Production and Manufacturing Compensation Benchmarks

First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers (SOC 51-1011)

For Production and Manufacturing businesses, the wage series behind the benchmark is First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers (SOC 51-1011), the first-line supervisor occupation published for this trade. An owner who works in the trade and also runs the job (scheduling, bidding, and directing the work), whether or not anyone else is on payroll, is priced from the supervisory series rather than from the bare trade wage.

In the report methodology this series functions as a floor rather than a ceiling. Hours, scope of responsibility, and the size of the operation are inputs that move the reconciled figure off it.

General and Operations Managers (SOC 11-1021)

This series is on the page because one of the work patterns below routes to it. It is a different occupation, not a second reading of the same one.

How the work pattern changes the series

The same company can price from a different wage series depending on how the owner actually spends the working week. That divergence is one reason a single published figure cannot answer the question.

• Performs the work: the owner spends most of the working week doing the trade or service the company sells.
• Splits the work: the owner both does that work and runs the business.
• Directs the work: the owner runs the business while other people do the work the company sells.

The management series runs higher because directing a staffed operation is a different and typically larger job than performing the work alone.

Businesses in this group

Every profession in this group is priced from First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers (SOC 51-1011) when the owner does the work, and from General and Operations Managers (SOC 11-1021) when the owner directs it.

Start a report for one of these professions:

• Manufacturing
• Machine Shop
• Welding Shop
• Woodworking
• Print Shop
• Sign Making
• Upholstery

Where these figures come from

The identifier beside each series is the exact OEWS series the cell was pulled from. These are national figures as published for May 2025. They are not adjusted for a local market and not aged forward to the current period.

Program documentation for these statistics: OEWS program page. Published tables for every occupation: OEWS data tables at BLS.

• BLS OEWS series OEUN000000000000051101113 carries the annual median for First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers (SOC 51-1011). Cells on this page are the May 2025 estimates, retrieved 2026-07-25.
• BLS OEWS series OEUN000000000000011102113 carries the annual median for General and Operations Managers (SOC 11-1021). Cells on this page are the May 2025 estimates, retrieved 2026-07-25.

Does this read wrong?

Practitioners know their own trade better than a statistical table does. If the way this page describes the work does not match how the work is really done, tell us and we will fix the page.

Email hello@wagedefend.com and name this page (production-and-manufacturing).

Related benchmarks

Priced by the same rule.

• Cleaning and Janitorial Business Owners: First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers (SOC 37-1011)
• Construction Trade Business Owners: First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (SOC 47-1011)
• Farming, Ranching, and Forestry Business Owners: First-Line Supervisors of Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Workers (SOC 45-1011)
• Landscaping and Lawn Service Business Owners: First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers (SOC 37-1012)

For what the authorities actually require, start with S corp reasonable compensation: the legal standard.