Workers in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.81 in May 2016, about 13 percent below the nationwide average of $23.86, 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 19 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 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production; construction and extraction; and installation, maintenance, and repair. 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.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Wichita had 31,200 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 10.5 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.5-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $20.37, significantly above the national wage of $17.88.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,520), machinists (1,810), and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,350). Among the higher paying jobs were metal and plastic computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, as well as petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers, with mean hourly wages of $33.49 and $33.35, respectively. Occupations at the lower end of the wage scale included laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.52) and production workers’ helpers ($11.53). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2016/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 several of the occupations within the production group. For instance, tool and die makers were employed at 4.5 times the national rate in Wichita, and machinists at 2.2 times the U.S. average. 

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.

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 data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels, and national estimates 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. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2016 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, November 2014, May 2014, and November 2013. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 73 percent based on establishments and 69 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted employment of sampled establishments across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,628 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2016 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/current/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 2016

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	31,200	1.6	$20.37	$42,380
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,760	1.4	30.47	63,380
Coil winders, tapers, and finishers	80	2.8	16.81	34,960
Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers	390	0.8	18.17	37,790
Electromechanical equipment assemblers	70	0.7	16.92	35,200
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	970	6.0	25.88	53,830
Fiberglass laminators and fabricators	(5)	(5)	16.23	33,770
Team assemblers	3,320	1.4	15.59	32,430
Assemblers and fabricators, all other	1,090	2.3	17.27	35,910
Bakers	310	0.8	11.31	23,510
Butchers and meat cutters	100	0.3	17.18	35,730
Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers	(5)	(5)	12.63	26,260
Food batchmakers	(5)	(5)	15.70	32,660
Food processing workers, all other	40	0.5	12.83	26,680
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	710	2.3	18.15	37,760
Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic	300	5.7	33.49	69,670
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	170	1.1	16.02	33,320
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	540	1.3	15.70	32,650
Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	2.5	16.27	33,840
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	350	2.2	14.11	29,350
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	150	2.1	19.21	39,950
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	24.11	50,140
Machinists	1,810	2.2	20.29	42,200
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	14.31	29,760
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	160	0.6	18.43	38,340
Tool and die makers	680	4.5	25.98	54,040
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,350	1.7	20.15	41,910
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	170	1.7	15.99	33,250
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	100	2.5	18.24	37,950
Layout workers, metal and plastic	750	38.9	32.37	67,340
Prepress technicians and workers	110	1.6	18.94	39,400
Printing press operators	420	1.2	15.87	33,010
Print binding and finishing workers	180	1.7	12.47	25,950
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	500	1.2	10.52	21,880
Sewing machine operators	370	1.3	11.01	22,900
Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers	40	1.1	18.78	39,050
Upholsterers	60	0.9	18.94	39,390
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	310	1.5	14.68	30,530
Furniture finishers	150	4.0	14.05	29,220
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	(5)	(5)	11.22	23,340
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	130	0.8	15.11	31,420
Power plant operators	(5)	(5)	26.15	54,390
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	180	0.7	17.88	37,180
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	400	4.5	33.35	69,370
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	17.23	35,840
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	(5)	(5)	14.22	29,580
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	150	2.7	14.64	30,450
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	280	1.0	16.98	35,310
Cutters and trimmers, hand	30	1.1	14.80	30,790
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	90	0.7	14.47	30,090
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	2,520	2.3	25.19	52,400
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	(5)	(5)	23.19	48,240
Dental laboratory technicians	90	1.2	16.80	34,950
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	390	0.5	13.08	27,200
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	470	2.6	16.10	33,490
Painters, transportation equipment	200	1.8	25.54	53,130
Photographic process workers and processing machine operators	30	0.6	12.62	26,250
Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders	110	3.1	15.20	31,610
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	40	0.9	12.84	26,700
Etchers and engravers	30	1.7	12.69	26,400
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	70	0.9	14.78	30,740
Helpers--production workers	790	0.9	11.53	23,970
Production workers, all other	280	0.5	13.76	28,630
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Wichita 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.