April 07, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Counties with fastest growing employment, September 2003

Among the Nation’s largest counties—those with employment levels of at least 75,000—Manatee County, Florida, had the biggest over-the-year percentage gain in employment in September 2003, with an increase of 5.7 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

Lee County, Florida, and Loudon County, Virginia, were second with 5.4-percent growth, followed by the counties of Gloucester, New Jersey (4.6 percent), and Clark, Nevada, and Okaloosa, Florida (4.4 percent each). In the U.S. overall, employment declined 0.4 percent from September 2002 to September 2003.

The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program produced these data, which are preliminary and subject to revision. Employment data presented here are for all workers covered by State and Federal unemployment insurance programs. There are 315 U.S. counties with employment levels of 75,000 or more. Find more about pay and employment in large counties in "County Employment and Wages: Third Quarter 2003" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04–599. 

 

Related TED article:

• Counties with fastest growing employment, June 2003