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News Release Information

22-1746-PHI
Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:

Occupational Employment and Wages in Erie — May 2021

Workers in the Erie, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $22.28 in May 2021, 20 percent below the nationwide average of $28.01, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee 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 legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and computer and mathematical.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Erie area employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, healthcare support, and healthcare practitioners and technical. Twelve groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations, management, and computer and mathematical. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Erie metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2021
Major occupational groupPercent of total employmentMean hourly wage
United StatesErieUnited StatesEriePercent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0100.0$28.01$22.28*-20

Management

6.34.4*59.3147.04*-21

Business and financial operations

6.44.2*39.7232.02*-19

Computer and mathematical

3.31.6*48.0136.46*-24

Architecture and engineering

1.71.5*44.1033.95*-23

Life, physical, and social science

0.90.4*38.8131.12*-20

Community and social service

1.62.1*25.9422.25*-14

Legal

0.80.4*54.3840.93*-25

Educational instruction and library

5.85.929.8828.60*-4

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.30.9*31.7822.80*-28

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.27.8*43.8037.12*-15

Healthcare support

4.78.3*16.0213.88*-13

Protective service

2.42.325.6825.48-1

Food preparation and serving related

8.09.0*14.1611.97*-15

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.93.016.2314.31*-12

Personal care and service

1.82.2*16.1714.06*-13

Sales and related

9.49.0*22.1517.06*-23

Office and administrative support

13.012.3*20.8818.54*-11

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.30.1*16.7018.269

Construction and extraction

4.22.9*26.8724.52*-9

Installation, maintenance, and repair

4.04.1*25.6622.40*-13

Production

6.010.1*20.7119.05*-8

Transportation and material moving

9.07.6*19.8817.15*-14

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Erie, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area is above the national mean wage, while a negative difference reflects a lower wage.
* The mean hourly wage or percent share of employment 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. Erie had 11,550 jobs in production, accounting for 10.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.0-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $19.05, significantly below the national wage of $20.71.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (1,930), molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic (840), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (810). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators, with mean hourly wages of $27.92 and $25.53, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($12.49) and bakers ($14.62). (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_21500.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 Erie area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 6.4 times the national rate in Erie, and computer numerically controlled tool operators, at 5.8 times the U.S. average. Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders had a location quotient of 1.1 in Erie, 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 Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

Changes to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Data

With the May 2021 estimates release, the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program has implemented a new model-based (MB3) estimation method. For more information, see the May 2021 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement at www.bls.gov/oes/methods_21.pdf and the Monthly Labor Review article at www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/model-based-estimates-for-the-occupational-employment-statistics-program.htm. OEWS estimates for the years 2015-19 were recalculated using the new estimation method and are available as research estimates at www.bls.gov/oes/oes-mb3-methods.htm.

The May 2021 OEWS estimates are also the first estimates based entirely on survey data collected using the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. To improve data quality, the OEWS program aggregates some occupations to the SOC broad occupation level or as OEWS-specific combinations of 2018 SOC detailed occupations.


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 Erie, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area included 1,471 establishments with a response rate of 61 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 Erie, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Erie County in Pennsylvania.

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: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for production occupations, Erie metropolitan area, May 2021
Occupation (1)EmploymentMean wages
Level (2)Location quotient (3)HourlyAnnual (4)

Production occupations

11,5501.7$19.05$39,620

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

8101.627.9258,080

Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers

4602.115.9633,190

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

1002.020.7243,100

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

1,9301.815.6632,580

Bakers

2401.614.6230,410

Butchers and meat cutters

800.616.0933,460

Food batchmakers

2201.716.2533,790

Forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

404.623.8549,610

Rolling machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

602.418.0037,430

Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

2501.717.7036,820

Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1703.217.1035,570

Lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

503.020.3542,320

Machinists

5902.221.4744,650

Pourers and casters, metal

509.819.1039,730

Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

8406.417.4436,260

Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

5304.819.5140,570

Tool and die makers

2204.324.7251,410

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

8102.520.7943,230

Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders

702.721.7145,170

Plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

1304.815.9233,110

Printing press operators

1000.816.7934,910

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

1701.312.4925,980

Sewing machine operators

700.816.7134,750

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

600.721.7945,330

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

1001.125.5353,110

Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders

401.119.8641,300

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

600.620.1141,820

Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders

1302.817.7937,010

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

6201.419.7441,070

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

3201.117.9237,270

Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders

2402.018.8239,140

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

7405.821.8745,490

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

401.725.4652,960

Helpers--production workers

1601.016.3534,000

Production workers, all other

900.615.5032,240

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Erie, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_21500.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, August 24, 2022