Workers in the Bowling Green, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $20.52 in May 2020, about 24 percent below the nationwide average of $27.07, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. 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 21 of the 22 major occupational groups, including sales and related, construction and extraction, and healthcare practitioners and technical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Bowling Green area employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, food preparation and serving related, and transportation and material moving. Eleven 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.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Bowling Green had 8,040 jobs in production occupations, accounting for 11.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.1-percent national share. The local average hourly wage for this occupational group was $18.28, significantly lower than the national average of $20.08.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (2,080); inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers (620); and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (550). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and also tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $28.01 and $26.00, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were bakers ($10.89) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($11.23). (Detailed data for the production occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations, 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 area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, metal and plastic molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 5.2 times the national rate in Bowling Green, and paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders, at 4.5 times the U.S. average. Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers had a location quotient of 0.9 in Bowling Green, 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 Kentucky Center for Statistics.

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 180,000 to 185,000 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 2020 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, November 2018, May 2018, and November 2017. The unweighted sample employment of 83 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 56 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 69 percent based on establishments and 66 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Bowling Green, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,004 establishments with a response rate of 69 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 Bowling Green, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Allen, Butler, Edmonson, and Warren Counties.

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; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Bowling Green metropolitan area, May 2020

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	8,040	1.9	$18.28	$38,020
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	550	1.9	28.01	58,260
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	2,080	3.4	19.13	39,790
Bakers	(5)	(5)	10.89	22,650
Food processing workers, all other	(5)	(5)	15.19	31,600
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	210	2.4	18.69	38,860
Machinists	210	1.2	20.05	41,700
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	390	5.2	14.64	30,460
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	140	2.2	18.51	38,500
Tool and die makers	80	2.6	26.00	54,080
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	170	0.9	18.62	38,740
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	80	4.8	17.81	37,040
Printing press operators	300	3.9	18.40	38,260
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	80	1.0	11.23	23,360
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	90	2.4	13.56	28,210
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	30	0.5	16.78	34,910
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	1.2	17.10	35,570
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	80	2.9	23.43	48,720
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	620	2.3	17.44	36,270
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	19.55	40,660
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	50	0.7	20.12	41,840
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	50	0.6	19.05	39,620
Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders	40	7.3	19.73	41,040
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	220	4.5	17.97	37,380
Helpers--production workers	70	0.6	19.68	40,940
Production workers, all other	340	3.5	13.51	28,100
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Bowling Green, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_14540.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.