Internet: www.bls.gov/ro5/ FOR RELEASE:
GENERAL INFORMATION: (312) 353-1880 Thursday, February 12, 2009
MEDIA CONTACT: Paul LaPorte 
(312) 353-1138  

 COUNTY EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN IOWA, SECOND QUARTER 2008

The average weekly wage in Linn County increased 2.6 percent from the second quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2008, equal to the national average and the largest advance among Iowa’s three counties with employment of 75,000 or more (as measured by 2007 annual average employment).  Polk County, the State’s largest county based on employment, had the highest average weekly wage, $822. (See table 1.)  Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that all three of Iowa’s large counties reported average weekly wages below the national average of $841.


Employment in Iowa’s three largest counties accounted for close to 33 percent of statewide employment in June 2008.  All three counties recorded employment gains from June 2007 to June 2008, counter to the national decline of 0.3 percent during the same period.

 
Employment and average wages (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 96 counties in Iowa with employment below 75,000.  All of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average.  (See table 2.)


Large County Average Weekly Wages

With an average weekly wage of $822, Polk County ranked 126th among the nation’s 334 large counties in the second quarter of 2008.  Linn County ($792) ranked 152nd and Scott County ($670), 299th.  Scott County’s ranking placed it among the bottom quartile among the largest counties.

 
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 at $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).

Large County Wage Changes

Linn County’s wage growth of 2.6 percent in the second quarter of 2008 ranked it 158th among the 334 largest counties nationwide.  Polk County (1.4 percent) ranked 253rd and Scott County (2.3 percent) ranked 186th.


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).


Average Wages in Iowa's Smaller Counties

All 96 of Iowa's counties with employment of less than 75,000 had average weekly wages below the national average of $841.  Among these smaller counties, the highest average weekly wage was $773 in Muscatine County and the lowest was $486 in Audubon County.

 
When all 99 counties in the State are considered, 7 had average weekly wages of $700 or more, 32 had average weekly between $600 and $699, and 60 had average weekly wages below $600.


State Average Weekly Wages

The average weekly wage in Iowa was $683, $158 below the national average, ranking it 42nd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.  (See table 3.)  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.

 
Iowa’s average weekly wage increased 2.9 percent, ranking it 23rd in growth among the 50 states and District of Columbia.  (See table 3.)  Nationwide, 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 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. 

 

 

Table 1. Covered (1) employment and wages in the United States and the three largest counties in Iowa, second quarter 2008 (2)
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)

 136,631.8 -0.3 $841 -- 2.6 --

Iowa

 1,521.2 0.1 683 42 2.9 23

Linn, Iowa

 127.4 0.9 792 152 2.6 158

Polk, Iowa

 279.5 0.8 822 126 1.4 253

Scott, Iowa

 90.9 0.2 670 299 2.3 186
  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. Ranking does not include the county of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
  5. Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications.
  6. Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
 
Table 2. Covered(1) employment and wages in the United States and all of the counties in Iowa second quarter 2008(2)
Area Employment June 2008 Average Weekly Wages(3)

United States(4)

 136,631,800 $841

Iowa -- Statewide

 1,521,187 683

Adair

 3,059 555

Adams

 1,325 541

Allamakee

 5,366 511

Appanoose

 4,573 539

Audubon

 2,027 486

Benton

 5,770 560

Black Hawk

 73,336 695

Boone

 9,925 630

Bremer

 10,070 629

Buchanan

 6,862 532

Buena Vista

 10,793 561

Butler

 3,768 564

Calhoun

 3,340 509

Carroll

 12,489 556

Cass

 6,247 537

Cedar

 5,763 548

Cerro Gordo

 26,168 624

Cherokee

 5,456 596

Chickasaw

 5,020 553

Clarke

 4,419 535

Clay

 9,788 601

Clayton

 7,070 557

Clinton

 24,421 608

Crawford

 7,678 613

Dallas

 31,230 772

Davis

 2,111 526

Decatur

 2,365 494

Delaware

 6,557 605

Des Moines

 21,758 618

Dickinson

 10,382 519

Dubuque

 55,308 650

Emmet

 4,521 576

Fayette

 7,522 516

Floyd

 6,083 591

Franklin

 3,988 629

Fremont

 2,625 614

Greene

 3,283 640

Grundy

 4,127 616

Guthrie

 3,300 585

Hamilton

 8,284 607

Hancock

 6,843 632

Hardin

 7,811 570

Harrison

 4,003 543

Henry

 10,627 625

Howard

 4,495 569

Humboldt

 4,093 561

Ida

 3,879 626

Iowa

 8,990 691

Jackson

 6,593 494

Jasper

 11,288 612

Jefferson

 7,880 588

Johnson

 75,796 762

Jones

 6,648 553

Keokuk

 2,467 535

Kossuth

 6,779 588

Lee

 16,995 626

Linn

 127,449 792

Louisa

 3,932 559

Lucas

 3,274 578

Lyon

 3,947 505

Madison

 3,794 558

Mahaska

 8,164 607

Marion

 18,353 680

Marshall

 19,051 655

Mills

 4,124 586

Mitchell

 3,874 586

Monona

 3,035 510

Monroe

 3,545 750

Montgomery

 4,646 574

Muscatine

 24,018 773

O'Brien

 6,503 516

Osceola

 2,481 533

Page

 7,451 579

Palo Alto

 4,128 518

Plymouth

 10,507 647

Pocahontas

 2,865 540

Polk

 279,544 822

Pottawattamie

 39,246 622

Poweshiek

 9,934 635

Ringgold

 1,465 515

Sac

 3,376 588

Scott

 90,868 670

Shelby

 5,747 533

Sioux

 19,497 567

Story

 43,319 713

Tama

 5,174 572

Taylor

 1,863 507

Union

 6,329 564

Van Buren

 2,251 554

Wapello

 16,753 627

Warren

 9,800 582

Washington

 8,204 522

Wayne

 1,960 516

Webster

 19,786 650

Winnebago

 5,068 561

Winneshiek

 10,782 584

Woodbury

 53,294 617

Worth

 2,442 571

Wright

 5,980 609
  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.
 
Table 3. Covered (1) employment and wages by state, second quarter 2008 (2)
State Employment Average weekly wage (3)
June 2008 (thousands) Percent change, June 2007-08 Average weekly wage National ranking by level Percent change, second quarter 2007-08 National ranking by percent change

United States (4)

 136,631.8 -0.3 $841 - 2.6 -

Alabama

 1,955.4 -0.5 720 33 3.3 15

Alaska

 330.6 1.4 860 12 3.1 16

Arizona

 2,543.9 -2.6 806 19 2.4 34

Arkansas

 1,183.5 -0.2 661 46 3.4 11

California

 15,760.3 -0.5 955 6 2.2 42

Colorado

 2,346.3 0.8 858 13 3.1 16

Connecticut

 1,722.3 0.5 1,036 4 0.3 49

Delaware

 427.3 -0.9 862 10 -0.8 51

District of Columbia

 691.4 1.2 1,433 1 5.9 1

Florida

 7,620.1 -3.4 762 26 2.6 30

Georgia

 4,059.7 -0.6 787 22 -0.6 50

Hawaii

 623.9 -1.3 764 24 3.9 9

Idaho

 671.9 -0.9 636 48 1.6 46

Illinois

 5,930.0 -0.4 893 8 2.3 39

Indiana

 2,906.5 -0.9 715 38 1.9 43

Iowa

 1,521.2 0.1 683 42 2.9 23

Kansas

 1,389.1 1.2 720 33 2.4 34

Kentucky

 1,818.9 -0.5 718 35 2.6 30

Louisiana

 1,900.3 1.2 750 29 5.5 3

Maine

 620.3 0.1 676 44 2.7 28

Maryland

 2,577.7 -0.3 920 7 2.8 26

Massachusetts

 3,310.4 0.1 1,044 2 3.6 10

Michigan

 4,163.3 -2.2 825 18 2.4 34

Minnesota

 2,733.9 -0.5 849 14 1.8 45

Mississippi

 1,139.1 0.1 635 49 4.4 7

Missouri

 2,761.6 0.0 752 28 3.4 11

Montana

 450.3 0.1 629 50 2.9 23

Nebraska

 936.1 0.5 676 44 3.4 11

Nevada

 1,271.8 -1.9 797 20 2.7 28

New Hampshire

 641.9 -0.4 835 16 1.5 48

New Jersey

 4,054.4 -0.4 1,004 5 1.6 46

New Mexico

 837.2 0.6 715 38 4.2 8

New York

 8,758.2 0.6 1,040 3 2.3 39

North Carolina

 4,083.6 -0.1 735 31 2.4 34

North Dakota

 356.4 2.5 654 47 5.8 2

Ohio

 5,315.0 -1.3 757 27 2.3 39

Oklahoma

 1,556.0 1.0 701 40 5.3 5

Oregon

 1,747.4 -0.8 764 24 3.0 20

Pennsylvania

 5,743.3 0.1 827 17 3.1 16

Rhode Island

 481.6 -2.2 796 21 2.8 26

South Carolina

 1,907.5 -0.6 681 43 2.4 34

South Dakota

 409.0 1.2 606 51 2.9 23

Tennessee

 2,752.7 -0.4 745 30 1.9 43

Texas

 10,510.3 2.2 849 14 2.5 33

Utah

 1,234.3 0.1 716 37 2.6 30

Vermont

 305.6 -0.9 718 35 3.0 20

Virginia

 3,720.4 -0.3 885 9 3.0 20

Washington

 3,000.9 0.3 862 10 3.4 11

West Virginia

 715.3 0.0 695 41 5.1 6

Wisconsin

 2,836.8 -0.5 730 32 3.1 16

Wyoming

 296.7 2.7 780 23 5.4 4

Puerto Rico

 997.8 -2.0 475 (5) 3.5 (5)

Virgin Islands

 45.9 -2.2 703 (5) -0.6 (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: February 12, 2009