Workers in the Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.79 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 ($60.67), healthcare practitioners and technical ($48.62), and legal ($43.79). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.87), healthcare support ($17.97), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($18.39). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Racine area included production (13.4 percent), transportation and material moving (11.2 percent), and office and administrative support (10.4 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.5 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.7 percent).

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Racine had 10,230 jobs in production, accounting for 13.4 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.7-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $23.93, compared to the national wage of $24.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (2,000), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (960), and electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers (780). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers ($34.84) and computer numerically controlled tool programmers ($32.75). At the lower end of the wage scale were sewing machine operators ($16.67) and bakers ($17.07). (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/0039540.)

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 Racine area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 6.48 times the national rate in Racine, and electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers, at 6.05 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 Wisconsin 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 Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,099 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Racine 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, Racine metropolitan area, May 2024

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	10,230	2.36	23.93	49,770
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	960	2.83	34.84	72,470
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	780	6.05	21.57	44,860
Engine and other machine assemblers	30	1.60	25.03	52,070
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	70	2.58	25.40	52,820
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	2,000	2.77	21.03	43,740
Bakers	150	1.30	17.07	35,510
Butchers and meat cutters	70	1.01	20.15	41,910
Food batchmakers	300	3.53	(5)	(5)
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	270	3.09	22.96	47,760
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	1.90	20.74	43,130
Machinists	420	2.83	25.09	52,180
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	180	2.33	22.30	46,390
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	2.00	22.81	47,440
Tool and die makers	100	3.78	31.12	64,730
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	440	2.07	25.96	53,990
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	2.06	21.62	44,980
Printing press operators	140	2.00	22.87	47,580
Sewing machine operators	60	1.18	16.67	34,660
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	40	0.61	31.71	65,950
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	320	6.48	24.73	51,440
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	1.87	24.51	50,970
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	150	5.24	22.41	46,610
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	730	2.48	24.71	51,390
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	590	3.10	21.13	43,960
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	250	3.12	24.23	50,390
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	420	4.83	27.07	56,300
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	40	2.54	32.75	68,120
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	60	3.25	23.69	49,270
Helpers--production workers	180	2.11	22.39	46,560
Production workers, all other	190	1.40	18.66	38,800
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0039540. (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.