Workers in the Owensboro, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.94 in May 2023, compared to the nationwide average of $31.48, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($49.17) and healthcare practitioners and technical ($43.16). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($13.82), personal care and service ($14.08), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($15.24). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment in the Owensboro area included office and administrative support (11.9 percent), production (11.8 percent), and transportation and material moving (10.0 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included legal (0.4 percent); life, physical, and social science (0.7 percent); and both computer and mathematical and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (0.8 percent each). (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Owensboro had 6,050 jobs in production, accounting for 11.8 percent of local area employment, compared to the 5.8-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $25.02, compared to the national wage of $22.90.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (960), packaging and filling machine operators and tenders (760), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (610). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group was first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with a mean hourly wages of $35.61. At the lower end of the wage scale were sewing machine operators ($12.36) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($12.96). (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_36980.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 Owensboro area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders were employed at 18.4 times the national rate in Owensboro, and packaging and filling machine operators and tenders, at 6.0 times the U.S. average. Food batchmakers had a location quotient of 1.1 in Owensboro, 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 Kentucky Department for Workforce Investment.

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 Owensboro, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area included 796 establishments with a response rate of 67 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 Owensboro, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Daviess County, Hancock County, and McLean 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, Owensboro metropolitan area, May 2023

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	6,050	2.0	25.02	52,030
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	610	2.7	35.61	74,080
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	960	1.9	23.44	48,750
Butchers and meat cutters	30	0.7	15.82	32,900
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders	120	18.4	(5)	(5)
Food batchmakers	60	1.1	22.51	46,820
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	2.8	24.91	51,800
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	130	2.2	18.58	38,650
Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	60	13.5	(5)	(5)
Machinists	180	1.9	28.47	59,210
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	160	2.9	25.08	52,160
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	70	1.6	15.54	32,330
Tool and die makers	40	2.2	27.03	56,210
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	310	2.2	21.39	44,500
Printing press operators	40	0.9	18.17	37,790
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	50	0.9	12.96	26,950
Sewing machine operators	140	3.5	12.36	25,700
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	60	1.5	28.50	59,270
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	120	2.9	28.83	59,970
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	30	3.4	19.47	40,500
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	60	1.6	24.70	51,370
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	370	1.9	23.67	49,230
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	760	6.0	23.66	49,220
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.7	24.70	51,370
Helpers--production workers	120	2.0	22.13	46,020
Production workers, all other	130	1.6	17.69	36,800
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Owensboro, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_36980.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.