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News Release Information

16-1647-KAN
Thursday, August 04, 2016

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (816) 285-7000

Occupational Employment and Wages in Wichita – May 2015

Workers in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.38 in May 2015, about 12 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; management; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; installation, maintenance, and repair; and construction and extraction. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving; computer and mathematical; and sales and related. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2015
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesWichitaUnited StatesWichitaPercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$23.23$20.38*-12

Management

5.04.3*55.3045.84*-17

Business and Financial Operations

5.14.4*35.4831.31*-12

Computer and Mathematical

2.91.9*41.4332.75*-21

Architecture and Engineering

1.82.4*39.8937.54*-6

Life, Physical, and Social Science

0.80.4*34.2431.25*-9

Community and Social Service

1.41.422.1918.80*-15

Legal

0.80.5*49.7439.65*-20

Education, Training, and Library

6.26.125.4819.76*-22

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media

1.31.327.3919.26*-30

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical

5.85.837.4034.05*-9

Healthcare Support

2.93.114.1912.82*-10

Protective Service

2.42.1*21.4517.93*-16

Food Preparation and Serving Related

9.18.8*10.989.74*-11

Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance

3.22.8*13.0212.29*-6

Personal Care and Service

3.13.312.3312.19-1

Sales and Related

10.59.6*18.9017.18*-9

Office and Administrative Support

15.816.5*17.4715.98*-9

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

0.30.1*12.6714.44*14

Construction and Extraction

4.04.7*22.8818.98*-17

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair

3.94.7*22.1122.271

Production

6.610.2*17.4119.89*14

Transportation and Material Moving

6.95.8*16.9015.30*-9

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Wichita is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The percent share of employment or mean hourly wage for this area is significantly different from the national average of all areas at the 90-percent confidence level.
 

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Wichita had 30,030 jobs in production, accounting for 10.2 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.89, significantly above the national wage of $17.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (3,140), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,330), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,760). Among the higher paying jobs were metal and plastic layout workers, as well as petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers, with mean hourly wages of $32.03 and $30.91, respectively. Occupations at the lower end of the wage scale included laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.57) and production workers’ helpers ($11.02). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2015/may/oes_48620.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 Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic layout workers were employed at 31.6 times the national rate in Wichita, and metal and plastic computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, at 5.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, printing press operators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Wichita, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Kansas Department of Labor.

Notes on Occupational Employment Statistics Data

With the issuance of data for May 2015, the OES program has incorporated redefined metropolitan area definitions as designated by the Office of Management and Budget. OES data are available for 394 metropolitan areas, 38 metropolitan divisions, and 167 OES-defined nonmetropolitan areas. A listing of the areas and their definitions can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.htm.

A value that is statistically different from another does not necessarily mean that the difference has economic or practical significance. Statistical significance is concerned with the ability to make confident statements about a universe based on a sample. It is entirely possible that a large difference between two values is not significantly different statistically, while a small difference is, since both the size and heterogeneity of the sample affect the relative error of the data being tested.


Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations for all industries combined in the nation; the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 432 metropolitan areas and divisions; 167 nonmetropolitan areas; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. National estimates are also available by industry for NAICS sectors, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industries, and by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 sampled establishments in May and November each year. May 2015 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, November 2013, May 2013, and November 2012. The overall national response rate for the six panels is 73.5 percent based on establishments and 69.6 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57.9 percent of total national employment. (Response rates are slightly lower for these estimates due to the federal shutdown in October 2013.) The sample in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,643 establishments with a response rate of 75 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

The May 2015 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

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 Wichita, Kans. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Butler, Harvey, Kingman, Sedgwick, and Sumner Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/mountain-plains. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/2015/may/methods_statement.pdf.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request . Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production Occupations

30,0301.6$19.89$41,360

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers

1,7601.429.1460,620

Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers

602.015.7832,830

Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers

3700.818.4538,370

Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers

600.616.0833,450

Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters

(5)(5)25.7553,570

Team Assemblers

3,1401.315.1731,550

Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other

1,1702.415.7832,830

Bakers

4001.112.3425,660

Butchers and Meat Cutters

1500.516.5334,390

Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers

600.213.9929,090

Food Batchmakers

1500.514.7230,630

Food Processing Workers, All Other

1501.514.7330,650

Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic

8902.917.1335,630

Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic

3105.730.7563,950

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

2701.716.2233,740

Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

802.017.2235,820

Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

5801.415.6232,500

Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

1003.015.9433,160

Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

3502.213.2427,540

Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

1301.520.0541,700

Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

1002.324.1150,150

Machinists

1,5301.819.6740,910

Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

2200.814.5930,340

Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

(5)(5)14.7230,620

Tool and Die Makers

6704.225.0152,010

Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers

1,2301.518.4538,370

Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

1301.217.3336,050

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

801.816.6534,640

Layout Workers, Metal and Plastic

72031.632.0366,630

Prepress Technicians and Workers

901.218.7438,990

Printing Press Operators

3701.015.9133,100

Print Binding and Finishing Workers

1701.512.7426,500

Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers

3000.79.5719,900

Sewing Machine Operators

2901.011.2123,310

Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

301.110.4821,790

Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers

601.418.6438,770

Upholsterers

500.817.8737,160

Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters

1600.814.4129,980

Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood

1901.812.8026,610

Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing

1801.114.1129,340

Power Plant Operators

(5)(5)25.6153,260

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators

1800.718.1237,690

Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers

2803.130.9164,290

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

700.719.3140,170

Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

600.916.6934,720

Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand

2303.814.4730,110

Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

2400.917.0635,490

Cutters and Trimmers, Hand

401.114.3429,820

Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

1401.116.4234,150

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers

2,3302.224.9751,940

Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

500.922.3746,530

Dental Laboratory Technicians

700.816.2633,820

Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders

4800.613.5428,170

Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

3902.114.8830,950

Painters, Transportation Equipment

1501.426.4755,050

Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators

300.613.5728,230

Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders

802.313.6028,300

Etchers and Engravers

301.512.4025,790

Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic

(5)(5)14.6130,380

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

800.4(5)(5)

Helpers--Production Workers

6900.711.0222,910

Production Workers, All Other

3500.713.0227,090

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_48620.htm.
(2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations 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 04, 2016