{
  "name": "Manufacturing Wage Board: Factory Pay by Trade and State",
  "slug": "us-manufacturing-wage-board",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "url": "https://www.mfgcalcs.com/signals/wage-board",
  "formula": "Per trade: the BLS OEWS median hourly wage nationally and by state; the highest- and lowest-paying state; spread = highest - lowest; spread percent = spread / lowest x100. State index: for each state, the mean of (state wage / national median) across every covered trade, x100 (100 = at the national median); a state needs at least 6 covered trades to earn a reading. Pressure: the manufacturing average-hourly-earnings level and year-over-year change from BLS Current Employment Statistics.",
  "unit": "median hourly wage, USD; state index, national median = 100; pressure, percent year over year.",
  "source": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) medians and Current Employment Statistics (CES) manufacturing earnings.",
  "provenance": "Derived entirely from BLS public data, a work of the U.S. government in the public domain. Redistributable.",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "attribution": "MFG Calcs (mfgcalcs.com), compiled from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics open data",
  "caveats": [
    "OEWS medians are a point-in-time survey year and are not adjusted for cost of living, so a high-wage state can still be cheaper after housing and taxes.",
    "The state index averages across the covered trades a state reports; a state missing some trades is indexed on the trades it does report.",
    "The pressure trend is the all-manufacturing average hourly earnings, a broader measure than the specific trade medians, and is nominal (not inflation-adjusted)."
  ],
  "asOf": "2025"
}