Workers in the Louisville-Jefferson County Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.87 in May 2015, about 10 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 14 of the 22 major occupational groups including, legal, computer and mathematical, and management. One group had a significantly higher wage than their respective national average.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, and transportation and material moving. Conversely, 16 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including education, training, and library; business and financial operations; 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. Louisville-Jefferson County had 62,620 jobs in production, accounting for 10.0 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.6-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $17.36, compared to the national wage of $17.41.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included team assemblers (14,610), inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (3,870), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (3,280). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, and tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $26.36 and $25.57, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($9.80) and production workers helpers ($12.69). (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_31140.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 Louisville-Jefferson County Metropolitan Statistical Area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 3.6 times the national rate in Louisville, and team assemblers, at 2.9 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic had a location quotient of 1.0 in Louisville, 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.

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 Louisville-Jefferson County Metropolitan Statistical Area included 5,003 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 Louisville-Jefferson County, Ky. Metropolitan Statistical Area  includes Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, and Trimble Counties of Kentucky, and Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott, and Washington Counties of Indiana.

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, Louisville-Jefferson County Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2015

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production Occupations	62,620	1.5	$17.36	$36,110
First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers	3,280	1.2	26.36	54,820
Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers	50	0.8	13.31	27,680
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers	460	0.5	13.54	28,170
Electromechanical Equipment Assemblers	(5)	(5)	17.40	36,180
Engine and Other Machine Assemblers	(5)	(5)	14.55	30,260
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters	430	1.2	21.91	45,570
Team Assemblers	14,610	2.9	18.18	37,820
Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other	4,030	3.9	11.90	24,750
Bakers	230	0.3	13.06	27,160
Butchers and Meat Cutters	490	0.8	15.64	32,530
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers	(5)	(5)	12.63	26,270
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders	(5)	(5)	14.19	29,510
Food Batchmakers	780	1.3	14.08	29,290
Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders	350	2.3	16.61	34,550
Food Processing Workers, All Other	(5)	(5)	11.14	23,160
Computer-Controlled Machine Tool Operators, Metal and Plastic	660	1.0	16.79	34,920
Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tool Programmers, Metal and Plastic	60	0.5	18.65	38,780
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	500	1.5	16.23	33,760
Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	180	2.1	19.71	40,990
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	480	3.3	17.67	36,750
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	3,140	3.6	21.68	45,100
Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	1.2	18.97	39,450
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	250	0.8	15.79	32,840
Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	50	0.3	19.94	41,480
Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	80	0.9	27.51	57,230
Machinists	1,680	0.9	21.32	44,340
Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	750	1.2	15.31	31,840
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	900	1.9	15.81	32,890
Tool and Die Makers	820	2.4	25.57	53,190
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers	2,940	1.7	19.28	40,110
Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	500	2.1	14.89	30,970
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	40	0.4	16.71	34,750
Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	50	0.3	13.48	28,040
Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners	60	1.3	13.22	27,500
Metal Workers and Plastic Workers, All Other	80	0.8	14.51	30,190
Prepress Technicians and Workers	190	1.2	19.43	40,420
Printing Press Operators	1,610	2.1	18.82	39,150
Print Binding and Finishing Workers	270	1.1	15.46	32,160
Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers	550	0.6	9.80	20,390
Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials	190	0.9	9.20	19,130
Sewing Machine Operators	580	0.9	13.37	27,800
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers	80	0.9	12.93	26,890
Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fibers	(5)	(5)	17.14	35,640
Upholsterers	60	0.5	14.44	30,030
Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers, All Other	(5)	(5)	13.54	28,160
Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters	630	1.5	16.28	33,860
Furniture Finishers	130	1.7	13.13	27,310
Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood	210	1.0	12.21	25,400
Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing	970	2.8	14.81	30,810
Power Plant Operators	230	1.4	35.11	73,030
Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators	70	0.5	23.23	48,310
Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators	250	0.5	17.81	37,040
Chemical Plant and System Operators	70	0.5	(5)	(5)
Plant and System Operators, All Other	30	0.6	31.46	65,440
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders	350	1.1	23.55	48,980
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	210	1.0	21.29	44,280
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	100	0.7	15.50	32,240
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand	200	1.6	13.80	28,700
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	600	1.0	18.10	37,640
Cutters and Trimmers, Hand	(5)	(5)	14.02	29,160
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	550	1.9	16.59	34,510
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	380	1.2	12.56	26,130
Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers	3,870	1.7	18.44	38,350
Dental Laboratory Technicians	160	1.0	17.64	36,690
Medical Appliance Technicians	70	1.1	(5)	(5)
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians	40	0.3	14.20	29,540
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	2,420	1.4	14.95	31,100
Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	460	1.2	16.44	34,190
Painters, Transportation Equipment	210	0.9	26.13	54,350
Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers	120	1.6	14.26	29,670
Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators	(5)	(5)	14.63	30,430
Adhesive Bonding Machine Operators and Tenders	160	2.1	15.24	31,700
Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders	30	0.4	12.94	26,910
Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders	40	1.2	10.45	21,730
Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic	160	0.9	11.00	22,870
Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	600	1.4	15.05	31,310
Helpers--Production Workers	2,270	1.1	12.69	26,400
Production Workers, All Other	3,140	2.9	11.83	24,620
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_31140.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.