Workers in the Michigan City-La Porte, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $25.27 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 ($54.60), legal ($45.57), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($42.68). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.54), personal care and service ($17.24), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.45), and healthcare support ($17.82). (See table A.)

Production occupations accounted for 13.6 percent of Michigan City area employment, followed by food preparation and serving related occupations (10.5 percent), sales and related occupations (10.1 percent), and office and administrative support (10.1 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.3 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.5 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.6 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Michigan City had 5,610 jobs in production, accounting for 13.6 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $22.13, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (920), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (480), and packaging and filling machine operators and tenders (470). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($31.27) and tool and die makers ($27.72). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($15.45). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0033140.)

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 Michigan City area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in nearly all of the occupations within the production group. For instance, grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, were employed at 11.98 times the national rate in Michigan City, and food batchmakers, at 8.73 times the U.S. average.

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 Michigan City-La Porte, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 741 establishments with a response rate of 74 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 Michigan City-La Porte, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes LaPorte 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, Michigan City metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	5,610	2.4	22.13	46,030
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	480	2.63	31.27	65,030
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	130	1.89	18.07	37,580
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	920	2.36	20.50	42,650
Bakers	130	2.06	18.60	38,680
Butchers and meat cutters	50	1.25	18.29	38,030
Food batchmakers	400	8.73	20.33	42,290
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	2.00	19.76	41,090
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	220	11.98	20.13	41,860
Machinists	200	2.49	23.93	49,760
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	90	16.57	21.87	45,500
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	230	5.67	19.55	40,660
Tool and die makers	100	6.59	27.72	57,650
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	190	1.68	26.08	54,240
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	30	0.58	15.45	32,140
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	80	2.32	26.11	54,300
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	140	5.27	21.22	44,140
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	300	1.89	22.38	46,560
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	470	4.56	20.17	41,960
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	80	1.79	22.51	46,830
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	90	1.84	22.57	46,940
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	50	14.37	20.28	42,170
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Michigan City-La Porte, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0033140. (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.