Average Weekly Wages in Indiana: 1st Qtr 2007

General Information: (312) 353-1880 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Paul LaPorte Tuesday, November 27, 2007
(312) 353-1138
http://www.bls.gov/ro5

AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGES IN INDIANA: FIRST QUARTER 2007

The average weekly wage in Marion County increased 3.4
percent from first quarter of 2006 to first quarter of 2007.
This was the largest advance among Indiana's eight counties with
employment of 75,000 or more (based on 2006 average annual
employment) according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS). St. Joseph County had the State's second
highest wage growth rate at 3.2 percent; Tippecanoe County was
third with an increase of 3.1 percent. Marion County had the
highest average weekly wage level in the State at $930, followed
by Hamilton County at $865. (See table A.) Regional
Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that among Indiana's eight
largest counties, only Marion County's wage level was
significantly above the national level of $885.

County Wage levels

Wages in the two highest-paying counties in Indiana, Marion
and Hamilton, placed them in the top third of the national
ranking among the 328 largest counties in the U.S. The average
weekly wage in Marion County was $45 above the national average
and ranked 69th. The wage in Hamilton County was close to the
nationwide average and ranked 106th.

Among the other six Indiana counties, St. Joseph ($699) had
the lowest average wage in the State, placing it among the bottom
third in the nation at 261st. Also in the bottom third were the
counties of Elkhart ($703, 258th), Vanderburgh ($706, 256th), and
Allen ($718, 238th).

Across the country, average weekly wages were higher than
the national average in 92 of the largest 328 U.S. counties. New
York County, N.Y., held the top position among the highest-paid
large counties with an average weekly wage of $2,821. Fairfield,
Conn., was second with an average weekly wage of $1,979, followed
by Suffolk, Mass. ($1,659), San Francisco, Calif. ($1,639), and
Somerset, N.J. ($1,615).

There were 236 counties with an average weekly wage below
the national average in the first quarter of 2007. The lowest
average weekly wage was reported in Cameron County, Texas ($502),
followed by the counties of Hidalgo, Texas ($516); Horry, S.C.
($536); Webb, Texas ($542); and Yakima, Wash. ($569).

County Wage Changes

None of Indiana's eight large counties recorded wage growth
above the national increase of 5.1 percent in the first quarter
of 2007. (See table A.) As mentioned, Marion County's 3.4-
percent wage gain was the largest increase in the State and
ranked 199th highest in the nation. Six of the remaining large
counties-St. Joseph, Tippecanoe, Allen, Hamilton, Vanderburgh,
and Lake-experienced wage growth in a band ranging from 3.2 to
1.9 percent, placing them from 212th to 277th in the national
rankings. Wages in Elkhart County were unchanged.

State Average Weekly Wages

At the state level, the average weekly wage in Indiana was
$739, $146 below the national average and ranked 30th among the
50 states and the District of Columbia. (See table 1.) The five
highest wage levels in the nation were in the District of
Columbia ($1,428), New York ($1,397), Connecticut ($1,263),
Massachusetts ($1,110), and New Jersey ($1,097). Average weekly
wages in this group were 24 percent or more above that for the
nation. The five states with the lowest weekly wages were
Montana ($600), South Dakota ($602), North Dakota ($615),
Mississippi ($616), and Idaho ($636). All of these states had
wages more than 28 percent below the national average.

The average weekly wage in Indiana increased 2.9 percent
over the year, ranking 44th among the 50 states and District of
Columbia.

At the State level, the highest over-the-year wage gain in
the first quarter of 2007 was recorded by New York (11.8
percent), followed by Wyoming (9.3 percent), and Rhode Island
(7.1 percent). The slowest wage growth in the United States
occurred in Oklahoma (1.3 percent), Delaware (2.1 percent), South
Carolina (2.3 percent), Vermont (2.3 percent), and Oregon (2.7
percent).

The employment and average weekly wage data by county are
compiled under the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
(QCEW) program, also known as the ES-202 program. The data are
derived from reports submitted by every employer subject to
unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The 8.9 million employer
reports cover 135.9 million full- and part-time workers. The
average weekly wage is computed by dividing the total quarterly
payroll of employees covered under UI programs by the average
monthly number of these employees. This number is then divided
by 13, the number of weeks in a quarter. It is to be noted,
therefore, that over-the-year wage changes for geographic areas
may reflect shifts in the composition of employment by industry,
occupation, and other such factors as hours of work. Thus, wages
may vary among counties, metropolitan areas, or states for
reasons other than changes in the average wage level. Data for
all states, Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), counties, and
the nation are available on the BLS Web site at
http://www.bls.gov/cew/; however, data in QCEW press releases
have been revised (see Technical Note below) and may not match
the data contained on the Bureau's Web site.

Additional statistics and other information

An annual bulletin, Employment and Wages, features
comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments,
employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2006
edition of this bulletin will contain selected data produced by
Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on job gains and losses, as
well as selected data from the first quarter 2007 version of this
news release. As with the 2005 edition, this edition will
include the data on a CD for enhanced access and usability with
the printed booklet containing selected graphic representations
of QCEW data; the data tables themselves will be published
exclusively in electronic formats as PDFs. Employment and Wages
Annual Averages, 2006 will be available for sale in early 2008
from the United States Government Printing Office, Superintendent
of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250, telephone
(866) 512-1800, outside Washington, D.C. Within Washington,
D.C., the telephone number is (202) 512-1800. The fax number is
(202) 512-2104.

QCEW-based news releases issued by other regional offices
have been placed at one convenient web site location,
http://www.bls.gov/cew/cewregional.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to
sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202)
691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.
For personal assistance or further information on the Quarterly
Census of Employment and Wages Program, as well as other Bureau
programs, contact the Midwest Information Office in Chicago at
(312) 353-1880 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.

TECHNICAL NOTE

QCEW data are the sums of individual establishment records
reflecting the number of establishments that exist in a county or
industry at a point in time. For this reason, county and industry
data are not designed to be used as a time series.

The preliminary QCEW data presented in this release may differ
from data released by the individual states as well as from the data
presented on the BLS Web site. The potential differences result from
several causes. Differences between BLS and State published data may
be due to the continuing receipt, review and editing of UI data over
time. On the other hand, differences between data in this release
and the data found on the BLS Web site are the result of adjustments
made to improve over-the-year comparisons. Specifically, these
adjustments account for administrative (noneconomic) changes such as
a correction to a previously reported location or industry
classification. Adjusting for these administrative changes allows
users to more accurately assess changes of an economic nature (such
as a firm moving from one county to another or changing its primary
economic activity) over a 12-month period. Currently, adjusted data
are available only from BLS press releases.

Alabama 1,953.7 716 35 3.5 39
Alaska 299.8 831 20 5.2 11
Arizona 2,667.2 803 21 4.7 18
Arkansas 1,179.9 642 46 3.2 42
California 15,569.4 988 6 3.9 34
Colorado 2,262.4 889 11 3.6 37
Connecticut 1,665.0 1,263 3 6.1 4
Delaware 416.6 986 7 2.1 50
District of Columbia 674.4 1,428 1 4.7 18
Florida 8,093.4 764 25 3.4 40
Georgia 4,065.1 837 17 4.9 14
Hawaii 626.4 748 27 4.2 30
Idaho 645.0 636 47 4.6 23
Illinois 5,795.7 956 8 4.6 23
Indiana 2,880.8 739 30 2.9 44
Iowa 1,457.6 686 39 3.6 37
Kansas 1,349.1 720 34 4.7 18
Kentucky 1,791.5 699 37 4.0 32
Louisiana 1,863.5 730 32 4.4 27
Maine 582.1 677 41 3.7 36
Maryland 2,527.0 939 9 4.6 23
Massachusetts 3,167.5 1,110 4 6.1 4
Michigan 4,130.2 851 15 4.0 32
Minnesota 2,629.6 873 12 5.2 11
Mississippi 1,127.3 616 48 3.2 42
Missouri 2,710.1 744 29 2.9 44
Montana 428.8 600 51 4.9 14
Nebraska 899.3 667 44 2.8 46
Nevada 1,282.3 802 22 4.8 16
New Hampshire 619.8 836 18 4.6 23
New Jersey 3,926.6 1,097 5 5.6 7
New Mexico 819.3 685 40 5.9 6
New York 8,441.3 1,397 2 11.8 1
North Carolina 4,034.3 779 24 4.7 18
North Dakota 334.5 615 49 4.8 16
Ohio 5,241.0 793 23 5.3 9
Oklahoma 1,534.3 676 43 1.3 51
Oregon 1,707.8 755 26 2.7 47
Pennsylvania 5,589.6 849 16 5.1 13
Rhode Island 472.2 834 19 7.1 3
South Carolina 1,885.9 677 41 2.3 48
South Dakota 381.9 602 50 3.4 40
Tennessee 2,732.5 738 31 4.7 18
Texas 10,143.0 872 13 5.6 7
Utah 1,203.9 696 38 5.3 9
Vermont 300.0 704 36 2.3 48
Virginia 3,644.6 901 10 4.4 27
Washington 2,869.9 868 14 4.3 29
West Virginia 700.3 652 45 4.2 30
Wisconsin 2,727.7 745 28 3.9 34
Wyoming 269.1 730 32 9.3 2
Puerto Rico 1,024.5 476 5/ 5.3 5/
Virgin Islands 45.6 687 5/ 6.3 5/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1/ Includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation
for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.
2/ Data are preliminary.
3/ Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.
4/ Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
5/ Data not included in the national ranking.

Last Modified Date: November 28, 2007

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