FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: (816) 285-7000 For Release: April 16, 2009

 

COUNTY EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN MISSOURI: THIRD QUARTER 2008

Five of the seven largest counties in Missouri reported declines in their employment levels from September 2007 to September 2008. (Large counties are defined as those with employment of 75,000 or more as measured by 2007 annual average employment.) St. Charles County had the largest drop, down 2.1 percent, followed by Greene and Clay, down 1.6 and 1.3 percent, respectively. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that only St. Louis City experienced employment growth, up 1.6 percent, and another, Boone County, reported no change in its job count over the year. (The independent city of St. Louis has been designated a county by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program.)

Nationally, employment decreased 0.8 percent during this 12-month period, as 207 of the 334 large counties nationwide lost jobs. The largest over-the-year percentage decline in employment in the nation was recorded in Elkhart, Ind. (-10.8 percent); Yakima County, Wash., experienced the fastest growth (3.2 percent).

Among the seven largest counties in Missouri, employment was highest in St. Louis County (605,600) in September 2008. Two other counties, Jackson and St. Louis City, had employment levels exceeding 200,000. Together, Missouri's large counties accounted for 60.9 percent of total employment within the State. Nationwide, the 334 largest counties made up 71.2 percent of total U.S. employment.

In addition to experiencing the fastest employment growth among the seven largest counties in Missouri, St. Louis City also registered the fastest wage growth and the highest average weekly wage. The average weekly wage in St. Louis City rose 5.5 percent from the third quarter of 2007 to the third quarter of 2008. Boone County had the second-fastest rate of growth at 3.6 percent. St. Louis City's average weekly wage level of $937 was followed by the counties of St. Louis ($890) and Jackson ($851). (See table 1.) Nationally, the average weekly wage rose 2.8 percent over the year to $841 in the third quarter of 2008.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 108 counties in Missouri with employment below 75,000. All of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average. (See table 2.)

Large County Wage Changes

Three of Missouri's seven large counties recorded wage growth above the national increase of 2.8 percent from the third quarter of 2007 to the third quarter of 2008. (See table 1.) St. Louis City's 5.5-percent wage gain placed 18th among the nation's 334 largest counties. The other two large counties in the State with above-average wage growth-Boone (3.6 percent) and Jackson (3.0 percent)-ranked 76th and 139th, respectively. Conversely, Clay County's wage declined 1.7 percent over the year, the only decrease among the large counties in the State, ranking it 319th.

Nationwide, Rutherford, Tenn., ranked first in average weekly wage growth, with an increase of 17.3 percent from the third quarter of 2007. Yolo, Calif., was second with growth of 9.7 percent, followed by the counties of Madison, Ill. (9.2 percent), Suffolk, N.Y. (8.6 percent), and Calcasieu, La. (7.8 percent).

Twenty-one large counties in the United States experienced over-the-year declines in average weekly wages. Clayton, Ga., had the largest decrease in the nation and was the only county to experience a double-digit decline (-14.6 percent). The next largest declines were recorded in Santa Clara, Calif. and Duval, Fla. (-3.4 percent each), Gwinnett, Ga. (-3.1 percent), and Rock Island, Ill. (-2.6 percent).

Large County Average Weekly Wages

Average weekly wages in 3 of the State's large counties placed in the top one-third of the national ranking among the 334 largest counties in the United States in the third quarter of 2008. Wages in these three counties-St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and Jackson County- were above the U.S. average of $841 and ranked 58th, 74th, and 103rd, respectively. The average weekly wages in Missouri's four other large counties placed in the bottom half of the national ranking, with Boone ($660, 308th) and Greene ($653, 315th) ranking among the lowest in the United States.

Nationally, average weekly wages were higher than average in 108 of the largest 334 counties. New York, N.Y., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $1,552. Santa Clara, Calif., was second at $1,530, followed by Washington, D.C. ($1,391), San Mateo, Calif. ($1,374), and San Francisco, Calif. ($1,350).

Among the 226 counties with an average weekly wage below the U.S. average in the third quarter of 2008, Horry, S.C. ($537), reported the lowest wage, followed by the counties of Cameron, Texas ($538), Hidalgo, Texas ($549), Webb, Texas ($559), and Yakima, Wash. ($580). Wages in these lowest-ranked counties were less than 40 percent of the average weekly wage reported for the highest-ranked county, New York.

Average Weekly Wages in Missouri's Smaller Counties

All of the 108 counties in Missouri with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages lower than the national average of $841. Iron ($755) and Platte ($715) Counties had the highest average weekly wages among the smaller counties. Worth County reported the lowest weekly wage among the smaller counties, as well as the State, averaging $361 in the third quarter of 2008. (See table 2.)

When all 115 counties in Missouri were considered, all but 3 had wages below the national average of $841. Fifty-three reported average weekly wages under $500, 44 reported wages from $500 to $599, 12 had wages from $600 to $699, and 6 had wages above $700. (See table 3.) The three counties with above-average wages were located in the major metropolitan areas of Kansas City and St. Louis. Five of the six lowest-paid counties, those with wages under $400, were concentrated in the southern half of the State.

Additional Statistics and other Information

QCEW data for states has been included in this release in table 3. For additional information about quarterly employment and wages data, please read the Technical Note or visit the QCEW Web site at www.bls.gov/cew/.

An annual bulletin, Employment and Wages, features comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2007 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 2008 version of this news release. Tables and additional content from the 2007 Employment and Wages Annual Bulletin are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn07.htm. These tables present final 2007 annual averages. The tables will also be included on the CD which accompanies the hardcopy version of the Annual Bulletin. Employment and Wages Annual Averages, 2007 is expected to be available for sale as a chartbook by the end of the second quarter of 2009 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.

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 Kansas City Information Office at 816-285-7000 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.

TECHNICAL NOTE

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 summaries of employment and total pay of workers covered by state and federal unemployment insurance (UI) legislation and provided by State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). The 9.2 million employer reports cover 135.2 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 www.bls.gov/cew/; however, data in QCEW press releases have been revised and may not match the data contained on the Bureau's Web site.

QCEW data are not designed as a time series. QCEW data are simply the sums of individual establishment records reflecting the number of establishments that exist in a county or industry at a point in time. Establishments can move in or out of a county or industry for a number of reasons-some reflecting economic events, others reflecting administrative changes.

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. These potential differences result from the states' 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.

Table 1. Covered(1) employment and wages in the United States and the 7 largest counties in Missouri, third quarter 2008(2)

Area	Employment			Average Weekly Wage (3)
	September 2008 (thousands)	Percent change, September 2007-08 (4)	National ranking by percent change (5)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level (5)	Percent change, third quarter 2007-08 (4)	National ranking by percent change (5)
United States (6)	135,173.8	-0.8	--	$841	--	2.8	--
Missouri	2,736.1	-0.4	--	739	31	2.8	29
Boone, Mo.	83.5	0.0	110	660	308	3.6	76
Clay, Mo.	90.2	-1.3	212	765	187	-1.7	319
Greene, Mo.	156.2	-1.6	233	653	315	2.5	176
Jackson, Mo.	370.0	-0.1	121	851	103	3.0	139
St. Charles, Mo.	123.2	-2.1	264	695	281	0.4	297
St. Louis City, Mo.	237.9	1.6	21	937	58	5.5	18
St. Louis, Mo.	605.6	-1.0	192	890	74	1.8	234
Footnotes: (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) Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications. (5) Ranking does not include the county of San Juan, Puerto Rico. (6) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.