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News Release Information

24-1875-KAN
Friday, September 06, 2024

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Wichita — May 2023

Workers in the Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $26.46 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($55.98), architecture and engineering ($43.47), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($42.42). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.24), personal care and service ($14.78), and healthcare support ($16.06). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Wichita area included office and administrative support (11.9 percent), production (10.1 percent), and food preparation and serving related (8.8 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.6 percent); legal (0.6 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.2 percent).

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Wichita metropolitan area, May 2023
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage ($)
United States Wichita United States Wichita

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 31.48 26.46

Management

6.9 4.9 66.23 55.98

Business and financial operations

6.6 5.8 43.55 37.09

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.1 54.39 41.31

Architecture and engineering

1.7 2.6 47.64 43.47

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.6 42.24 34.10

Community and social service

1.6 1.5 28.36 23.29

Legal

0.8 0.6 64.34 42.30

Educational instruction and library

5.8 6.1 31.92 24.10

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.2 36.31 25.62

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 6.3 49.07 42.42

Healthcare support

4.7 4.8 18.37 16.06

Protective service

2.3 1.9 27.74 23.42

Food preparation and serving related

8.7 8.8 16.58 14.24

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.6 18.43 16.15

Personal care and service

2.0 2.2 18.48 14.78

Sales and related

8.8 8.5 25.62 21.99

Office and administrative support

12.2 11.9 23.05 20.41

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1 19.22 17.39

Construction and extraction

4.1 4.8 29.57 25.56

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 5.0 28.13 27.89

Production

5.8 10.1 22.90 25.72

Transportation and material moving

9.1 7.8 22.45 20.83

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Wichita had 30,560 jobs in production, accounting for 10.1 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $25.72, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (2,860); first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,920); and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (1,760). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers and computer numerically controlled tool programmers, with mean hourly wages of $43.61 and $38.62, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($12.87) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.80). (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_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 area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, computer numerically controlled tool programmers were employed at 6.8 times the national rate in Wichita, and petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers, at 4.8 times the U.S. average. Sewing machine operators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Wichita, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

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 Kansas Department of Labor.


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. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology are 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 65.8 percent based on establishments and 64.3 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,463 establishments with a response rate of 75 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 Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Butler County, Harvey County, Kingman County, Sedgwick County, and Sumner 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, Wichita metropolitan area, May 2023
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages ($)
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

30,560 1.7 25.72 53,500

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

1,920 1.4 36.12 75,130

Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers

780 1.5 20.97 43,620

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

170 1.5 26.18 54,450

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

3,200 1.1 19.20 39,930

Bakers

230 0.5 14.43 30,010

Butchers and meat cutters

150 0.6 16.77 34,880

Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders

110 2.9 21.11 43,900

Food batchmakers

40 0.1 17.62 36,650

Food processing workers, all other

120 0.9 21.31 44,330

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

120 1.0 17.47 36,340

Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

100 5.7 23.94 49,800

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

420 1.2 20.58 42,800

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

420 2.8 21.50 44,710

Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

60 1.5 24.04 50,010

Machinists

1,590 2.7 24.53 51,010

Foundry mold and coremakers

100 4.2 20.32 42,270

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

460 1.4 22.00 45,750

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

160 0.6 20.83 43,320

Tool and die makers

470 4.0 33.32 69,300

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

1,760 2.1 25.38 52,790

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders

140 2.2 21.30 44,300

Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

90 2.9 28.67 59,630

Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

200 3.1 22.21 46,190

Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners

40 3.4 21.16 44,010

Prepress technicians and workers

50 1.1 18.99 39,500

Printing press operators

340 1.1 17.54 36,490

Print binding and finishing workers

130 1.7 11.47 23,860

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

330 0.9 13.80 28,710

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

60 1.0 12.87 26,770

Sewing machine operators

240 1.0 15.92 33,120

Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers

100 3.4 22.24 46,260

Upholsterers

180 3.5 (5) (5)

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

410 2.3 22.83 47,480

Furniture finishers

70 2.3 18.26 37,980

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

140 1.1 17.69 36,790

Power plant operators

70 1.2 33.92 70,560

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

200 0.8 21.62 44,980

Gas plant operators

30 1.0 36.79 76,530

Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers

320 4.8 43.61 90,710

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

210 0.9 (5) (5)

Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders

90 0.9 22.37 46,530

Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders

70 1.3 23.16 48,170

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

430 2.0 22.25 46,280

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

90 0.8 22.32 46,430

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

2,860 2.5 30.87 64,220

Dental laboratory technicians

80 1.2 22.63 47,070

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

780 1.1 19.12 39,780

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

1,140 3.7 23.79 49,480

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

1,150 3.1 25.55 53,150

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

380 6.8 38.62 80,330

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

80 1.1 20.19 41,990

Helpers--production workers

400 1.1 20.72 43,090

Production workers, all other

170 0.3 17.74 36,890

(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 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.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, September 06, 2024