Median annual wage
$40,370WisconsinSewing machine operators job market in Wisconsin
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
Data availability
Published industry context is limited
The report below shows the available evidence. Missing figures are not estimated.
Occupation pay
What Sewing machine operators earn in Wisconsin
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
- Middle 50% of published wages
- $36,620 – $46,960
- U.S. median annual wage
- $36,670
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Wisconsin
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Sewing machine operators, compared with the Wisconsin median of $40,370.
Wisconsin median$40,370
Appleton, WI$48,460+20.0% vs. state
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI$42,300+4.8% vs. state
Janesville-Beloit, WI$40,130−0.6% vs. state
Madison, WI$40,040−0.8% vs. state
Fond du Lac, WI$39,810−1.4% vs. state
Wausau, WI$39,110−3.1% vs. state
View 5 more published metro areas
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI$38,600−4.4% vs. state
Racine-Mount Pleasant, WI$37,550−7.0% vs. state
Green Bay, WI$36,820−8.8% vs. state
La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN$36,820−8.8% vs. state
Duluth, MN-WI$36,780−8.9% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Wisconsin median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Limited local data: at least one local trend covers only 82.45% of this occupation's industry mix. These figures describe the industries with published data. Read each trend alongside its state data coverage.
Local research
What the data shows for sewing machine operators in Wisconsin
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market
The OEWS May 2025 comparison for Wisconsin shows a pay premium alongside a smaller employment estimate. Appleton, WI's median annual pay of $48,460 is 25.5% higher than Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI's $38,600, while their employment estimates are 110 and 560, respectively. Among 8 metros with both usable measures, the former has the highest median pay and the latter the largest employment estimate. These counts describe existing jobs, not available vacancies.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSSome metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.
Published median pay is above the U.S. median
OEWS May 2025 records a state median annual wage of $40,370 for sewing machine operators in Wisconsin. Against the national median of $36,670, that is 10.1% higher. A median describes the middle of the distribution and does not include a living-cost adjustment.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSFindings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Current market signals
Recent statewide layoff-notice context alongside the published BLS figures below. This signal does not feed the Job Market Health score.
Statewide layoff-notice filings
Wisconsin statewide8 notices in this source
Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.
What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in Wisconsin’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.
Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. Wisconsin’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development About WARN data
Source last checked
Indeed job postings · Wisconsin
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
108.3Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
+8.3%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+2.2%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
-0.7%Industry employmentU.S. -1.0%State data coverage: 82.45%
-0.6%EstablishmentsU.S. +1.5%State data coverage: 82.45%
+3.5%Avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +5.2%State data coverage: 96.91%
46,740Represented establishmentsEstablishments in the industries that employ this occupation, not employers hiring itIndustry mix share 87.8%, separate from the data coverage on the trend cards
Industry employment change over time
Year-over-year change for the industries that employ Sewing machine operators in Wisconsin · percentage change
Year-over-year employment change (%) by reference quarter
Latest published values
- Wisconsin · 2026 Q1Not published
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
Every published quarter
BLS does not publish a national quarterly series for this occupation’s industry mix, so only the Wisconsin series is shown. The U.S. figure on the cards above is the latest quarter benchmark.
| Quarter | Wisconsin | State data coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | -0.9% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | -1.1% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | -1.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | -1.5% | 96.91% |
| 2025 Q2 | -1.3% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | -1.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | -1.1% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | -0.7% Below coverage floor | 82.45% |
Industry mix behind this view
Which industries are weighted into this view. Not a ranking of employers or of job quality.
| Industry group | Share of occupation employment | Local employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 73.1% | -0.9% | 8,601 | $1,513 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 14.4% | Not published | 38,139 | $1,120 |
| Professional and business services | 5.0% | +1.3% | 39,659 | $1,765 |
| Private education and health services | 3.3% | +2.0% | 41,975 | $1,303 |
| Other services | 3.1% | Not published | 13,064 | $891 |
| Leisure and hospitality | 0.5% | +0.4% | 18,177 | $482 |
The publication date above is the official BLS news release date for this reference quarter, linked to the notice. The values match the snapshot independently checked against BLS sources on September 17, 2026. The publication date identifies the quarterly news release, not the exact revision date. The data period above is the quarter the figures describe.
QCEW describes the industries that employ this occupation, not the occupation itself. It is not a count of job openings and is not part of the 0-100 Job Market Health score.
Evidence record
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Sewing machine operators
- SOC code
- 51-6031
- State
- Wisconsin
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -0.7%State data coverage 82.45%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -1.0%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.3 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- -0.6%State data coverage 82.45%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +3.5%State data coverage 96.91%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/sewing-machine-operators/wisconsin#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
AI & this occupation
How AI relates to Sewing machine operators work
Across 4 research exposure measures, Sewing machine operators is in the lower technical AI exposure band based on the mean of the available source-specific percentile ranks. Exposure describes how much of the work the studied AI capabilities could technically assist with; it is not a forecast of job loss.
The saved Anthropic task-exposure benchmark records a zero index for this occupation. This is not proof of no AI use; the observation window is not recorded in this saved release.
JobMarketHealth has not measured an AI effect on this occupation's employment or wages, and these figures do not enter its scores; there is no clear evidence of displacement in the data shown here.
Exposure measures (kept separate)
- GPTs are GPTs exposure (β, GPT-4 rated): 0.08 of 1, national percentile 18 (lower third)
- Microsoft AI applicability: 0.04 of 1, national percentile 8 (lower third)
- AIOE (Felten, Raj & Seamans): -0.96 (standardized), national percentile 21 (lower third)
- OECD AI Capability Gap (lower gap = higher potential exposure): gap 1.6 of 23, national percentile 79 (higher third)
OECD capability gap by domain
As published by the OECD: the gap between what the occupation demands (0-5) and current AI capability in each domain. A lower gap means AI is closer to the requirement (higher potential exposure); 0 means AI already meets it or the domain is not relevant.
- Language: gap 0.00 (demand 1.00 of 5)
- Social interaction: gap 0.00 (demand 0.25 of 5)
- Problem solving: gap 0.00 (demand 1.60 of 5)
- Creativity: gap 0.00 (demand 0.50 of 5)
- Metacognition & critical thinking: gap 0.00 (demand 1.40 of 5)
- Knowledge, learning & memory: gap 0.00 (demand 1.65 of 5)
- Vision: gap 0.10 (demand 3.10 of 5)
- Manipulation: gap 1.70 (demand 3.70 of 5)
- Robotic intelligence: gap 0.15 (demand 2.15 of 5)
National context: what businesses used generative AI for
From the Census 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (all industries; businesses whose employees used generative AI). Census did not measure Sewing machine operators specifically.
- Writing or editing documents, emails, or communications: 85.4%
- Searching for information or technical help: 49.9%
- Interpreting, analyzing, translating, or summarizing documents: 44.6%
- Information processing, paperwork, or filing: 34.7%
Wisconsin context
In the Census BTOS core AI-use question, an estimated 19.8% of Wisconsin employer businesses reported using AI in the two weeks ending 2026-10-04 (U.S.: 24.6%).
Separately, the one-time 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (collected 2025-11-17 to 2026-02-08) found 15.9% of Wisconsin businesses using AI at that time, and 20.5% reporting that employees used generative AI for work tasks in the prior six months. It describes how AI was being used then, not a trend.
Using each occupation's exposure band and Wisconsin employment weights (OEWS May 2025), 29.2% of covered jobs are in occupations in the higher-exposure band. This describes the state's occupation mix, not a measured AI effect.
Exposure and observed usage are separate measures and neither equals job loss. Census BTOS figures are business-level surveys and are not occupation-specific. Sources: GPTs are GPTs occupation exposure; Microsoft Working with AI: AI applicability; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE); OECD AI Exposure Measure (AI Capability Gap); Anthropic Economic Index; Census BTOS Core AI Use; Census BTOS AI Supplement 2025-26. These figures do not affect Job Market Health scores. Explore AI & Jobs · How we use AI data.
How to read this page
QCEW measures employment and wages by industry, not by occupation. We weight those industry conditions using the published industry mix for Sewing machine operators. These figures describe the industries that employ Sewing machine operators; they are not direct counts of people working in the occupation or of jobs currently open. This page is not part of the national 0 to 100 Job Market Health score.
Source: BLS QCEW. See the methodology, the national Sewing machine operators report and about the data.
Related occupations
Compare Wisconsin with other statesPublished industry employment, business locations and average weekly industry wages for up to three states, with the national benchmark in percentage points.
Sewing machine operators in other states
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