Mountain-Plains Information Office

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(816) 285-7000

For Release: September 22, 2009


OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN
WICHITA: MAY 2008 (PDF)


Workers in the Wichita, Kan. Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $18.44 during May 2008, roughly 9 percent below the nationwide average of $20.32, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that after testing for statistical significance, only one group-production-had wages in the local area that were measurably above the corresponding national average. Wages in the local area were significantly lower than their respective national averages in 19 of the 22 major occupational groups, including management, computer and mathematical science, and legal. (For a comprehensive definition of the Wichita, Kan. Metropolitan Statistical Area, please see Technical Note.)

When compared to the nationwide distribution, local employment was more highly concentrated in 4 of the 22 occupational groups including production, construction and extraction, and architecture and engineering. Conversely, 13 groups had employment shares significantly below their national representation, including transportation and material moving and office and administrative support occupations. (See table A and box note at end of release.)

Table A. Occupational employment and wages by major occupational group, United States and the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area, and measures of statistical significance, May 2008
Major occupational group Percent of total employment Average hourly wage
United States Wichita United States Wichita

Total, all occupations

 100.0% 100.0% $20.32 18.44*

Management

 4.6 4.3* 48.23 40.91*

Business and financial operations

 4.5 4.0* 31.12 26.70*

Computer and mathematical science

 2.4 1.7* 35.82 27.90*

Architecture and engineering

 1.9 3.5* 34.34 32.58*

Life, physical, and social science

 1.0 0.5* 30.90 25.68*

Community and social services

 1.4 1.3 20.09 18.18*

Legal

 0.7 0.4* 44.36 37.69*

Education, training, and library

 6.3 5.8 23.30 20.34*

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media

 1.3 1.2* 24.36 18.15*

Healthcare practitioner and technical

 5.2 4.9* 32.64 29.98*

Healthcare support

 2.8 2.8 12.66 11.33*

Protective service

 2.3 1.8* 19.33 16.90*

Food preparation and serving related

 8.5 8.1* 9.72 8.42*

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance

 3.3 3.1 11.72 11.05*

Personal care and service

 2.5 2.8 11.59 9.80*

Sales and related

 10.6 9.4* 17.35 15.44*

Office and administrative support

 17.2 16.5* 15.49 14.29*

Farming, fishing, and forestry

 0.3 0.1* 11.32 10.99

Construction and extraction

 4.8 5.5* 20.36 17.53*

Installation, maintenance, and repair

 4.0 4.6* 19.82 20.42

Production

 7.3 11.8* 15.54 17.86*

Transportation and material moving

 7.0 5.9* 15.12 14.40*
* The employment share or mean hourly wage for this area 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. Wichita had 35,730 production jobs accounting for 11.8 percent of local area employment, significantly higher than the occupational group's 7.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for the production group locally was $17.86, measurably above the national wage of $15.54.

With employment of 5,450, aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers were the largest occupation within the production group, followed by team assemblers (3,830), and first-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers (3,000). Four occupations had hourly wages exceeding $25.00 led by first-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers, averaging $26.88, and by numerical tool and process control programmers at $25.58. At the lower end of the wage scale were pressers, textile, garment, and related materials ($8.08) and laundry and dry-cleaning workers ($8.62). (Detailed occupational data for the production group are presented in table B; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to www.bls.gov/oes/2008/may/oes_48620.htm.)

Table B. Employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, for production occupations, Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area, May 2008
Occupation Employment (1) Mean wages Median hourly wages
Hourly Annual(2)

Production occupations

 35,730 $17.86 $37,150 $17.10

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

 3,000 26.88 55,920 26.52

Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers

 5,450 20.41 42,450 19.99

Coil winders, tapers, and finishers

 120 15.21 31,630 12.49

Electrical and electronic equipment assemblers

 1,410 19.24 40,020 19.96

Electromechanical equipment assemblers

 70 13.88 28,870 13.35

Structural metal fabricators and fitters

 430 18.21 37,870 16.59

Fiberglass laminators and fabricators

 190 17.79 37,000 18.01

Team assemblers

 3,830 13.82 28,750 13.38

Assemblers and fabricators, all other

 290 18.45 38,380 18.48

Bakers

 220 9.16 19,050 8.84

Butchers and meat cutters

 200 13.67 28,430 15.53

Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders

 (3) 12.71 26,430 11.34

Food batchmakers

 220 11.62 24,170 11.60

Computer-controlled machine tool operators, metal and plastic

 1,180 18.53 38,530 17.45

Numerical tool and process control programmers

 160 25.58 53,210 26.08

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

 450 14.70 30,580 13.93

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

 (3) 16.64 34,620 14.84

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

 30 17.49 36,380 17.58

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

 790 15.28 31,790 14.09

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

 170 16.37 34,060 15.20

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

 410 15.13 31,470 13.38

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

 140 17.02 35,400 16.45

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

 430 16.60 34,530 16.22

Machinists

 1,460 16.53 34,380 15.88

Patternmakers, metal and plastic

 120 25.33 52,700 26.69

Foundry mold and coremakers

 80 12.01 24,970 11.59

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

 240 11.54 23,990 10.77

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

 120 16.59 34,510 11.78

Tool and die makers

 560 25.21 52,450 26.91

Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

 1,410 16.83 35,000 16.13

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

 240 20.08 41,760 21.37

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

 290 20.48 42,600 21.51

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

 180 14.87 30,930 14.02

Tool grinders, filers, and sharpeners

 40 21.51 44,750 22.57

Metal workers and plastic workers, all other

 80 18.25 37,950 17.93

Bindery workers

 120 11.75 24,440 12.17

Job printers

 90 16.14 33,560 16.58

Prepress technicians and workers

 90 16.54 34,390 16.20

Printing machine operators

 350 18.99 39,500 19.53

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers

 370 8.62 17,940 8.55

Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials

 160 8.08 16,800 8.07

Sewing machine operators

 510 10.39 21,620 8.67

Tailors, dressmakers, and custom sewers

 90 9.25 19,240 7.69

Upholsterers

 270 19.48 40,520 19.82

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

 220 14.78 30,740 14.39

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

 170 10.88 22,640 10.19

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

 (3) 12.66 26,330 11.98

Power plant operators

 50 16.70 34,730 14.70

Water and liquid waste treatment plant and system operators

 120 16.60 34,540 16.06

Chemical equipment operators and tenders

 360 22.71 47,230 22.95

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

 (3) 13.60 28,280 12.92

Grinding and polishing workers, hand

 300 12.46 25,920 11.22

Mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders

 220 15.47 32,180 13.80

Cutters and trimmers, hand

 60 11.77 24,480 11.31

Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders

 170 22.45 46,690 23.94

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

 70 13.81 28,730 13.04

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

 30 17.91 37,240 18.14

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

 2,160 21.01 43,710 21.54

Dental laboratory technicians

 90 14.24 29,630 14.16

Ophthalmic laboratory technicians

 70 13.90 28,910 13.09

Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders

 660 11.87 24,690 12.13

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

 480 14.01 29,140 13.35

Painters, transportation equipment

 510 23.77 49,430 24.50

Painting, coating, and decorating workers

 150 12.59 26,180 11.72

Photographic processing machine operators

 100 9.31 19,360 9.11

Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic

 (3) 13.76 28,610 12.83

Helpers--production workers

 1,190 11.68 24,300 10.78

Production workers, all other

 360 18.53 38,540 18.16

Footnotes:
(1) 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.
(2) 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.
(3) Estimate not released.

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 Kansas Department of Labor. The OES survey provides estimates of employment and hourly and annual wages for wage and salary workers in 22 major occupational groups and up to 801 non-military detailed occupations for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan divisions, and nonmetropolitan areas.

OES wage and employment data for the 22 major occupational groups in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area were compared to their respective national averages based on statistical significance testing. Only those occupations with wages or employment shares above or below the national wage or share after testing for significance at the 90-percent confidence level meet the criteria.

NOTE: 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.

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. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands also are surveyed, but their data are not included in this release. OES estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.2 million establishments. Forms are mailed to approximately 200,000 establishments in May and November of each year for a 3-year period. The nationwide response rate for the May 2008 survey was 78.2 percent based on establishments and 74.3 percent based on employment. The survey included establishments sampled in the May 2008, November 2007, May 2007, November 2006, May 2006, and November 2005 semiannual panels. The sample in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area included 2,870 establishments with a response rate of 78 percent. For more information about OES concepts and methodology, go to www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.

Effective with this news release, the Occupational Employment Statistics program has switched the basis for their industry classification from the 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to the 2007 NAICS. Historical data were not revised.

Metropolitan area definition

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, dated December 2005.

Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick, and Sumner Counties in Kansas.

Additional information

OES data are available on our regional web page at www.bls.gov/ro7/. If you have additional questions, contact the Mountain-Plains Economic Analysis and Information Office at 816-285-7000. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.

Last Modified Date: November 29, 2011