lansing, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Clinton County, Eaton County, and Ingham 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, Lansing metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Office and administrative support occupations	28,960	1.1	22.62	47,040
First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers	1,990	1.0	32.82	68,260
Bill and account collectors	290	1.1	18.53	38,540
Billing and posting clerks	620	1.0	21.29	44,290
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	2,050	1.0	23.11	48,070
Payroll and timekeeping clerks	160	0.7	25.31	52,650
Procurement clerks	50	0.6	24.63	51,240
Tellers	580	1.2	17.64	36,700
Court, municipal, and license clerks	270	1.2	23.17	48,200
Customer service representatives	5,170	1.3	20.18	41,980
Eligibility interviewers, government programs	420	2.0	28.63	59,550
File clerks	110	0.9	20.30	42,230
Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks	200	0.6	15.20	31,610
Interviewers, except eligibility and loan	80	0.4	19.98	41,570
Library assistants, clerical	170	1.4	15.17	31,560
Loan interviewers and clerks	400	1.4	22.22	46,220
New accounts clerks	200	3.4	20.80	43,260
Order clerks	60	0.5	21.52	44,770
Human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping	140	1.0	22.90	47,640
Receptionists and information clerks	1,030	0.7	16.83	35,010
Information and record clerks, all other	90	0.4	23.61	49,100
Couriers and messengers	100	1.0	16.88	35,100
Public safety telecommunicators	70	0.5	23.16	48,180
Dispatchers, except police, fire, and ambulance	280	1.0	22.66	47,130
Postal service clerks	100	0.9	29.18	60,690
Postal service mail carriers	550	1.2	28.51	59,310
Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators	140	0.9	28.28	58,810
Production, planning, and expediting clerks	290	0.5	27.15	56,480
Shipping, receiving, and inventory clerks	900	0.8	20.85	43,370
Executive secretaries and executive administrative assistants	810	1.2	31.86	66,270
Legal secretaries and administrative assistants	180	0.9	27.81	57,850
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants	1,130	1.1	19.72	41,010
Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive	2,270	0.9	22.82	47,470
Data entry keyers	180	0.8	18.96	39,440
Word processors and typists	50	0.9	22.32	46,420
Insurance claims and policy processing clerks	960	2.9	20.49	42,610
Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service	100	1.1	18.28	38,010
Office clerks, general	5,340	1.5	20.82	43,310
Statistical assistants	150	14.9	25.08	52,160
Office and administrative support workers, all other	1,010	4.2	28.20	58,660
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Lansing-East Lansing, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_29620.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.