June 25, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Alaska has smallest pay gain in 1997

The average annual pay of Alaskan workers rose by only 2.1 percent from 1996 to 1997, the lowest gain in the nation. However, this was better for the State than the previous year, in which average pay in Alaska fell by 0.7 percent.

[Chart data—TXT]

West Virginia, Idaho, Nevada, Hawaii, and Florida complete the group of six States with the smallest gains in average annual pay in 1997. For all of these States except Nevada and Florida, pay growth in 1997 was higher than in 1996.

The average pay in Alaska in 1997 was $33,157, which was well above the U.S. average of $30,336. Workers in the other five States all received less than the national average annual pay: West Virginia ($24,716), Idaho ($24,053), Nevada ($28,677), Hawaii ($28,358), and Florida ($26,569).

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. Find more information on pay in 1997 in "Average Annual Pay By State and Industry, 1997," news release USDL 99-171.