Bureau of Labor Statistics
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: |
COUNTY EMPLOYMENT AND WEEKLY WAGES IN MISSOURI: THIRD QUARTER 2007
St. Louis County records faster-than-average wage growth and higher-than-average wages
In the third quarter of 2007, the average weekly wage in St. Louis County rose 6.3 percent over the year, the largest increase among the seven counties in Missouri with 75,000 or more jobs as measured by 2006 annual average employment. St. Louis County's wage increase ranked in the top 30 among the 328 large counties in the nation according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that St. Louis County was the only large county to record wage growth above the national average of 4.3 percent and was one of three counties in the State that had an average weekly wage above the nationwide average of $818. (The independent city of St. Louis has been designated a county by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program.) (See table A.)
Among the seven largest counties in Missouri, employment was highest in St. Louis County (611,900) and lowest in Boone County (83,300) in September 2007. Two of Missouri's large counties-Clay and Greene-recorded employment gains of 3.0 percent from September 2006 to September 2007, more than three times the national average of 0.9 percent.
| Area | Employment | Average Weekly Wage (3) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2007 (thousands) | Percent change, third quarter 2006-07 (5) | Average weekly wage | National ranking by level (4) | Percent change, third quarter 2006-07 (5) | National ranking by percent change (4) | |
United States (6) |
136,246.9 | 0.9 | $818 | — | 4.3 | — |
Missouri |
2,746.7 | 0.8 | 719 | 29 | 4.2 | 22 |
Boone, Mo. |
83.3 | 0.7 | 633 | 310 | 2.4 | 248 |
Clay, Mo. |
91.2 | 3.0 | 779 | 146 | 3.5 | 177 |
Greene, Mo. |
158.8 | 3.0 | 637 | 309 | 3.6 | 168 |
Jackson, Mo. |
371.0 | 1.3 | 826 | 109 | 3.6 | 168 |
St. Charles, Mo. |
124.7 | 0.9 | 694 | 257 | 2.4 | 248 |
St. Louis City, Mo. |
234.2 | -1.0 | 887 | 67 | 1.4 | 284 |
St. Louis, Mo. |
611.9 | 0.5 | 873 | 77 | 6.3 | 27 |
| (1) Includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.
(2) Data are preliminary. (3) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data. (4) Ranking does not include the county of San Juan, Puerto Rico. (5) Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications. (6) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. |
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Wage levels in the large counties
Three of Missouri's counties had average weekly wages that were higher than the national average and placed them in the upper one-third of the national ranking among the 328 largest counties nationwide-St. Louis City ($887/67th), St. Louis County ($873/77th), and Jackson County ($826/109th). Clay County's average wage of $779 ranked in the top half at 146th; however, its wage level was $39 below the average for the nation. The three remaining large counties in the State ranked in the bottom one-fourth nationwide-St. Charles ($694/257th), Greene ($637/309th), and Boone ($633/310th). Greene and Boone were among the 20 lowest-paying counties in the nation.
Average weekly wages were higher than the national average in 112 of the largest 328 U.S. counties. Santa Clara, Calif., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $1,585. New York County, N.Y., was second with an average weekly wage of $1,544, followed by Washington, D.C. ($1,376), Arlington, Va. ($1,364), and San Mateo, Calif. ($1,322). Three of the 10 counties with the highest wages in the United States were located in the San Francisco area (Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Francisco, all in California), 3 others were located in the greater New York metropolitan area (New York, N.Y., Fairfield, Conn., and Somerset, N.J.), while 3 more were located in or around the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area (Washington, D.C., Arlington, Va., and Fairfax, Va.). Rounding out the top 10 was Suffolk County, Mass., part of the Boston metropolitan area.
There were 215 counties with an average weekly wage below the national average in the third quarter of 2007. The lowest average weekly wage was reported in Cameron County, Texas ($518), followed by the counties of Hidalgo, Texas ($529), Horry, S.C. ($536), Webb, Texas ($548), and Yakima, Wash. ($568).
At the state level, Missouri's average weekly wage of $719 was 12.1 percent below the national average, ranking 29th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. (See table 1.) Among the 12 states in the Midwest (1) region, 4 had higher wage levels than did Missouri with Illinois' average wage of $866 ranking 9th in the nation. Minnesota and Michigan had the next highest wages, ranking 15th and 16th with wages of $822 and $808, respectively. The only other state in the Midwest with an average wage above that of Missouri was Ohio-$745 and 25th in the ranking. The four highest wage levels in the country were in the District of Columbia ($1,376), Connecticut ($1,021), New York ($1,009) and Massachusetts ($1,002). Average weekly wages in this group were more than 20 percent above the U.S. average. At the other end of the scale, three states had wage levels that were less than 75 percent of national earnings: South Dakota ($598), Mississippi ($607), and Montana ($608).
Over-the-year wage changes in large counties
As mentioned, St. Louis County was the only one of Missouri's seven large counties to record wage growth greater than the national increase of 4.3 percent from the third quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2007. St. Louis County's 6.3-percent wage gain was the largest increase in the State and ranked 27th in the nation among the 328 largest counties. Greene and Jackson Counties experienced the second-highest wage increases in the State, ranking 168th with growth of 3.6 percent each. Clay County followed closely ranking 177th at 3.5 percent. Average weekly wage increases in Boone and St. Charles Counties (2.4 percent each) and St. Louis City (1.4 percent) ranked in the bottom one-fourth nationwide at 248th and 284th, respectively.
Among the 328 largest counties in the United States, Clayton County, Ga., led the nation in average weekly wage growth with an increase of 23.9 percent from the third quarter of 2006 due to increases in wage disbursements in the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector. Muscogee, Ga., was second with growth of 12.1 percent, followed by the counties of Santa Clara, Calif. (11.8 percent), Rock Island, Ill. (11.5 percent), and Davidson, Tenn. (9.1 percent).
Ten large counties experienced over-the-year declines in average weekly wages. Among the five largest decreases in wages, Trumbull, Ohio, had the greatest decline (-10.6 percent), followed by the counties of Vanderburgh, Ind. (-6.1 percent), Genesee, Mich. (-4.0 percent), Saginaw, Mich. (-3.1 percent), and Montgomery, Ohio (-3.0 percent).
At the state level, Missouri's wage growth of 4.2 percent in the third quarter of 2007 was similar to the national average, ranking 22nd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Four states in the Midwest region had faster rates of wage growth than did Missouri with North Dakota's rate of 5.8 percent ranking 4th in the nation. Nebraska ranked 9th nationally with growth of 5.4 percent. South Dakota, with wage growth of 4.7 percent, and Minnesota, 4.6 percent, ranked 15th and 16th, respectively. Matching Missouri's rate of wage growth was the neighboring state of Iowa. Across the nation, Washington had the fastest wage growth (6.7 percent) and Rhode Island was the only state to record an over-the-year decline (-0.1 percent) in average weekly wages during the period.
Employment in large counties
Clay and Greene Counties had the fastest employment growth in the State at 3.0 percent from September 2006 to September 2007, ranking them 23rd among the 328 largest counties nationwide. Jackson County had the next largest increase at 1.3 percent, followed by St. Charles (0.9 percent), Boone (0.7 percent), and St. Louis County (0.5 percent). St. Louis City recorded a decline in employment (-1.0 percent) from September 2006 to September 2007.
Of the 328 largest counties in the United States, employment rose in 217 counties from September 2006 to September 2007. Orleans County, La., had the largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment (8.6 percent). Fort Bend, Texas, had the next largest increase, 7.1 percent, followed by the counties of Williamson, Tenn. (5.8 percent), Wake, N.C. (5.2 percent), and Utah, Utah (5.0 percent). The large employment gains in Orleans County reflected significant recovery from the substantial job losses that occurred in 2005 and 2006, which were related to Hurricane Katrina.
Employment and wage levels in small counties
Employment and wages levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 108 small counties in Missouri, those with employment of less than 75,000 as measured by 2006 average annual employment. These counties accounted for 37.6 percent of statewide employment. Among the small counties, Jasper reported the highest job total in September 2007 with 59,200 employees, followed by Cole with 53,600, Buchanan with 48,500, and Jefferson with 48,400. Worth County had the distinction of having the fewest jobs-500. (See table 2.)
Platte County had the highest average weekly wage among Missouri's small counties at $676 in the third quarter of 2007. Still, this was $142 below the nationwide average. Worth County, with the smallest employment count, also had the lowest average weekly wage, $359, which was $459 below the U.S. average.
When all 115 counties in Missouri are considered, 4 counties reported average weekly wages above $750. Two of these counties were located in the St. Louis metropolitan area, St. Louis City and St. Louis County, and two counties were in the Kansas City metropolitan area, Jackson and Clay Counties. Twelve counties posted average weekly wages in the $600 to $699 range. Nine counties-all with employment levels of less than 3,500-reported average weekly wages below $400 in the third quarter of 2007.
Average weekly wage data by county are compiled under the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program, also known as the ES-202 program. The data are derived from reports submitted by every employer subject to unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The 9.0 million employer reports cover 136.2 million full- and part-time workers. The average weekly wage values are calculated by dividing quarterly total wages by the average of the three monthly employment levels of those covered by UI programs; this result is then divided by 13, the number of weeks in a quarter. It is to be noted, therefore, that over-the-year wage changes for geographic areas may reflect shifts in the composition of employment by industry, occupation, and such other factors as hours of work. Thus, wages may vary among counties, metropolitan areas, or states for reasons other than changes in the average wage level. Data for all states, Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), counties, and the nation are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/cew/; however, data in QCEW press releases have been revised (see Technical Note below) and may not match the data contained on the Bureau's Web site.
Additional statistics and other information
An annual bulletin, Employment and Wages, features comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2006 edition of this bulletin will contain selected data produced by Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on job gains and losses, as well as selected data from the first quarter 2007 version of this news release. As with the 2005 edition, this edition includes the data on a CD for enhanced access and usability with the printed booklet containing selected graphic representations of QCEW data; the data tables themselves will be published exclusively in electronic formats as PDFs. Employment and Wages Annual Averages, 2006 is available for sale from the United States Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250, telephone 866-512-1800, outside Washington, D.C. Within Washington, D.C., the telephone number is 202-512-1800. The fax number is 202-512-2104.
QCEW-based news releases issued by other regional offices have been placed at one convenient BLS Web site location, www.bls.gov/cew/cewregional.htm.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.
For personal assistance or further information on the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Kansas City Information Office at 816-285-7000 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.
TECHNICAL NOTE
QCEW data are the sums of individual establishment records reflecting the number of establishments that exist in a county or industry at a point in time. For this reason, county and industry data are not designed to be used as a time series.
The preliminary QCEW data presented in this release may differ from data released by the individual states as well as from the data presented on the BLS Web site. The potential differences result from several causes. Differences between BLS and state published data may be due to the continuing receipt, review and editing of UI data over time. On the other hand, differences between data in this release and the data found on the BLS Web site are the result of adjustments made to improve over-the-year comparisons. Specifically, these adjustments account for administrative (noneconomic) changes such as a correction to a previously reported location or industry classification. Adjusting for these administrative changes allows users to more accurately assess changes of an economic nature (such as a firm moving from one county to another or changing its primary economic activity) over a 12-month period. Currently, adjusted data are available only from BLS press releases.
(1) The Midwest is one of four geographic regions in the country. It is made up of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Last Modified Date: July 9, 2008
