January 3, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Austin had highest 1998 pay increase

In 1998, workers in Austin-San Marcos, Texas, had the largest increase in average annual pay of any metropolitan area in the country.

Metropolitan areas with largest percentage increases in average annual pay for covered workers, 1998
[Chart data—TXT]

Average pay in the Austin area rose by 14.3 percent in 1998. Boulder-Longmont, Colorado, had the second highest increase in average annual pay at 13.9 percent. St. Cloud, Minnesota also had a double-digit increase in pay: 11.4 percent.

In comparison, average annual pay of employees in metropolitan areas nationwide increased by 5.2 percent from 1997 to 1998. None of the 315 metropolitan areas reported a decline in average annual pay.

These data on average annual pay are a product of the BLS Covered Employment and Wages program. Pay data presented here are for workers covered by State and Federal unemployment insurance programs. Find additional information in "Average Annual Pay Levels in Metropolitan Areas, 1998," news release USDL 99-374.

Happy 10th Birthday, TED!

The very first issue of The Editor's Desk (TED) was posted on September 28, 1998. TED was the first online-only publication of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For 10 years, BLS has been committed to posting a new TED article each business day, for a total of over 2,400 articles so far.

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