The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a moderate decline in employment for all printing machine operators, including flexography press operators. Nevertheless, job opportunities should still be favorable through at least 2018, with many current workers likely to retire. About half of all flexographic press operators earned at least $16 per hour as of May 2010.
Average and Median Salary
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics includes flexography press operators with all printing machine operators in its salary figures for this occupation. Their average salary as of May 2010 was $17 per hour, or $35,370 per year. The median pay was lower, at $16.19 per hour, or $33,680 per year.
Salary Range
The middle 50 percent of flexographic press operators were earning $12.34 to $20.79 per hour as of May 2010, or $25,660 to $43,250 per year. The bottom 10 percent of the pay scale was at or below $9.74 per hour, or $20,270 per year. The top 10 percent of flexography press operators earned $25.73 per hour and higher, or $53,510 per year and more.
Types of Employment
As of May 2010, the largest number of flexography press operators and other printing machine operators worked in an employment category the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics defines as printing and related support activities. The average salary in this industry was $17.30 per hour. Flexography press operators also found work with advertising and public relations firms at $15.87 per hour on average, and with publishers of newspapers, periodicals, books and directories, at $17.36 per hour. Flexographic press operators working in plastics product manufacturing had an average wage of $15.75 per hour, and in converted paper product manufacturing, $18.18 per hour.
High-Paying States
The top-paying state for flexography press operators and other printing machine operators as of May 2010 was Delaware, where they averaged $20.68 per hour, or $43,020 per year. Other high-paying states were Alaska at $20.34 per hour, New Jersey at $20.31 and
Hawaii at $20.27.
High-Paying Metro Areas
In five U.S. metropolitan areas as of May 2010, flexography press operators and other printing machine operators earned $22 per hour and more on average. Napa, California, had the best pay rate, at $22.83 per hour on average. Rounding out the top five were the greater Burlington, Vermont, area, at $22.64 per hour on average; the greater San Francisco area at $22.63; the Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, Massachusetts, area at $22.01; and the greater Wilmington, Delaware, area at $22.
