Workers in the Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.24 in May 2021, 13 percent below the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and management. Production was the only major occupational group with wages in the local area higher than its respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Ogden area employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, construction and extraction, and architecture and engineering. Thirteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including healthcare practitioners and technical, transportation and material moving, and healthcare support. (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Ogden had 23,680 jobs in production, accounting for 8.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $20.97, significantly above the national wage of $20.71.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,740), machinists (1,440), and packaging and filling machine operators and tenders (1,430). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers; and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $45.28 and $31.71, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were bakers ($13.29) and sewing machine operators ($14.77) (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_36260.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 Ogden area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic were employed at 9.3 times the national rate in Ogden, and petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers, at 4.3 times the U.S. average. Butchers and meat cutters had a location quotient of 1.1 in Ogden, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

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

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. OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

The OEWS survey is a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support, while the State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data. OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,335 establishments with a response rate of 75 percent. For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.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.

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 Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Box Elder County, Davis County, Morgan County, and Weber County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed information about the OEWS program is available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_doc.htm.

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, Ogden metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	23,680	1.5	$20.97	$43,620
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,740	1.5	31.71	65,950
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	190	0.4	21.53	44,780
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	310	2.7	23.98	49,880
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	3,880	1.5	19.05	39,630
Bakers	520	1.5	13.29	27,650
Butchers and meat cutters	300	1.1	15.64	32,520
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders	60	1.6	20.86	43,400
Food batchmakers	710	2.4	17.02	35,400
Food cooking machine operators and tenders	110	2.1	14.84	30,870
Food processing workers, all other	40	0.4	18.45	38,370
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	90	0.8	16.95	35,250
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	30	0.5	21.09	43,880
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	21.20	44,100
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	0.6	17.65	36,720
Machinists	1,440	2.3	27.04	56,230
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,190	3.8	21.53	44,780
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	320	1.2	18.11	37,660
Tool and die makers	100	0.8	32.62	67,840
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	1,090	1.4	23.41	48,690
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	1.0	21.67	45,060
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	2.3	20.29	42,200
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	80	1.3	24.33	50,600
Prepress technicians and workers	30	0.6	18.72	38,940
Printing press operators	230	0.8	17.09	35,540
Print binding and finishing workers	110	1.5	16.94	35,240
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	190	0.6	13.69	28,480
Sewing machine operators	270	1.2	14.77	30,720
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	310	1.8	18.38	38,220
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	60	0.7	17.14	35,650
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	190	1.5	15.59	32,430
Power plant operators	40	0.7	36.14	75,160
Stationary engineers and boiler operators	60	1.0	26.73	55,600
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	300	1.3	23.34	48,540
Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers	280	4.3	45.28	94,190
Plant and system operators, all other	60	2.0	24.32	50,580
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	220	1.1	19.29	40,130
Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	0.6	20.58	42,800
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	1.1	19.69	40,960
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	30	1.1	14.98	31,150
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	540	2.6	17.38	36,140
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	210	2.0	18.87	39,260
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	0.6	19.78	41,140
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,390	1.3	24.56	51,080
Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers	30	0.7	21.83	45,410
Dental laboratory technicians	100	1.5	21.64	45,020
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	1,430	2.1	15.44	32,110
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	340	1.2	21.22	44,140
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	1,140	3.8	20.49	42,620
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	40	0.8	36.36	75,620
Etchers and engravers	30	2.5	16.01	33,300
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	680	9.3	17.86	37,150
Helpers--production workers	330	0.9	14.25	29,640
Production workers, all other	630	1.6	15.85	32,970
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Ogden-Clearfield, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36260.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.