| Internet: www.bls.gov/ro5/ | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: |
| GENERAL INFORMATION: (312) 353-1880 | Friday, November 21, 2008 |
| MEDIA CONTACT: Paul LaPorte | |
| (312) 353-1138 |
County Employment and Wages in Ohio, First Quarter 2008
The average weekly wage in Butler County increased 3.9 percent from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, the largest increase among Ohio’s 13 counties with employment of 75,000 or more (as measured by 2007 annual average employment). Summit County had the second-highest wage growth at 2.9 percent, followed by Lorain County at 1.7 percent. Hamilton County had the highest average weekly wage in the State at $961, followed by the counties of Cuyahoga ($907) and Franklin ($906). (See table 1.) Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that only two of Ohio’s large counties had wage growth above the 2.4 percent national increase and three had wages above the national average of $905.
Among the 13 largest counties in Ohio, employment in March 2008 was highest in Cuyahoga County (725,600) and lowest in Trumbull County (75,500). Ten of the 13 large counties in the State reported declines in employment levels from March 2007 to March 2008. Lorain County reported the largest decline in employment, dropping 4.2 percent. Only Butler and Summit counties increased employment, each up 0.6 percent. Hamilton County reported no change in employment level. Nationally, employment grew 0.4 percent during this time period.
Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 75 counties in Ohio with employment below 75,000. Seventy-three of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average. (See table 2.)
Large County Average Weekly Wages
Average weekly wages in 5 of Ohio’s 13 large counties placed in the top half of the national rankings among the 334 largest counties in the United States. As noted, the three highest-paid counties in the State—Hamilton, Cuyahoga, and Franklin—were above the average weekly wage of $905 and ranked 64th, 90th, and 91st, respectively. Joining these three counties were Summit ($814/156th) and Montgomery ($804/165th).
The average weekly wages in Ohio’s eight other large counties placed in the bottom half of the national rankings: Mahoning ($618/322nd), Stark ($679/297th), Trumbull ($709/274th), Lorain ($721/261st), Lake ($731/249th), Warren ($747/228th), Lucas ($771/196th), and Butler ($778/190th).
Average weekly wages were higher than the national average in 92 of the largest 334 U.S. counties. New York, N.Y., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $2,805. Fairfield, Conn., was second with an average weekly wage of $1,905, followed by Somerset, N.J. ($1,765), Suffolk, Mass. ($1,708), and San Francisco, Calif. ($1,639).
Nationwide, there were 241 counties with an average weekly wage below the national average in the first quarter of 2008. The lowest average weekly wage was reported in Cameron County, Texas ($523), followed by the counties of Hidalgo, Texas ($532), Horry, S.C. ($534), Webb, Texas ($554), and Yakima, Wash. ($587).
Large County Wage Changes
Only 2 of Ohio's 13 large counties recorded wage growth above the national increase of 2.4 percent from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008. (See table 1.) Butler County’s 3.9-percent wage gain was the largest increase in the State and ranked 70th in the nation while Summit County, at 2.9 percent, placed 140th. Conversely, Trumbull County reported the largest decline in average weekly wages in the State and the nation, falling 17.2 percent.
Nationwide, Westmoreland, Pa., ranked first in average weekly wage growth with an increase of 14.9 percent from the first quarter of 2007. Williamson, Texas, was second with growth of 10.8 percent, followed by the counties of Somerset, N.J. (9.0 percent), San Luis Obispo, Calif. (8.3 percent), and Jefferson, Texas (7.9 percent).
Thirty-four large counties experienced over-the-year declines in average weekly wages. As mentioned, Trumbull, Ohio, had the largest decrease (-17.2 percent), followed by the counties of Saginaw, Mich. (-4.4 percent), Rockingham, N.H. (-3.9 percent), Fairfield, Conn. (-3.8 percent), and Mecklenburg, N.C. (-3.4 percent).
Wage Levels in Ohio’s Smaller Counties
Seventy-three of the 75 smaller counties in Ohio with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages below the national level of $905. The exceptions were Delaware County, which reported an average weekly wage of $972, followed by Union County, at $919. The third-highest wage among the smaller counties was $870 in Wood County. Meigs County reported the lowest average weekly wage at $454 in the first quarter of 2008. (See table 2.)
When all 88 counties in Ohio were considered, 29 counties in the State reported average weekly wages under $600, 34 reported average weekly wages between $600 and $699, 15 had average weekly wages between $700 and $799 and 10 counties had average weekly wages greater than $800.
State Average Weekly Wages
At the state level, the average weekly wage in Ohio was $798, $107 below the nationwide figure, ranking 23rd 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 ($1,488), New York ($1,399), Connecticut ($1,254), Massachusetts ($1,143) and New Jersey ($1,133). All five had wages at least 25 percent higher than the national average. Five states had average earnings of less than 75 percent of the national average: Montana ($625), South Dakota ($632), Mississippi ($634), North Dakota ($652), and Arkansas ($667).
Ohio experienced wage growth of 1.0 percent from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, ranking 46th among the 50 States and District of Columbia. Wage gains in the neighboring states of Indiana (2.4 percent) and Pennsylvania (2.4 percent) were higher, while in Michigan, weekly wages rose at about the same pace (0.9 percent). (See table 3.) Nationwide, the highest over-the-year wage gains in the first quarter of 2008 were recorded by Wyoming (6.7 percent), North Dakota (6.2 percent) and South Dakota (5.2 percent). The only state to report a decline in average weekly wages was Connecticut, where wages were down 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 135.4 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 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. As with the 2005 edition, this edition includes the data on a CD for enhanced access and usability with the printed booklet containing selected graphic representation of QCEW data; the data tables themselves are published exclusively in electronic formats as PDF. The 2006 bulletin is available in a 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 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET.
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 March 2008 | Average weekly wage (3) |
|---|---|---|
United States (4) |
134,761,100 | $905 |
Ohio -- Statewide |
5,189,100 | 798 |
Adams |
6,603 | 569 |
Allen |
51,884 | 668 |
Ashland |
18,089 | 634 |
Ashtabula |
31,253 | 584 |
Athens |
19,860 | 640 |
Auglaize |
19,544 | 677 |
Belmont |
23,486 | 562 |
Brown |
8,016 | 588 |
Butler |
146,881 | 778 |
Carroll |
5,968 | 537 |
Champaign |
10,305 | 677 |
Clark |
50,780 | 625 |
Clermont |
56,451 | 760 |
Clinton |
26,677 | 803 |
Columbiana |
31,475 | 558 |
Coshocton |
11,594 | 680 |
Crawford |
14,323 | 583 |
Cuyahoga |
725,600 | 907 |
Darke |
17,528 | 609 |
Defiance |
16,419 | 712 |
Delaware |
67,911 | 972 |
Erie |
34,268 | 674 |
Fairfield |
39,412 | 588 |
Fayette |
11,809 | 571 |
Franklin |
674,401 | 906 |
Fulton |
19,544 | 617 |
Gallia |
11,716 | 697 |
Geauga |
33,778 | 695 |
Greene |
66,101 | 821 |
Guernsey |
14,294 | 594 |
Hamilton |
511,010 | 961 |
Hancock |
42,477 | 744 |
Hardin |
8,181 | 599 |
Harrison |
3,531 | 568 |
Henry |
10,954 | 654 |
Highland |
11,000 | 569 |
Hocking |
6,837 | 551 |
Holmes |
16,751 | 541 |
Huron |
21,675 | 644 |
Jackson |
11,120 | 553 |
Jefferson |
25,042 | 702 |
Knox |
19,312 | 670 |
Lake |
98,758 | 731 |
Lawrence |
12,817 | 512 |
Licking |
52,886 | 674 |
Logan |
20,329 | 697 |
Lorain |
95,897 | 721 |
Lucas |
212,694 | 771 |
Madison |
13,845 | 670 |
Mahoning |
100,461 | 618 |
Marion |
27,252 | 664 |
Medina |
58,711 | 684 |
Meigs |
3,504 | 454 |
Mercer |
17,083 | 586 |
Miami |
40,426 | 660 |
Monroe |
3,748 | 688 |
Montgomery |
259,228 | 804 |
Morgan |
2,324 | 546 |
Morrow |
5,430 | 577 |
Muskingum |
32,775 | 590 |
Noble |
3,220 | 555 |
Ottawa |
12,193 | 789 |
Paulding |
5,225 | 618 |
Perry |
6,081 | 583 |
Pickaway |
14,500 | 691 |
Pike |
9,668 | 758 |
Portage |
52,380 | 712 |
Preble |
10,896 | 609 |
Putnam |
11,490 | 579 |
Richland |
55,158 | 648 |
Ross |
26,106 | 718 |
Sandusky |
26,131 | 626 |
Scioto |
24,440 | 610 |
Seneca |
20,263 | 598 |
Shelby |
29,585 | 732 |
Stark |
160,089 | 679 |
Summit |
270,817 | 814 |
Trumbull |
75,528 | 709 |
Tuscarawas |
35,229 | 579 |
Union |
27,443 | 919 |
Van Wert |
11,335 | 604 |
Vinton |
2,353 | 551 |
Warren |
75,954 | 747 |
Washington |
24,945 | 686 |
Wayne |
45,292 | 639 |
Williams |
16,839 | 629 |
Wood |
59,324 | 870 |
Wyandot |
8,587 | 595 |
