October 22, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Counties with highest wage growth, first quarter 2007

Among the largest counties, Trumbull, Ohio, which is in the Youngstown area, had the highest percent change in average weekly wages with an increase of 22.3 percent between the first quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007. New York County, New York—comprised entirely of the borough of Manhattan—was second with growth of 16.7 percent, followed by the counties of Cobb, Georgia (which is in the Atlanta area), Suffolk, Massachusetts (which includes Boston), and Clay, Missouri (which is in the Kansas City area).

[Chart data—TXT]

New York County experienced substantial over-the-year wage growth which had a significant impact on national average weekly wage growth in the first quarter of 2007. Without New York County’s over-the-year employment and wage growth, national average weekly wage growth would have been 4.2 percent rather than 5.1 percent.

The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program produced these data, which are preliminary and subject to revision. Data presented here are for all workers covered by State and Federal unemployment insurance programs. The largest counties are those with employment levels of 75,000 or more. Find out more in "County Employment and Wages: First Quarter 2007" (PDF) (TXT), news release 07-1583.