October 21, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Counties with fastest pay growth, first quarter 2005

Among the Nation’s largest counties, Collier, Florida (which includes the city of Naples), had the largest over-the-year gain in average weekly wages in the first quarter of 2005, an increase of 10.7 percent.

Counties with the largest percentage increases in average weekly wages, first quarter 2004-05
[Chart data—TXT]

Cumberland, Pennsylvania (which includes Carlisle), was second, followed by the counties of Hudson, New Jersey (which encompasses Bayonne and Jersey City) and Henrico, Virginia (which includes Richmond). Fairfield, Connecticut (which borders New York State) and Rock Island, Illinois (which borders Iowa) also had wage gains well above the U.S. average of 2.2 percent.

The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program produced these data. Pay data presented here are for all workers covered by State and Federal unemployment insurance programs. The Nation’s largest counties are those that had employment levels of at least 75,000 in 2004. Find more about pay and employment in large counties in "County Employment and Wages: First Quarter 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05–1976.

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