Workers in the Niles, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.92 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 legal ($57.55) and management ($56.74). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($16.92), healthcare support ($17.30), building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($17.67), and personal care and service ($17.75). (See table A.)

Food preparation and serving related occupations accounted for 11.8 percent of Niles area employment, followed by office and administrative support occupations (11.0 percent) and production occupations (10.8 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.3 percent) and life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Niles had 6,430 jobs in production, accounting for 10.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.84, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (1,020), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (530), and machinists (520). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($39.35) and computer numerically controlled tool programmers ($32.00). At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($15.14) and bakers ($16.25). (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/0035660.)

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 Niles 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 26.57 times the national rate in Niles, and welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 10.22 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 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 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 Niles, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 932 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 Niles, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Berrien 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, Niles metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	6,430	1.9	23.84	49,580
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	530	2.01	39.35	81,850
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	90	0.86	(5)	(5)
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	130	6.13	28.88	60,070
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	1,020	1.80	20.02	41,640
Bakers	130	1.46	16.25	33,790
Butchers and meat cutters	70	1.32	17.48	36,360
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	50	2.14	22.96	47,750
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	400	5.94	19.56	40,680
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	4.68	19.87	41,320
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	6.03	20.99	43,660
Machinists	520	4.47	24.11	50,140
Foundry mold and coremakers	130	26.57	20.83	43,330
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	190	3.11	19.20	39,930
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	1.73	21.97	45,700
Tool and die makers	130	6.19	27.60	57,420
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	260	1.58	24.99	51,990
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	140	10.22	22.03	45,820
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	5.16	18.98	39,470
Printing press operators	100	1.79	21.39	44,480
Print binding and finishing workers	50	3.32	18.90	39,310
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	80	1.08	15.14	31,490
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	80	1.64	27.74	57,690
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	2.50	23.19	48,240
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.93	21.67	45,070
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	470	2.04	21.04	43,760
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	70	0.48	17.44	36,280
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	170	2.79	20.79	43,240
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	170	2.42	23.14	48,130
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	40	3.62	32.00	66,560
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	100	2.68	21.87	45,480
Helpers--production workers	50	0.85	18.52	38,530
Production workers, all other	80	0.78	18.20	37,860
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Niles, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0035660. (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.