November 06, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Counties with fastest growing pay, first quarter 2003

Among the Nation’s largest counties—those with employment levels of at least 75,000—Marin County, California, led the nation in growth in average weekly wages with an increase of 10.7 percent between the first quarter of 2002 and the first quarter of 2003.

Counties with the largest percentage increases in average weekly wages, first quarter 2002-03
[Chart data—TXT]

Galveston County, Texas, was second with 7.4 percent growth, followed by the counties of Providence, Rhode Island (7.3 percent), and Macomb, Michigan (6.7 percent).

In the U.S. overall, average weekly wages grew 1.5 percent from the first quarter of 2002 to the first quarter of 2003.

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. There are 315 U.S. counties with employment levels of 75,000 or more. Find more about pay and employment in large counties in "County Employment and Wages: First Quarter 2003" (TXT) (PDF), news release USDL 03–654. 

 

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