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News Release Information

23-1170-CHI
Wednesday, July 26, 2023

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

Occupational Employment and Wages in Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson — May 2022

Workers in the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.76 in May 2022, 7 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 18 of the 22 major occupational groups, including computer and mathematical, legal, and management. Three groups had significantly higher wages than their respective national averages: healthcare practitioners and technical, construction and extraction, and healthcare support.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, Indianapolis area employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups, including transportation and material moving, healthcare practitioners and technical, and production. Thirteen groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including educational instruction and library, healthcare support, and management. (See table A.)

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

Total, all occupations

100.0 100.0 $29.76 $27.76* -7

Management

6.7 5.8* 63.08 56.84* -10

Business and financial operations

6.5 6.1* 41.39 37.73* -9

Computer and mathematical

3.4 2.9* 51.99 41.89* -19

Architecture and engineering

1.7 1.3* 45.52 39.40* -13

Life, physical, and social science

0.9 0.9 40.21 34.12* -15

Community and social service

1.6 1.4* 26.81 24.07* -10

Legal

0.8 0.8 59.87 53.17* -11

Educational instruction and library

5.7 4.4* 30.41 28.25* -7

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

1.4 1.2* 36.78 34.70* -6

Healthcare practitioners and technical

6.1 7.1* 46.52 50.22* 8

Healthcare support

4.6 3.6* 17.10 17.42* 2

Protective service

2.3 2.2* 25.97 23.81* -8

Food preparation and serving related

8.5 8.5 15.45 13.86* -10

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

2.9 2.8* 17.26 16.48* -5

Personal care and service

1.9 1.8* 17.41 15.21* -13

Sales and related

8.9 8.8 24.22 23.40* -3

Office and administrative support

12.6 12.5 21.90 21.27* -3

Farming, fishing, and forestry

0.3 0.1* 18.21 18.14 0

Construction and extraction

4.1 4.0* 28.08 28.75* 2

Installation, maintenance, and repair

3.9 4.1* 26.77 26.28* -2

Production

5.9 6.3* 21.81 21.52* -1

Transportation and material moving

9.2 13.5* 21.12 20.70* -2

Footnotes:
(1) A positive percent difference measures how much the mean wage in the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN 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. Indianapolis had 66,460 jobs in production, accounting for 6.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 5.9-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $21.52, significantly below the national wage of $21.81.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators (12,450), machinists (5,410), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (4,700). Among the higher-paying jobs in this group were power plant operators and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers, with mean hourly wages of $41.84 and $34.15, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($12.83) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($13.06). (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_26900.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 Indianapolis area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in some of the occupations within the production group. For instance, welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders were employed at 3.7 times the national rate in Indianapolis, and machinists, at 2.4 times the U.S. average. First-line supervisors of production and operating workers had a location quotient of 1.0 in Indianapolis, 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.

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 Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area included 5,159 establishments with a response rate of 72 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 Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Boone County, Brown County, Hamilton County, Hancock County, Hendricks County, Johnson County, Madison County, Marion County, Morgan County, Putnam County, and Shelby 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, Indianapolis metropolitan area, May 2022
Occupation (1) Employment Mean wages
Level (2) Location quotient (3) Hourly Annual (4)

Production occupations

66,460 1.1 $21.52 $44,760

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

4,700 1.0 34.15 71,020

Coil winders, tapers, and finishers

30 0.5 22.60 47,000

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

1,660 0.9 19.73 41,030

Engine and other machine assemblers

520 1.5 (5) (5)

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

290 0.7 21.99 45,740

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators

12,450 1.2 17.80 37,010

Bakers

730 0.5 15.72 32,700

Butchers and meat cutters

620 0.7 15.87 33,010

Food batchmakers

2,010 1.7 20.78 43,220

Food processing workers, all other

200 0.6 17.52 36,430

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

360 0.8 18.56 38,600

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

300 1.5 23.99 49,910

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

1,980 1.5 19.13 39,790

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

590 1.1 19.41 40,380

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

320 2.3 22.59 46,990

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

160 1.4 22.28 46,350

Machinists

5,410 2.4 22.87 47,560

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders

170 1.2 26.65 55,430

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

1,510 1.3 19.16 39,860

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

1,660 1.7 17.63 36,680

Tool and die makers

510 1.2 28.10 58,450

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

2,180 0.8 23.94 49,790

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

810 3.7 20.75 43,160

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

280 2.5 19.28 40,110

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

290 1.3 18.44 38,360

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

80 0.5 19.31 40,170

Prepress technicians and workers

220 1.3 19.57 40,710

Printing press operators

1,610 1.5 20.38 42,390

Print binding and finishing workers

500 1.8 18.93 39,370

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

1,470 1.2 13.06 27,160

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

100 0.5 12.83 26,680

Sewing machine operators

800 1.0 16.93 35,220

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers

170 1.5 19.84 41,280

Textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

40 0.5 19.85 41,290

Upholsterers

200 1.0 22.36 46,510

Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers, all other

60 0.7 18.58 38,650

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

310 0.5 19.94 41,480

Furniture finishers

90 0.9 18.83 39,170

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

330 1.0 16.85 35,050

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

410 0.9 17.67 36,760

Power plant operators

80 0.4 41.84 87,030

Stationary engineers and boiler operators

140 0.6 30.14 62,680

Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators

610 0.7 26.36 54,830

Chemical plant and system operators

210 1.6 18.75 39,000

Gas plant operators

90 0.9 30.05 62,500

Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers

90 0.4 22.57 46,940

Plant and system operators, all other

50 0.4 29.56 61,480

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

930 1.1 25.88 53,820

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

390 1.1 21.11 43,910

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

350 1.8 23.11 48,060

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

80 0.8 18.31 38,090

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

1,560 2.0 23.36 48,590

Cutters and trimmers, hand

90 1.6 17.78 36,970

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

470 1.2 22.18 46,130

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

170 0.4 20.24 42,110

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

140 1.3 19.18 39,900

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

4,430 1.1 24.45 50,850

Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers

170 0.9 24.71 51,390

Dental laboratory technicians

310 1.3 21.12 43,930

Medical appliance technicians

60 0.5 22.57 46,950

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians

230 1.6 18.72 38,930

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

2,920 1.1 20.21 42,030

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

90 1.1 18.80 39,100

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

1,090 1.0 20.11 41,830

Photographic process workers and processing machine operators

50 1.2 17.83 37,090

Computer numerically controlled tool operators

1,060 0.8 22.33 46,450

Computer numerically controlled tool programmers

130 0.6 30.39 63,220

Adhesive bonding machine operators and tenders

180 2.2 16.03 33,340

Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders

160 1.8 19.15 39,840

Etchers and engravers

150 2.6 24.50 50,960

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

440 1.6 20.09 41,780

Paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders

880 1.3 22.29 46,360

Helpers--production workers

790 0.6 17.49 36,370

Production workers, all other

570 0.3 20.21 42,040

Footnotes:
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_26900.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.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, July 26, 2023