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News Release Information

23-1155-CHI
Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Occupational Employment and Wages in Cleveland-Elyria — May 2022

Workers in the Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $28.62 in May 2022, 4 percent below the nationwide average of $29.76, 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 16 of the 22 major occupational groups, including legal; arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media; and computer and mathematical. Two groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: educational instruction and library and also construction and extraction.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Cleveland area employment was more highly concentrated in 5 of the 22 occupational groups, including production, healthcare practitioners and technical, and business and financial operations. Fourteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including construction and extraction, sales and related, and healthcare support. (See table A.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Cleveland metropolitan area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2022
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Mean hourly wage
United States Cleveland United States Cleveland Percent difference (1)

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 $29.76 $28.62* -4

Management

6.7 6.4* 63.08 58.35* -7

Business and financial operations

6.5 7.0* 41.39 38.44* -7

Computer and mathematical

3.4 3.1* 51.99 45.37* -13

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.7 45.52 42.56* -7

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.6* 40.21 38.28* -5

Community and social service

1.6 1.6 26.81 26.65 -1

Legal

0.8 0.9* 59.87 51.30* -14

Educational instruction and library

5.7 5.4* 30.41 32.33* 6

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.2* 36.78 28.54* -22

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 7.9* 46.52 43.21* -7

Healthcare support

4.6 4.2* 17.10 16.90 -1

Protective service

2.3 2.6* 25.97 25.24* -3

Food preparation and serving related

8.5 8.2* 15.45 14.35* -7

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.6* 17.26 16.70* -3

Personal care and service

1.9 1.7* 17.41 16.30* -6

Sales and related

8.9 8.3* 24.22 24.03 -1

Office and administrative support

12.6 12.8 21.90 21.63* -1

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1* 18.21 19.36 6

Construction and extraction

4.1 2.9* 28.08 29.10* 4

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 3.7* 26.77 25.99* -3

Production

5.9 8.1* 21.81 21.61* -1

Transportation and material moving

9.2 8.9* 21.12 20.31* -4

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Cleveland-Elyria, OH 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. Cleveland had 80,170 jobs in production, accounting for 8.1 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.61, significantly below the national wage of $21.81.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (13,910), machinists (6,410), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (5,630). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were power distributors and dispatchers and power plant operators, with mean hourly wages of $39.74 and $36.71, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($13.43) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.52). (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_17460.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 Cleveland area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, tool and die makers were employed at 3.6 times the national rate in Cleveland, and engine and other machine assemblers, at 3.5 times the U.S. average. Sewing machine operators had a location quotient of 1.0 in Cleveland, 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 Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

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

The May 2022 OEWS estimates use the model-based (MB3) estimation method implemented with the May 2021 estimates release. Additional updates were made to the MB3 wage processing methodology for May 2022. For more information, see the May 2022 Survey Methods and Reliability Statement.

The May 2022 estimates are the first OEWS estimates to be produced using the 2022 NAICS, which replaces the 2017 NAICS used for the May 2017-May 2021 estimates. See North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) at BLS for details.


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 2022 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2022, November 2021, May 2021, November 2020, May 2020, and November 2019. The unweighted sampled employment of 80 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 57 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 65.4 percent based on establishments and 62.5 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The sample in the Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area included 4,996 establishments with a response rate of 58 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 Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Cuyahoga County, Geauga County, Lake County, Lorain County, and Medina County.

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, Cleveland metropolitan area, May 2022
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

80,170 1.4 $21.61 $44,940

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

5,630 1.3 32.24 67,060

Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers

60 0.3 23.01 47,860

Coil winders, tapers, and finishers

130 1.7 20.15 41,910

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

2,300 1.3 18.02 37,480

Engine and other machine assemblers

1,190 3.5 26.77 55,670

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

220 0.6 22.44 46,670

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

13,910 1.4 18.76 39,020

Bakers

1,500 1.1 15.31 31,840

Butchers and meat cutters

960 1.1 16.58 34,480

Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers

350 0.4 15.56 32,360

Slaughterers and meat packers

100 0.2 15.45 32,130

Food batchmakers

1,020 0.9 17.82 37,070

Food cooking machine operators and tenders

70 0.4 14.75 30,680

Food processing workers, all other

200 0.6 16.38 34,070

Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

700 1.7 20.17 41,950

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

240 3.3 22.42 46,630

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

270 1.5 22.08 45,920

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

3,310 2.7 22.08 45,920

Drilling and boring machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

50 1.1 21.10 43,890

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

1,360 2.8 19.21 39,950

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

500 3.9 21.47 44,660

Milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

190 1.9 21.01 43,690

Machinists

6,410 3.0 22.80 47,410

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

340 2.7 24.74 51,460

Pourers and casters, metal

100 2.5 23.03 47,910

Foundry mold and coremakers

140 1.9 24.02 49,960

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

2,470 2.2 18.21 37,880

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

3,230 3.5 20.29 42,200

Tool and die makers

1,490 3.6 28.14 58,520

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

2,560 0.9 22.76 47,350

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

320 1.6 21.44 44,590

Heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

340 3.2 21.24 44,170

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

600 2.8 18.99 39,500

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

230 1.7 21.05 43,790

Prepress technicians and workers

210 1.3 21.21 44,110

Printing press operators

1,700 1.7 20.38 42,380

Print binding and finishing workers

210 0.8 18.08 37,610

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

1,340 1.1 13.52 28,110

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

180 0.9 13.43 27,930

Sewing machine operators

750 1.0 15.73 32,720

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers

240 2.1 17.52 36,440

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

40 0.6 17.66 36,720

Extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fibers

70 0.8 15.58 32,410

Upholsterers

150 0.8 20.14 41,900

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

520 0.8 21.04 43,760

Furniture finishers

80 0.8 18.86 39,230

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

170 0.6 21.15 43,990

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

210 0.5 21.02 43,720

Woodworkers, all other

40 0.7 20.50 42,650

Power distributors and dispatchers

160 2.5 39.74 82,660

Power plant operators

50 0.2 36.71 76,350

Stationary engineers and boiler operators

130 0.6 33.39 69,440

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

750 0.9 27.83 57,890

Chemical plant and system operators

70 0.6 28.08 58,400

Gas plant operators

60 0.6 27.91 58,060

Plant and system operators, all other

40 0.4 28.08 58,410

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

1,570 2.0 25.16 52,330

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

210 0.6 22.68 47,170

Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders

110 0.6 19.11 39,750

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

220 2.4 18.42 38,310

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

1,080 1.5 23.38 48,640

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

620 1.7 19.79 41,160

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

490 1.2 17.58 36,570

Furnace, kiln, oven, drier, and kettle operators and tenders

100 1.0 23.15 48,140

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

5,100 1.3 22.63 47,070

Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers

150 0.8 23.81 49,520

Dental laboratory technicians

240 1.1 22.96 47,760

Medical appliance technicians

160 1.5 24.14 50,220

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians

160 1.2 20.39 42,400

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

1,800 0.7 19.71 40,990

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

40 0.5 18.20 37,850

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

1,090 1.1 21.80 45,340

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

2,720 2.3 22.79 47,400

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

510 2.7 30.34 63,110

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders

150 1.9 20.69 43,030

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

120 1.4 23.43 48,730

Etchers and engravers

140 2.6 19.19 39,910

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

360 1.4 22.18 46,120

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

670 1.1 21.61 44,940

Helpers--production workers

870 0.7 18.74 38,980

Production workers, all other

1,310 0.8 19.00 39,520

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_17460.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: Tuesday, July 11, 2023