Updated October 16, 2026

PERM occupation, SOC 51-9198, #62 of 1,410 by filings

HelpersProduction Workers

3 H-1B LCAs

Biggest sponsor: LABOR GUYS, LLC · 29% of its filings
Busiest state: TX · 13% of its filings
Major group: Production · SOC 51

Weighing an offer for this job?

Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.

Compare my offer DOL's wage levels for this job

Median wage

$27,955

all PERM $103,272

Filings

1,002

#62 of 1,410

Approval

92.0%

field 96.8%

Median days

384

93 faster than the field

What it pays

Where its median offer sits among every occupation, then the whole ladder of certified offers by year and by state.

Position in the field 535 occupations with 30+ decided

Median offered wage

$27,955above 7%

$18k $500k

Approval rate

92.0%ahead of 21%

49% 100%

Median days to decision

384 daysahead of 90%

323d 536d

Each bar counts occupations at that value. More

Each bar counts occupations at that value. PERM runs two labour markets through one process, which is why the wage axis is two humps rather than a bell. The line marks this one.

DOL PERM disclosure files

Who files it

The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, the places the work sits, and who the workers were.

Sponsors filing it

LABOR GUYS, LLC 292 filings · 99.7% approved
MONTEREY MUSHROOMS, INC. 170 filings · 80.0% approved
Jessicas Brick Oven 101 filings · 100.0% approved
HYDRO EXTRUSION USA, LLC 67 filings · 100.0% approved
UW PROVISION COMPANY INC 65 filings · 100.0% approved
Schreiber Foods, Inc. 55 filings · 100.0% approved

How this is counted

The employers with the most applications under this code. 750 of 1,002 filings, 75% of the total.

Firms filing it

Law Offices of Corey D. Boddie, Esq., LLC 101 filings · 100.0% approved
WK Law Group, PC 67 filings · 100.0% approved
DELAFUENTE LAW LLC 65 filings · 100.0% approved
LO Immigration Legal USA Office 8 filings
LO Immigration Legal USA 2 filings
Immigration Law Group, PC 1 filings

How this is counted

The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 244 of 1,002 filings, 24% of the total.

Where the jobs are

Texas 131
Georgia 116
Massachusetts 101
Indiana 91
Ohio 78
New Jersey 74

How this is counted

The worksite state on the application, which is where the job is and not where the company is headquartered. Volume by state across everyone is on the state map. These 6 states cover 591 of 1,002 filings.

Where the work is

Methuen, MA 101
Indianapolis, IN 81
Florence, NJ 74
Yankton, SD 67
Middleton, WI 65
Stephenville, TX 55

How this is counted

The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 443 of 1,002 filings.

Who filled these jobs, FY2016 to FY2023

From DOL's old form; the form in use since mid-2023 doesn't carry them. Top six of each.

Country of citizenship

South Korea 626
Vietnam 459
Nepal 283
Mexico 206
Brazil 177
China 148

Worker's education

None 2,052
High School 502
Bachelor's 264
Associate's 77
Master's 24
Other 15

Visa held when filed

NOT IN USA 816
F-1 664
B-2 147
F-2 77
E-2 20
EWI 17

Schools

KONKUK UNIVERSITY 13
KOREA NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY 10
EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY 7
INHA UNIVERSITY 7
HANYANG UNIVERSITY 6
SEJONG UNIVERSITY 6

Fields of study

N/A 137
HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA 94
GENERAL HIGH SCHOOL COURSES 51
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 24
GENERAL EDUCATION 17
ACCOUNTING 11

The job itself

What O*NET says the work is, what the market pays it by BLS's survey, its outlook, and DOL's wage levels year by year.

What the job pays outside PERM BLS May 2025, DOL wage year 2026-27

United States
165,700 jobs
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
Methuen
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN
Indianapolis
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Florence
East South Dakota nonmetropolitan area
Yankton
Madison, WI
Middleton

$30k$40k$50k$60k

middle half of pay (BLS)
median
10th to 90th percentile
DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
median PERM offer

Market pay and DOL wage levels, by area
Area	BLS median	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
United States	$39,070
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$43,240	$35,818	$40,331	$44,824	$49,338
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$38,540	$34,902	$38,064	$41,205	$44,366
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$40,580	$33,550	$37,939	$42,328	$46,717
East South Dakota nonmetropolitan area	—	$41,267	$43,118	$44,949	$46,800
Madison, WI	$45,410	$35,027	$39,790	$44,533	$49,296

How these figures fit together

BLS surveys employers on what they pay everyone in a job; DOL builds its four levels from the same survey a year later (the July 2026 wage year uses BLS's May 2025 estimates). DOL publishes levels by area, not nationally, so the United States line has none. Levels are hourly in DOL's tables; here they're shown a year at 2,080 hours, as DOL computes them. The metros are the ones holding the most of this job's PERM filings, placed by Census's county files.

The block is the middle half of what employers report paying everyone in this job, citizen or not; the ticks under it are DOL's four prevailing wage levels for that metro, the floors a PERM or H-1B offer is held to. More

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics; DOL OFLC wage tables

DOL's levels for this job in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, year by year

Each July DOL resets the four levels from BLS's newest survey. A determination keeps the figures of the year it was issued in.

DOL wage levels by wage year, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
Wage year	Level I	Level II	Level III	Level IV
2026-27	$35,818	$40,331	$44,824	$49,338
2025-26	$34,882	$38,979	$43,077	$47,174

Every area and both wage tables in the wage-level tool.

What the job is

Help production workers by performing duties requiring less skill. Duties include supplying or holding materials or tools, and cleaning work area and equipment.

Preparation: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed; O*NET Job Zone 1-2
DOL's education basis: High school diploma or equivalent; Wage year 2026-27
Jobs, 2025 to 2035: -8.2%; About 20,900 openings a year (BLS)
Typical entry: High school diploma or equivalent; BLS

The work, most important first

Lift raw materials, finished products, and packed items, manually or using hoists.
Mark or tag identification on parts.
Observe equipment operations so that malfunctions can be detected, and notify operators of any malfunctions.
Count finished products to determine if product orders are complete.
Examine products to verify conformance to quality standards.
Operate machinery used in the production process, or assist machine operators.

The education workers in it report

Less than a High School Diploma

35%
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)

32%
Post-Secondary Certificate

20%
Some College Courses

6%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.

8%

Titles people use for it

Control Room Helper, Press Helper, Production Helper, Welder Helper, Assembly Line Worker, Laminator Helper, Machine Helper, Machine Operator Helper.

This section includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database and O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. PERM Tracker has modified some of this information (the shares are rounded and only the top tasks are shown); what changed. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Against other jobs

Where this sits in the ranking

Ranked 62 of 1,410 by volume: 61 filed at least as many filings, and 1,348 filed no more.

Just above: Mechanical Engineers 1,004 filings
Just below: Architectural and Engineering Managers 988 filings

Other production roles

Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. More

Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.

The same job on H-1B

3 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $45,760 a year; the middle half ran $44,720 to $48,880. By state and year in the salary explorer.

Notes on these numbers

Reading the wage

A floor, not a salary survey: every level and metro mixed. DOL's four wage levels for this job, by area.

What the median is

The median wage employers committed to in federal filings for this occupation. It mixes every experience level and every metro, and it's a floor: the employer must offer at least the prevailing wage DOL determines for the occupation, level and county. Across all PERM filings the middle half of offered wages runs $45,178 to $141,357, so a figure inside that band is unremarkable whichever occupation it belongs to. The levels page reads DOL's OFLC wage search live.

What these numbers don't say

4 notes

The code is the identity: This one is SOC 51-9198. Two SOC codes can carry the same job title, so a title that looks duplicated on the ranking is two different occupations. Match on the code when you're checking a specific filing.
A median isn’t an offer: It's the middle of all 1,002 wages committed to for this occupation across the country, entry level and principal alike. The same role's medians swing hard by worksite, which the state map shows directly.
Approval isn’t about the occupation: The denial rate moves with what happened in the filing rather than with the job title, so nothing here is a property of HelpersProduction Workers. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
Nothing here is pending: All 1,002 counted here carry a decision date, because every case in DOL's disclosure files does, so a case still waiting is in none of them. The largest filer of this occupation is LABOR GUYS, LLC. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.

The window these figures cover: DOL's PERM disclosure files for fiscal years 2024 to 2026, through the third quarter of 2026, 373,939 decided cases. Nothing pending is counted here. How each figure is built

Weighing an offer?

Compare it against this median, then check the state map, where the same occupation's medians swing hard by worksite.

Setting one?

All 1,410 occupations sort together on the wages page, and denial rates show how outcome moves with the offered wage.

Filings newer than DOL's last published file can't be attributed to this occupation until DOL publishes them. The live list on the case search page carries them by employer.

Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly

Employers and firms: Derived from DOL's disclosure files · data through Jun 30, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly load

O*NET occupation data: O*NET Database, USDOL/ETA (onetcenter.org) · data through Aug 16, 2026 · twice a year

BLS market pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov) · data through May 31, 2025 · yearly, each spring

BLS employment projections: BLS Employment Projections (bls.gov) · data through Dec 31, 2025 · yearly, each autumn

DOL wage tables: DOL OFLC wage data downloads (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jul 1, 2026 · yearly, each july

What each source includes

Case data: Decided PERM cases only. A case still waiting isn't in here, so counts and durations describe finished cases.

Employers and firms: Employers, law firms and occupations ranked from decided cases only.

O*NET occupation data: What O*NET says each occupation is and takes: its description, tasks, Job Zone and the education workers report. A description of the job everywhere, not of any one employer's opening.

BLS market pay: What employers report paying everyone in each job, nationally, by state and by metro, from BLS's yearly survey (May of the year named). Citizens and immigrants alike; not PERM offers.

BLS employment projections: BLS's ten-year projection of each job's employment and yearly openings, and the entry education it calls typical. A projection, not a count.

DOL wage tables: The four prevailing wage levels DOL publishes for every job in every area, each wage year from 2021-22, as DOL's own tables print them. The floors an offer is held to, not what anyone was paid.

Cite this page

Waiting on a PERM case?

When it'll likely be decided
An email when DOL moves it