Midwest Information office

 Workers in the Rockford metropolitan area earned an average of $18.53 per hour in April 2007, according to new survey results from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that wage data were reported for workers in a wide range of occupational groups, including average hourly earnings of $32.95 for healthcare practitioner and technical occupations and $15.64 for production occupations. Another occupational group, office and administration support, had a mean hourly wage rate of $13.68. The NCS data available for the Rockford area include earnings for 18 major occupational groups with additional detail for selected occupations within those groups. (See bulletin table 2, link to the full bulletin is provided at the end of this release.)

Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, part of the healthcare practitioner and technical occupational group, earned $19.56 per hour. Within the production occupations, coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders averaged $11.38 per hour. Receptionists and information clerks, an occupation within the office and administrative support group, registered an average hourly rate of $11.72 per hour. (See bulletin table 2.)

Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $19.73 per hour while their part-time counterparts earned $11.20. Union workers earned $22.76 and non-union workers, $17.56. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $17.10 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $16.89, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $24.44.

The occupational wage data available from NCS may be used by businesses for establishing pay plans, making decisions concerning plant relocation, and in collective bargaining negotiations. Individuals may use such data to help choose potential careers. NCS results also include the work level and respective earnings for occupations determined by a point factor leveling process. The four occupational leveling factors are: knowledge, job controls and complexity, contacts, and physical environment. Details on the NCS are available at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/.

The NCS data provided in the detailed bulletin covered 277 establishments with one or more workers in private industry and State and local governments. Agricultural establishments, private households, the self-employed, and the Federal Government were excluded from the survey. This sample of 277 establishments represented 160,400 workers in the Rockford Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) which is comprised of Boone and Winnebago Counties in Illinois.

Complete survey results are contained in the Rockford, IL National Compensation Survey April 2007. The bulletin is available on the Internet in both text and PDF formats at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/compub.htm.

For additional information, please contact the Bureau of Labor Statistics Midwest Information Office in Chicago at (312) 353-1880 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT.

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Bulletin tables - PDF format
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Last Modified Date: February 8, 2008