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News Release Information

16-1289-ATL
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Occupational Employment and Wages in Bowling Green — May 2015

Workers in the Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $18.29 in May 2015, about 21 percent below the nationwide average of $23.23, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; management; and business and financial operations.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production and  food preparation and serving related. Conversely, eight groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and office and administrative support. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

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

Total, all occupations

100.0%100.0%$23.23$18.29*-21

Management

5.04.3*55.3040.78*-26

Business and Financial Operations

5.13.1*35.4827.09*-24

Computer and Mathematical

2.91.1*41.4330.87*-25

Architecture and Engineering

1.81.539.8933.20*-17

Life, Physical, and Social Science

0.80.4*34.2426.86*-22

Community and Social Services

1.41.7*22.1918.15*-18

Legal

0.80.5*49.7431.13*-37

Education, Training, and Library

6.27.0*25.4823.07*-9

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media

1.31.127.3918.69*-32

Healthcare Practitioner and Technical

5.86.437.4030.66*-18

Healthcare Support

2.92.814.1912.95*-9

Protective Service

2.41.3*21.4516.80*-22

Food Preparation and Serving Related

9.110.1*10.9810.54-4

Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance

3.22.813.0210.29*-21

Personal Care and Service

3.12.912.3310.75*-13

Sales and Related

10.510.618.9014.46*-23

Office and Administrative Support

15.814.4*17.4714.67*-16

Farming, Fishing, and Forestry

0.30.1*12.6711.83-7

Construction and Extraction

4.04.022.8818.47*-19

Installation, Maintenance, and Repair

3.93.922.1118.78*-15

Production

6.612.7*17.4116.52-5

Transportation and Material Moving

6.97.216.9013.99*-17

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in Bowling Green 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. Bowling Green had 8,880 jobs in production, accounting for 12.7 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $16.52, compared to the national wage of $17.41.

Some of the largest detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (2,550), first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (540), and inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (540). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $24.98 and $23.35, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($10.41) and production workers helpers ($11.97). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_14540.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 Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic forging machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 12.9 times the national rate in Bowling Green, and welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 5.4 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Bowling Green, 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 Kentucky Department for Workforce Investment.

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 Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,059 establishments with a response rate of 76 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 Bowling Green, Ky. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Allen, Butler, Edmonson and Warren Counties.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/southeast. 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, Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production Occupations

8,8801.9$16.52$34,370

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers

5401.824.9851,960

Team Assemblers

2,5504.516.9035,150

Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other

(5)(5)12.6726,350

Bakers

400.511.0522,990

Butchers and Meat Cutters

600.812.8326,690

Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic

(5)(5)17.9637,360

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

13012.919.6940,960

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

2602.615.2931,800

Machinists

700.419.6340,830

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

1902.714.1929,520

Tool and Die Makers

1002.823.3548,570

Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers

2001.019.2740,080

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

1505.416.7834,900

Printing Press Operators

1702.114.9531,100

Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers

1501.410.4121,650

Sewing Machine Operators

400.511.9724,900

Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood

301.314.2129,550

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators

400.718.0937,620

Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

1001.515.6832,620

Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

401.215.9133,090

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers

5402.118.5938,660

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

701.616.9635,270

Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders

404.016.5934,510

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

2305.017.7736,960

Helpers--Production Workers

1800.811.9724,900

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Bowling Green, KY, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_14540.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: Wednesday, June 29, 2016