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| GENERAL INFORMATION: (312) 353-1880 | FOR RELEASE: |
| MEDIA CONTACT: Paul LaPorte | Wednesday, July 8, 2009 |
| (312) 353-1138 |
Workers in the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area earned an average of $16.83 per hour in October 2008, 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 $16.16 for production occupations and $14.37 for office and administrative support occupations. Another occupational group, sales and related, had a mean hourly wage rate of $13.57. The NCS data available for the Elkhart-Goshen area include earnings for 14 major occupational groups with additional detail for selected occupations within those groups. (See table 1.)
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers, part of the production occupational group, earned $17.34 per hour. Within the office and administrative support group, shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks averaged $12.54 per hour. Cashiers, an occupation within the sales and related group, earned $8.52 per hour. (See table 1.)
Broad coverage of selected occupational characteristics is available from NCS for the local area. Full-time workers averaged $17.50 per hour while their part-time counterparts earned $8.49. Union workers earned $21.79 and non-union workers, $16.31. Workers in establishments with 1-99 workers averaged $15.34 per hour, those in establishments with 100-499 workers earned $16.55, and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $19.63.
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 www.bls.gov/ncs/.
The NCS data provided here covered 180 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 establishments represented 111,500 workers in the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which is comprised of Elkhart County, Indiana.
Survey Availability
Complete survey results are contained in the Elkhart-Goshen, IN National Compensation Survey October 2008. The bulletin is available on the Internet in both text and PDF formats at 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 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.
# # #
Bulletin tables - PDF format
- Text format
| Occupation (3) | Total | Full-time workers | Part-time workers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean | Relative error (4) (percent) | Mean | Relative error (4) (percent) | Mean | Relative error (4) (percent) | |
All workers |
$16.83 | 2.9 | $17.50 | 2.7 | $8.49 | 6.1 |
Management occupations |
42.74 | 14.4 | 42.74 | 14.4 | – | – |
Marketing and sales managers |
54.30 | 20.7 | 54.30 | 20.7 | – | – |
Business and financial operations occupations |
26.68 | 4.3 | 27.00 | 3.9 | – | – |
Architecture and engineering occupations |
26.35 | 10.5 | 26.35 | 10.5 | – | – |
Engineers |
28.93 | 6.8 | 28.93 | 6.8 | – | – |
Education, training, and library occupations |
30.79 | 17.4 | 32.77 | 18.9 | – | – |
Primary, secondary, and special education school teachers |
37.45 | 9.1 | 37.45 | 9.1 | – | – |
Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations |
19.24 | 3.5 | 19.24 | 3.5 | – | – |
Healthcare support occupations |
11.72 | 6.5 | 11.73 | 6.6 | – | – |
Food preparation and serving related occupations |
6.36 | 10.3 | – | – | 6.28 | 8.4 |
Food service, tipped |
4.00 | 25.7 | – | – | 4.49 | 23.1 |
Waiters and waitresses |
2.84 | 12.5 | – | – | 3.06 | 11.7 |
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations |
12.16 | 5.4 | 12.77 | 8.0 | 8.63 | 2.6 |
Building cleaning workers |
11.93 | 3.5 | 12.28 | 4.1 | – | – |
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners |
12.74 | 6.5 | 13.24 | 6.1 | – | – |
Sales and related occupations |
13.57 | 6.1 | 16.83 | 7.3 | 8.50 | 1.9 |
Retail sales workers |
10.60 | 9.5 | 13.01 | 14.8 | 8.48 | 2.0 |
Cashiers, all workers |
8.52 | 1.2 | – | – | 8.28 | 2.9 |
Cashiers |
8.52 | 1.2 | – | – | 8.28 | 2.9 |
Retail salespersons |
12.03 | 0.7 | 14.72 | 6.8 | 8.73 | 6.1 |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing |
28.13 | 17.1 | 28.13 | 17.1 | – | – |
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products |
28.13 | 17.1 | 28.13 | 17.1 | – | – |
Office and administrative support occupations |
14.37 | 6.0 | 14.71 | 5.9 | 9.92 | 6.0 |
Financial clerks |
14.55 | 7.2 | 14.81 | 7.0 | – | – |
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks |
15.27 | 6.9 | 15.37 | 7.0 | – | – |
Receptionists and information clerks |
11.17 | 4.5 | – | – | – | – |
Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks |
12.54 | 2.6 | 12.54 | 2.6 | – | – |
Stock clerks and order fillers |
11.40 | 15.2 | – | – | – | – |
Secretaries and administrative assistants |
15.17 | 7.1 | 15.18 | 7.4 | – | – |
Executive secretaries and administrative assistants |
18.33 | 7.6 | 18.33 | 7.6 | – | – |
Secretaries, except legal, medical, and executive |
13.84 | 8.7 | 13.84 | 8.7 | – | – |
Office clerks, general |
11.53 | 6.5 | 11.95 | 7.6 | – | – |
Construction and extraction occupations |
18.58 | 8.3 | 18.58 | 8.3 | – | – |
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations |
17.01 | 5.1 | 17.01 | 5.1 | – | – |
Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers |
17.54 | 0.6 | 17.54 | 0.6 | – | – |
Production occupations |
16.16 | 5.6 | 16.18 | 5.6 | – | – |
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers |
21.50 | 12.2 | 21.50 | 12.2 | – | – |
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators |
16.00 | 5.5 | 16.00 | 5.5 | – | – |
Team assemblers |
16.35 | 10.7 | 16.35 | 10.7 | – | – |
Machine tool cutting setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic |
13.91 | 1.2 | 13.91 | 1.2 | – | – |
Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic |
11.08 | 22.2 | 11.08 | 22.2 | – | – |
Welding, soldering, and brazing workers |
18.35 | 10.6 | 18.35 | 10.6 | – | – |
Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers |
17.34 | 3.6 | 17.34 | 3.6 | – | – |
Miscellaneous metalworkers and plastic workers |
13.60 | 2.2 | 13.60 | 2.2 | – | – |
Sewing machine operators |
12.41 | 10.1 | 12.41 | 10.1 | – | – |
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders |
13.83 | 9.9 | 13.83 | 9.9 | – | – |
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers |
15.12 | 0.4 | 15.12 | 0.4 | – | – |
Painting workers |
14.06 | 9.2 | 14.06 | 9.2 | – | – |
Miscellaneous production workers |
17.85 | 30.5 | 17.85 | 30.5 | – | – |
Transportation and material moving occupations |
14.79 | 3.4 | 14.98 | 2.8 | – | – |
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers |
19.03 | 4.2 | 19.30 | 3.8 | – | – |
Truck drivers, light or delivery services |
14.78 | 8.7 | 15.02 | 9.4 | – | – |
Industrial truck and tractor operators |
14.09 | 4.5 | 14.09 | 4.5 | – | – |
Laborers and material movers, hand |
12.47 | 4.6 | 12.58 | 4.4 | – | – |
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand |
12.60 | 4.1 | 12.88 | 3.7 | – | – |
Packers and packagers, hand |
11.96 | 5.6 | 11.96 | 5.6 | – | – |
Footnotes:
(1) Earnings are the straight-time hourly wages or salaries paid to employees. They include incentive pay, cost-of-living adjustments, and hazard pay. Excluded are premium pay for overtime, vacations, holidays, nonproduction bonuses, and tips. The mean is computed by totaling the pay of all workers and dividing by the number of workers, weighted by hours.
(2) Employees are classified as working either a full-time or a part-time schedule based on the definition used by each establishment. Therefore, a worker with a 35-hour-per-week schedule might be considered a full-time employee in one establishment, but classified as part-time in another firm, where a 40-hour week is the minimum full-time schedule.
(3) Workers are classified by occupation using the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system.
(4) The relative standard error (RSE) is the standard error expressed as a percent of the estimate. It can be used to calculate a "confidence interval" around a sample estimate.
NOTE: Dashes indicate that no data were reported or that data did not meet publication criteria. Overall occupational groups may include data for
categories not shown separately.
SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey.
Last Modified Date: July 8, 2009
