Workers in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.20 in May 2021, 14 percent below the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were lower than their respective national averages in 20 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical; legal; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media. Only one group had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: production.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Fort Wayne area employment was more highly concentrated in 6 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, healthcare practitioners and technical, and transportation and material moving. Twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, management, and computer and mathematical. (See table A.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Fort Wayne had 24,590 jobs in production, accounting for 11.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.34, significantly above the national wage of $20.71.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (7,290), machinists (2,200), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (1,570). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners, with mean hourly wages of $30.33 and $28.11, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($12.46) and bakers ($14.07). (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_23060.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 Fort Wayne area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 8.4 times the national rate in Fort Wayne, and machinists, at 4.5 times the U.S. average. Butchers and meat cutters had a location quotient of 1.0 in Fort Wayne, 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 Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

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 179,000 to 187,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2021 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, November 2019, May 2019, and November 2018. The unweighted sampled employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 62 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 67.2 percent based on establishments and 64.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,011 establishments with a response rate of 76 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 Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Allen, Wells, and Whitley 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; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Fort Wayne metropolitan area, May 2021

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	24,590	2.0	$21.34	$44,400
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	1,570	1.7	30.33	63,090
Coil winders, tapers, and finishers	80	4.9	17.86	37,140
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	790	2.0	17.83	37,080
Engine and other machine assemblers	50	0.7	22.75	47,320
Structural metal fabricators and fitters	120	1.3	20.07	41,740
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators	7,290	3.7	22.91	47,650
Bakers	130	0.5	14.07	29,270
Butchers and meat cutters	210	1.0	15.39	32,000
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders	40	1.4	17.98	37,390
Food batchmakers	160	0.7	16.34	33,980
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	740	8.4	20.64	42,930
Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	150	3.3	21.92	45,590
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	1,010	3.8	17.97	37,370
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	190	1.9	16.77	34,870
Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	100	3.6	20.06	41,730
Machinists	2,200	4.5	22.55	46,910
Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders	110	4.6	21.31	44,320
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	790	3.3	19.81	41,200
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	860	4.3	22.49	46,790
Tool and die makers	300	3.2	25.78	53,630
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	680	1.2	20.89	43,450
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	130	2.9	18.24	37,940
Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	40	2.1	16.68	34,690
Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	140	2.9	16.24	33,780
Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners	40	4.7	28.11	58,460
Prepress technicians and workers	50	1.3	17.98	37,410
Printing press operators	360	1.7	18.69	38,880
Print binding and finishing workers	60	1.0	18.69	38,870
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	210	0.9	12.46	25,930
Sewing machine operators	220	1.3	15.37	31,960
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	220	1.6	18.86	39,220
Furniture finishers	80	3.2	16.77	34,890
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	70	1.1	15.19	31,590
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	90	0.9	17.20	35,780
Woodworkers, all other	40	3.1	16.99	35,330
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	150	0.8	23.88	49,670
Chemical equipment operators and tenders	50	0.3	22.46	46,730
Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders	40	0.9	18.31	38,080
Grinding and polishing workers, hand	40	1.7	17.34	36,060
Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders	330	2.0	22.08	45,920
Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders	140	1.7	18.53	38,550
Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders	170	2.0	20.92	43,510
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	1,260	1.5	19.73	41,040
Dental laboratory technicians	60	1.1	20.16	41,940
Ophthalmic laboratory technicians	50	1.7	15.68	32,620
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	420	0.8	16.00	33,280
Painting, coating, and decorating workers	120	6.7	18.00	37,440
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	380	1.8	19.35	40,250
Computer numerically controlled tool operators	400	1.7	20.10	41,820
Computer numerically controlled tool programmers	70	1.9	26.03	54,130
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	40	1.8	16.00	33,290
Etchers and engravers	30	2.9	16.62	34,560
Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic	60	1.0	17.10	35,560
Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders	110	0.9	18.93	39,370
Helpers--production workers	290	1.0	16.02	33,310
Production workers, all other	80	0.3	16.02	33,320
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Fort Wayne, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_23060.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.