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News Release Information

24-891-CHI
Thursday, August 01, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Muskegon — May 2023

Workers in the Muskegon, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.73 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 ($51.29), healthcare practitioners and technical ($48.06), and legal ($42.34). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.89), personal care and service ($15.26), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($16.47). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Muskegon area included production (14.2 percent), sales and related (13.5 percent), and food preparation and serving related (11.3 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 computer and mathematical (0.7 percent). (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Muskegon metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Muskegon United States Muskegon

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 24.73

Management

6.9 4.9 66.23 51.29

Business and financial operations

6.6 3.0 43.55 33.91

Computer and mathematical

3.4 0.7 54.39 39.00

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.8 47.64 40.24

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.5 42.24 36.46

Community and social service

1.6 1.8 28.36 25.61

Legal

0.8 0.3 64.34 42.34

Educational instruction and library

5.8 4.6 31.92 27.69

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 0.8 36.31 23.06

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 6.4 49.07 48.06

Healthcare support

4.7 4.4 18.37 17.56

Protective service

2.3 1.9 27.74 26.93

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 11.3 16.58 14.89

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.0 18.43 16.47

Personal care and service

2.0 2.0 18.48 15.26

Sales and related

8.8 13.5 25.62 18.97

Office and administrative support

12.2 9.6 23.05 20.67

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 19.22 19.63

Construction and extraction

4.1 3.4 29.57 27.47

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.1 28.13 26.39

Production

5.8 14.2 22.90 21.87

Transportation and material moving

9.1 8.8 22.45 18.73

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Muskegon had 8,770 jobs in production, accounting for 14.2 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.87, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (840) and computer numerically controlled tool operators (780). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were patternmakers, metal and plastic with mean hourly wages of $33.37 and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($32.39). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.47) and bakers ($16.42). (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_34740.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 Muskegon area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, foundry mold and coremakers were employed at 29.5 times the national rate in Muskegon, and computer numerically controlled tool operators, at 10.2 times the U.S. average. Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Muskegon, 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 Muskegon, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 889 establishments with a response rate of 70 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 Muskegon, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Muskegon 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, Muskegon metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

8,770 2.5 21.87 45,480

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

630 2.3 32.39 67,370

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

60 0.6 20.76 43,180

Engine and other machine assemblers

70 3.4 21.95 45,650

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

30 1.3 23.31 48,480

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

840 1.4 18.92 39,340

Bakers

130 1.5 16.42 34,150

Butchers and meat cutters

40 0.8 18.63 38,740

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

330 4.5 19.74 41,070

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

380 12.4 20.16 41,940

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

100 12.0 19.22 39,970

Machinists

590 5.0 22.06 45,890

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

210 24.4 21.51 44,740

Pourers and casters, metal

80 35.1 (5) (5)

Patternmakers, metal and plastic

90 105.6 33.37 69,410

Foundry mold and coremakers

140 29.5 21.35 44,400

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

510 7.8 21.10 43,890

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

290 5.7 18.61 38,720

Tool and die makers

190 8.0 26.85 55,850

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

180 1.1 21.92 45,600

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

80 6.3 19.29 40,120

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

100 15.8 23.66 49,200

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

110 8.4 17.24 35,850

Printing press operators

90 1.5 21.26 44,220

Print binding and finishing workers

40 2.3 17.84 37,110

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

50 0.7 13.47 28,030

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

60 2.4 19.17 39,870

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

40 0.8 26.52 55,160

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

190 3.9 24.97 51,950

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

580 2.5 21.55 44,830

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

180 1.2 18.62 38,740

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

100 1.6 20.83 43,330

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

780 10.2 21.80 45,340

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

70 6.3 28.64 59,570

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

40 2.3 21.38 44,460

Helpers--production workers

100 1.4 17.03 35,420

Production workers, all other

380 3.9 18.31 38,080

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Muskegon, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_34740.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, August 01, 2024