Workers in the Waterbury Metropolitan New England City and Town Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $24.50 in May 2017, about 1 percent above the nationwide average of $24.34, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that, after testing for statistical significance, wages in the local area were higher than their respective national averages in 10 of the 22 major occupational groups, including life, physical, and social science; healthcare practitioners and technical; and education, training, and library. Seven groups had significantly lower wages than their respective national averages, including legal; computer and mathematical; and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media.

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 7 of the 22 occupational groups, including education, training, and library; production; and community and social service. Conversely, 11 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including business and financial operations; computer and mathematical; and transportation and material moving. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

One occupational group—production—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Waterbury had 6,350 jobs in production, accounting for 9.3 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the 6.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $18.68, compared to the national wage of $18.30.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the production group included assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers (1,010), multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic (770), and first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (470). Among the higher paying jobs were first-line supervisors of production and operating workers and tool and die makers, with mean hourly wages of $31.44 and $30.60, respectively. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($11.37) and multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ($12.44). (Detailed occupational data for production are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_78700.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 Waterbury area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the production group. For instance, multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic were employed at 13.3 times the national rate in Waterbury, and tool and die makers, at 12.7 times the U.S. average. On the other hand, electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers had a location quotient of 1.2 in Waterbury, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

These statistics are from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, a federal-state cooperative program between BLS and State Workforce Agencies, in this case, the Connecticut Department of Labor.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey is a semiannual mail survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OES data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 650 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), metropolitan divisions, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-, 4-, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.

OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 200,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by mail, Internet or other electronic means, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2017 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2017, November 2016, May 2016, November 2015, May 2015, and November 2014. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 72 percent based on establishments and 68 percent based on weighted sampled employment. The unweighted sample employment of 82 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 58 percent of total national employment. The sample in the Waterbury Metropolitan New England City and Town Area included 1,094 establishments with a response rate of 76 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm.

The May 2017 OES estimates are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system and the 2012 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Information about the 2010 SOC is available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/soc and information about the 2012 NAICS is available at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

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 Waterbury, CT Metropolitan New England City and Town Area includes Beacon Falls town, Bethlehem town, Middlebury town, Naugatuck borough, Prospect town, Waterbury city, Watertown town, Wolcott town, and Woodbury town, CT.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/regions/northeast. Answers to frequently asked questions about the OES data are available at www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm. Detailed technical information about the OES survey is available in our Survey Methods and Reliability Statement on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/oes/current/methods_statement.pdf.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request . Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

 Table 1. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, by occupation, Waterbury metropolitan area, May 2017

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Production occupations	6,350	1.5	$18.68	$38,860
First-line supervisors of production and operating workers	470	1.6	31.44	65,400
Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers, except coil winders, tapers, and finishers	150	1.2	15.91	33,080
Assemblers and fabricators, all other, including team assemblers	1,010	1.6	13.46	28,000
Bakers	50	0.6	13.35	27,760
Butchers and meat cutters	(5)	(5)	16.23	33,750
Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic	80	1.2	20.09	41,800
Computer numerically controlled machine tool programmers, metal and plastic	40	3.3	26.73	55,590
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	170	4.7	21.84	45,420
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	290	3.2	17.44	36,260
Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	(5)	(5)	18.88	39,260
Machinists	420	2.3	19.45	40,460
Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	120	1.6	14.11	29,340
Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	770	13.3	12.44	25,870
Tool and die makers	450	12.7	30.60	63,640
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers	100	0.6	22.52	46,850
Welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders	30	1.9	16.96	35,280
Plating and coating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic	140	7.9	16.71	34,760
Printing press operators	90	1.1	16.66	34,660
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	100	1.0	12.69	26,400
Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials	80	4.0	11.37	23,660
Sewing machine operators	(5)	(5)	19.04	39,600
Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators	40	0.7	30.15	62,700
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers	340	1.3	19.12	39,760
Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders	(5)	(5)	17.03	35,420
Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders	70	1.7	13.84	28,790
Cleaning, washing, and metal pickling equipment operators and tenders	40	4.9	14.76	30,700
Helpers--production workers	130	0.7	14.04	29,210
Production workers, all other	60	0.5	14.34	29,820
Footnotes: (1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Waterbury, CT Metropolitan New England City and Town Area, see www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_78700.htm. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations 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.