February 19, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Northeastern States have highest weekly wages

In 1997, the average weekly wage for all workers in private industry was $578, up $28 from a year earlier. The four highest wage States— Connecticut ($749), New York ($744), New Jersey ($712), and Massachusetts ($686)—were located in the Northeast region of the country.

[Chart data—TXT]

Two States bordering the Northeast region, Delaware ($618) and Maryland ($586), also were in the top 10, along with California and Illinois ($634), Michigan ($627), and Alaska ($597).   (The District of Columbia’s average weekly wage was $821.)

The average weekly wage for all workers in the United States rose 5.1 percent in 1997. Led again by Connecticut at 6.8 percent, the Northeastern States with high wages tended to have higher-than-average increases. Among the high four, only New Jersey reported an increase even slightly below the national average.

These wage data are produced by the BLS Covered Employment and Wages (ES-202) program, a virtual census of establishments, employment, and wages of employees on nonfarm payrolls. Additional information may be obtained from the bulletin, "Employment and Wages Annual Averages, 1997."  For this article, the U.S. Census Bureau's regional definitions, which divide the country into 4 regions—Northeast, South, Midwest, and West—were used.