| Internet: www.bls.gov/ro5/ | FOR RELEASE: |
| GENERAL INFORMATION: (312) 353-1880 | Wednesday, February 4, 2009 |
| MEDIA CONTACT: Paul LaPorte | |
| (312) 353-1138 |
County Employment and Wages in South Dakota, Second Quarter 2008
The average weekly wage in Minnehaha County was $682 in the second quarter of 2008, 0.7 percent higher than it was one year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that Minnehaha’s average weekly wage was $159 below the national level of $841, and its wage growth was lower than the nationwide increase of 2.6 percent. Minnehaha was the only large county in South Dakota—that is, it had 75,000 or more jobs as measured by 2007 annual average employment.
Nationally, there were 334 large counties of which 224 had average weekly wages below the national average. Minnehaha County’s wage placed it 291st, in the bottom quartile of the national ranking. The county’s slower-than-average wage growth ranked higher at 278th.
Employment in Minnehaha County increased 1.9 percent from June 2007-June 2008 to a level of 118,200. Nationally, employment declined 0.3 percent during this time period.
Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 65 counties in South Dakota with employment below 75,000. All 65 of these counties had average weekly wages below the national average of $841. (See table 2.) Among these smaller counties, the highest average weekly wage was $709 in Union County and the lowest was $402 in Mellette County. When all 66 counties in the State were considered, 8 had average weekly wages of $600 or more, 27 between $500 and $599, and 31 below $500.
Large County Average Weekly Wages
Average weekly wages were higher than the national average in 109 of the 334 largest counties in the United States. New York County, N.Y., held the top position with an average weekly wage of $1,569. Santa Clara, Calif., was second highest with an average weekly wage of $1,529, followed by Washington, D.C. ($1,433), Arlington, Va. ($1,376), and San Francisco, Calif. ($1,334).
At the other end of the spectrum, Cameron County, Texas, reported the lowest average weekly wage ($535), followed by the counties of Hidalgo, Texas ($538), Horry, S.C. ($539), Webb, Texas ($562), and Yakima, Wash. ($580).
Over the year, the national average weekly wage rose by 2.6 percent. Among the largest counties, Rock Island, Ill., led the nation in wage growth with an increase of 10.5 percent from the second quarter of 2007. Weld, Colo., was second with 10.4-percent growth, followed by the counties of Utah, Utah (9.4 percent), Whatcom, Wash. (8.3 percent), and East Baton Rouge, La. (7.8 percent).
Twenty-six large counties experienced over-the-year declines in average weekly wages. Clayton, Ga., had the largest decrease (-43.7 percent), followed by the counties of Boone, Ky. (-10.0 percent), Ventura, Calif., and Trumbull, Ohio (-4.8 percent, each), and Queens, N.Y. (-4.3 percent).
State Average Weekly Wages
South Dakota’s wage of $606 placed it 51st in the national ranking in the second quarter of 2008, $235 below that for the nation. The State was one of two in the country, Montana ($629) the other, that had an average weekly wage that was less than 75 percent of the national level. The five highest wage levels in the U.S. were in the District of Columbia ($1,433), Massachusetts ($1,044), New York ($1,040), Connecticut ($1,036), and New Jersey ($1,004). Average weekly wages in this group were more than 19 percent above that for the nation.
Average weekly wages in South Dakota rose 2.9 percent over the year, placing the State in the upper half of the national ranking in wage growth at 23rd. The District of Columbia experienced a wage gain of 5.9 percent from the second quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2008, higher than any state. North Dakota was second with 5.8-percent growth. The smallest wage gains were in Connecticut (0.3 percent) and New Hampshire (1.5 percent). Two states experienced over-the-year declines in wages: Delaware (-0.8 percent) and Georgia (-0.6 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 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 9.1 million employer reports cover 136.6 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 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 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 first quarter in 2009 from the United States Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents. Also, the quarterly press release, County Employment and Wages, presents employment and wage data for the largest counties in the U.S. and is available at www.bls.gov/cew/.
QCEW-based news releases issued by other regional offices have been placed at one convenient Web site location, 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 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 reasonssome 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.
| Area | Employment | Average Weekly Wage (3) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 (thousands) | Percent change June 2007-08 (4) | Average weekly wage | National ranking by level (5) | Percent change, second quarter 2007-08 (4) | National ranking by percent change (5) | |
United States (6) |
136,631.80 | -0.3 | $841 | -- | 2.6 | -- |
South Dakota |
409 | 1.2 | 606 | 51 | 2.9 | 23 |
Minnehaha, S.D. |
118.2 | 1.9 | 682 | 291 | 0.7 | 278 |
- Includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.
- Data are preliminary.
- Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.
- Ranking does not include the county of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications.
- Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
| Area | Employment June 2008 | Average Weekly Wage (3) |
|---|---|---|
United States |
136,631,800 | $841 |
South Dakota -- Statewide |
409,031 | 606 |
Aurora |
889 | 461 |
Beadle |
8,385 | 563 |
Bennett |
840 | 502 |
Bon Homme |
1,897 | 462 |
Brookings |
17,767 | 637 |
Brown |
20,597 | 592 |
Brule |
2,048 | 438 |
Buffalo |
368 | 572 |
Butte |
2,851 | 475 |
Campbell |
456 | 415 |
Charles Mix |
3,457 | 450 |
Clark |
940 | 447 |
Clay |
5,896 | 549 |
Codington |
16,249 | 575 |
Corson |
855 | 523 |
Custer |
3,162 | 476 |
Davison |
12,084 | 561 |
Day |
2,120 | 437 |
Deuel |
1,786 | 561 |
Dewey |
1,923 | 539 |
Douglas |
1,122 | 457 |
Edmunds |
1,140 | 508 |
Fall River |
2,620 | 557 |
Faulk |
619 | 465 |
Grant |
3,856 | 564 |
Gregory |
1,501 | 429 |
Haakon |
746 | 523 |
Hamlin |
1,770 | 518 |
Hand |
1,293 | 443 |
Hanson |
490 | 477 |
Harding |
425 | 615 |
Hughes |
10,488 | 641 |
Hutchinson |
2,597 | $478 |
Hyde |
558 | 499 |
Jackson |
869 | 428 |
Jerauld |
1,487 | 518 |
Jones |
536 | 414 |
Kingsbury |
1,843 | 521 |
Lake |
4,807 | 546 |
Lawrence |
12,141 | 528 |
Lincoln |
13,831 | 660 |
Lyman |
1,497 | 436 |
Marshall |
1,734 | 507 |
McCook |
1,393 | 482 |
McPherson |
657 | 424 |
Meade |
7,042 | 597 |
Mellette |
371 | 402 |
Miner |
867 | 480 |
Minnehaha |
118,231 | 682 |
Moody |
2,510 | 560 |
Pennington |
56,022 | 600 |
Perkins |
1,180 | 453 |
Potter |
940 | 433 |
Roberts |
3,611 | 490 |
Sanborn |
772 | 478 |
Shannon |
3,519 | 623 |
Spink |
2,381 | 517 |
Stanley |
1,295 | 480 |
Sully |
574 | 460 |
Todd |
2,837 | 562 |
Tripp |
2,225 | 486 |
Turner |
2,247 | 526 |
Union |
9,778 | 709 |
Walworth |
2,256 | 449 |
Yankton |
12,739 | 590 |
Ziebach |
294 | 567 |
