County Employment and Wages in Wisconsin, Third Quarter 2007

The average weekly wage in Outagamie County increased 4.9 percent from the third quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2007, the largest advance among Wisconsin’s seven counties with employment of 75,000 or more as measured by 2006 annual average employment. Winnebago County had the second-highest wage growth at 3.9 percent, followed by Racine County at 3.2 percent. Waukesha County had the highest average weekly wage level in the State at $814, followed by the counties of Milwaukee ($802) and Dane ($783). (See table 1.) Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that among Wisconsin’s seven largest counties, only Outagamie reported wage growth above the national rate of 4.3 percent and none had average weekly wages above the national average of $818.

Among the seven largest counties in Wisconsin, employment was highest in Milwaukee County (497,800) and lowest in Racine County (76,400) in September 2007. Only one of the State’s large counties—Outagamie—recorded an employment gain greater than the national average of 0.9 percent.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 65 counties in Wisconsin with employment below 75,000. All of the State’s smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national level. (See table 2.)

The average weekly wage levels in the counties of Waukesha, Milwaukee, Dane, and Winnebago placed in the top half of the national ranking among the 328 largest counties in the United States. Waukesha County’s average weekly wage ranked 114^th; Milwaukee’s, 127^th; Dane’s, 138^th; and Winnebago’s, 161^st. While none of these counties had average weekly wages above that for the nation, Waukesha, Milwaukee, and Dane Counties were within 5 percent of the U.S. average.

The average weekly wages in Wisconsin’s three other large counties placed in the bottom half of the national rankings: Outagamie ($712/229^th), Brown ($719/216^th), and Racine ($738/193^rd).

Across the country, average weekly wages were higher than the national average in 112 of the largest 328 U.S. counties. Santa Clara, Calif., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $1,585. New York County, N.Y., was second with an average weekly wage of $1,544, followed by Washington, D.C. ($1,376), Arlington, Va. ($1,364), and San Mateo, Calif. ($1,322).

Nationwide, there were 215 counties with an average weekly wage below the national average in the third quarter of 2007. The lowest average weekly wage was reported in Cameron County, Texas ($518), followed by the counties of Hidalgo, Texas ($529), Horry, S.C. ($536), Webb, Texas ($548), and Yakima, Wash. ($568).

Only one of Wisconsin’s seven large counties recorded wage growth above the national increase of 4.3 percent from the third quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2007. (See table 1.) As mentioned, Outagamie County’s 4.9-percent wage gain was the largest increase in the State and ranked 71^st in the nation. Winnebago, at 3.9 percent, placed 134^th. Brown County had the State’s smallest wage increase, 1.8 percent and ranked 272^nd among the nation’s largest counties.

Among the largest counties in the nation, Clayton County, Ga., led the nation in growth in average weekly wages, with an increase of 23.9 percent from the third quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2007. Muscogee, Ga., was second with growth of 12.1 percent, followed by the counties of Santa Clara, Calif. (11.8 percent), Rock Island, Ill. (11.5 percent), and Davidson, Tenn. (9.1 percent).

Over the year, 10 large counties experienced declines in average weekly wages. Among the five largest decreases in wages, Trumbull, Ohio, had the greatest decline (-10.6 percent), followed by the counties of Vanderburgh, Ind. (-6.1 percent), Genesee, Mich. (-4.0 percent), Saginaw, Mich. (-3.1 percent), and Montgomery, Ohio (-3.0 percent).

All of the 65 counties in Wisconsin with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages below the national level. Florence County reported the lowest wage at $389 in the third quarter of 2007. The highest wage among Wisconsin’s small counties was $767 in Wood, followed by $722 in Ozaukee. (See table 2.)

When all 72 counties in Wisconsin were considered, 12 counties in the State reported average weekly wages ranging from $400 to $499 and 50, or nearly three-quarters, reported average weekly wages in the $500 to $699 range. Among the higher-paid counties, Waukesha and Milwaukee were the only counties with average weekly wages above $800. These better-paid counties were located in the Milwaukee-Racine metropolitan area.

At the state level, the average weekly wage in Wisconsin was $705, $113 below the nationwide figure, ranking 33^rd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. (See table 3.) The five highest wage levels in the nation were in the District of Columbia ($1,376), Connecticut ($1,021), New York ($1,009), Massachusetts ($1,002) and New Jersey ($965). All had wages at least 18 percent higher than the national average. Three states had average earnings of less than 75 percent of the national average: South Dakota ($598), Mississippi ($607), and Montana ($608).

Wisconsin experienced wage growth of 2.6 percent from the third quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2007, ranking 47^th among the 50 states and District of Columbia. Wage gains in the neighboring states of Minnesota (4.6 percent), Iowa (4.2 percent), and Illinois (4.0 percent) were all considerably larger, while Michigan (2.4 percent) experienced similar wage growth. (See table 3.) Nationwide, the highest over-the-year wage gains in the third quarter of 2007 were recorded by Washington (6.7 percent), Connecticut (6.6 percent), and New York (6.1 percent). The only state to report a decline in average weekly wages was Rhode Island, where wages edged down 0.1 percent.

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 employers subject to state and federal unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The 9.0 million employer reports cover 136.2 million full- and part-time workers. The average weekly wage values are calculated by dividing quarterly total wages by the average of the three monthly employment levels of those covered by UI programs. The result 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 such other 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 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.

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 contains 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. This edition includes the data on a CD for enhanced access and usability. As a result of this change, the printed booklet contains only selected graphic representation of QCEW data; the data tables themselves are published exclusively in electronic formats as PDF and fixed-width text files. Employment and Wages Annual Averages, 2006 is now available for sale from the United States Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents. On-line ordering information is available at http://bookstore.gpo.gov/. The 2006 bulletin is available in a portable document format (PDF) on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn06.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.

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.