Internet: www.bls.gov/ro5/ FOR RELEASE:
GENERAL INFORMATION: (312) 353-1880 Wednesday, May 20, 2009
MEDIA CONTACT: Paul LaPorte 
(312) 353-1138  

 COUNTY EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN WISCONSIN, THIRD QUARTER 2008

Four of the seven largest counties in Wisconsin 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.)  Waukesha County had the largest drop, down 1.2 percent, followed by Brown County at 1.0 percent.  Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that only one of the State's large counties, Winnebago, experienced employment growth, up 0.5 percent.  Outagamie County reported no change over the year.

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


Among the seven largest counties in Wisconsin, employment was highest in Milwaukee County (498,300) in September 2008.  Two other counties, Dane (304,100) and Waukesha (233,700) had employment levels of more than 200,000.  Collectively, Wisconsin's seven large counties accounted for slightly more than half of total employment within the State.  Nationwide, the 334 largest counties made up 71.2 percent of total U.S. employment.


The average weekly wage in Milwaukee and Brown Counties each rose 4.7 percent from the third quarter of 2007 to the third quarter of 2008, the largest increases among Wisconsin's seven large counties. Milwaukee County had the highest average weekly wage in the State at $839, followed by the counties of Waukesha ($836) and Dane ($823).  (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 65 counties in Wisconsin 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

Only two of Wisconsin'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.)  As noted, Brown and Milwaukee Counties both experienced average weekly wage increases of 4.7 percent and tied for the 36th highest increase in the nation.  Two counties, Racine and Waukesha, were close to the national average at 2.7 percent (161st) and 2.5 percent (176th), respectively.  Conversely, Winnebago County’s average wage was unchanged over the year, ranking last among the large Wisconsin counties and 307th nationally.


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 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 three of Wisconsin’s seven large counties placed in the top half of the national ranking among the 334 largest counties in the third quarter of 2008.  As previously stated, Milwaukee County ($839) had the highest average weekly wage in the State and ranked 110th.  Waukesha and Dane Counties reported average weekly wages of $836 and $823, ranking 112th and 124th, respectively.  The average weekly wages in Wisconsin's four other large counties placed in the bottom half of the national ranking, with Outagamie County ($719) the lowest in the State and 252nd  nationwide.


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 with an average weekly wage of $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 Wisconsin's Smaller Counties

All 65 counties in Wisconsin with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages lower than the national average of $841.  Among these smaller counties, Wood County had the highest average weekly wage at $807 and Florence County had the lowest at $378.  (See table 2.)


While none of the 72 counties in Wisconsin had wages higher than the national average, there were 4 counties with average wages above $800—Wood, Dane, Waukesha, and Milwaukee.  Elsewhere in the State, 7 counties had wages from $700 to $799, 23 had wages from $600 to $699, 32 had wages from $500 to $599, and 6 reported wages under $500. The counties with the State's highest wages were concentrated in the vicinity of the major metropolitan areas of Milwaukee and Madison.  The counties with the lowest average wages were located in the northern part 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 the 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 Midwest Information Office in Chicago at (312) 353-1880 from 8:00 a.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 at 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 Wisconsin, 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 --

Wisconsin

 2,788.7 -0.6 -- 730 32 3.4 16

Brown, Wis.

 148.7 -1.0 192 754 200 4.7 36

Dane, Wis.

 304.1 (7) -- 823 124 (7) --

Milwaukee, Wis.

 498.3 -0.1 121 839 110 4.7 36

Outagamie, Wis.

 104.2 0.0 110 719 252 1.6 250

Racine, Wis.

 76.4 -0.7 174 756 198 2.7 161

Waukesha, Wis.

 233.7 -1.2 205 836 112 2.5 176

Winnebago, Wis.

 91.1 0.5 69 768 183 0.0 307
  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 reclassification.
  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. 
  7. Data do not meet BLS or State agency disclosure standards.
 
Table 2. Covered(1) employment and wages in the United States and all of the counties in Wisconsin third quarter 2008(2)
Area Employment September 2008 Average weekly wages(3)

United States(4)

 135,173,800 $841

Wisconsin

 2,788,655 730

Adams

 4,958 497

Ashland

 8,652 623

Barron

 21,449 541

Bayfield

 4,234 446

Brown

 148,705 754

Buffalo

 5,365 629

Burnett

 4,596 510

Calumet

 12,163 582

Chippewa

 21,666 618

Clark

 10,265 564

Columbia

 21,264 612

Crawford

 8,179 504

Dane

 304,091 823

Dodge

 35,080 690

Door

 15,037 508

Douglas

 15,651 606

Dunn

 15,621 624

Eau Claire

 55,561 656

Florence

 1,093 378

Fond Du Lac

 46,486 692

Forest

 3,360 509

Grant

 16,954 544

Green

 15,022 573

Green Lake

 7,213 572

Iowa

 10,686 595

Iron

 1,870 465

Jackson

 8,445 638

Jefferson

 34,933 622

Juneau

 9,231 613

Kenosha

 54,531 660

Kewaunee

 7,818 709

La Crosse

 66,503 660

Lafayette

 3,612 533

Langlade

 8,116 525

Lincoln

 11,341 620

Manitowoc

 36,481 670

Marathon

 69,892 707

Marinette

 19,361 617

Marquette

 3,942 481

Menominee

 2,029 528

Milwaukee

 498,274 839

Monroe

 20,411 594

Oconto

 9,412 513

Oneida

 17,547 560

Outagamie

 104,165 719

Ozaukee

 39,026 718

Pepin

 2,325 523

Pierce

 9,141 579

Polk

 15,265 583

Portage

 33,381 631

Price

 6,444 565

Racine

 76,402 756

Richland

 6,384 575

Rock

 65,170 694

Rusk

 5,321 500

Sauk

 37,416 574

Sawyer

 7,300 516

Shawano

 13,055 522

Sheboygan

 62,230 698

St. Croix

 29,559 607

Taylor

 8,416 575

Trempealeau

 13,116 586

Vernon

 8,589 534

Vilas

 8,597 462

Walworth

 40,435 609

Washburn

 5,750 569

Washington

 52,259 697

Waukesha

 233,727 836

Waupaca

 20,770 587

Waushara

 6,890 522

Winnebago

 91,072 768

Wood

 44,007 807
  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, third quarter 2008(2)
State Employment Average weekly wage(3)
September 2008 (thousands) Percent change, September 2007-08 Average weekly wage National ranking by level Percent change, third quarter 2007-08 National ranking by percent change

United States(4)

 135,173.8 -0.8 $841 - 2.8 -

Alabama

 1,936.4 -1.2 730 32 3.3 17

Alaska

 332.1 1.4 872 13 3.7 13

Arizona

 2,570.1 -3.0 798 20 2.0 45

Arkansas

 1,185.0 -0.1 649 47 3.0 22

California

 15,527.1 -1.4 959 6 2.9 24

Colorado

 2,322.7 0.4 877 11 3.8 12

Connecticut

 1,692.5 -0.3 1,032 2 1.0 50

Delaware

 420.6 -1.1 879 10 2.1 42

District of Columbia

 688.2 1.4 1,391 1 1.0 50

Florida

 7,546.4 -4.1 756 27 2.2 40

Georgia

 4,018.6 -1.6 794 21 1.5 47

Hawaii

 613.0 -2.1 774 24 1.8 46

Idaho

 665.7 -1.4 643 48 1.3 49

Illinois

 5,872.8 -0.7 891 9 2.9 24

Indiana

 2,897.6 -1.4 718 35 2.3 37

Iowa

 1,499.0 0.2 696 40 4.2 8

Kansas

 1,368.9 0.0 711 38 4.6 6

Kentucky

 1,795.3 -1.0 692 42 2.4 36

Louisiana

 1,877.4 -0.2 756 27 5.6 4

Maine

 610.8 -0.6 683 43 3.5 14

Maryland

 2,543.4 -0.8 920 7 3.1 19

Massachusetts

 3,265.7 0.0 1,025 4 2.3 37

Michigan

 4,093.9 -3.0 820 18 1.5 47

Minnesota

 2,699.6 -0.5 862 14 4.7 5

Mississippi

 1,128.3 -1.3 631 49 4.0 11

Missouri

 2,736.1 -0.4 739 31 2.8 29

Montana

 446.4 0.1 628 50 3.1 19

Nebraska

 925.7 0.2 694 41 4.2 8

Nevada

 1,253.0 -2.7 809 19 2.1 42

New Hampshire

 634.6 -0.5 822 16 2.8 29

New Jersey

 3,952.9 -0.7 990 5 2.5 33

New Mexico

 835.2 0.7 712 37 3.5 14

New York

 8,633.8 0.5 1,030 3 2.2 40

North Carolina

 4,064.2 -1.0 741 30 3.1 19

North Dakota

 357.0 2.8 665 45 6.9 1

Ohio

 5,251.1 -1.5 766 25 2.8 29

Oklahoma

 1,562.8 1.2 698 39 4.5 7

Oregon

 1,734.1 -1.0 766 25 2.1 42

Pennsylvania

 5,679.0 0.0 822 16 2.5 33

Rhode Island

 476.0 -2.0 778 23 2.5 33

South Carolina

 1,874.6 -1.5 683 43 2.9 24

South Dakota

 401.3 1.0 623 51 4.2 8

Tennessee

 2,730.4 -1.5 745 29 2.8 29

Texas

 10,438.3 1.4 850 15 2.9 24

Utah

 1,229.3 -0.1 717 36 2.9 24

Vermont

 304.2 -0.5 722 34 3.3 17

Virginia

 3,676.1 -0.3 877 11 2.3 37

Washington

 3,007.5 1.0 903 8 3.0 22

West Virginia

 716.4 0.6 661 46 5.9 3

Wisconsin

 2,788.7 -0.6 730 32 3.4 16

Wyoming

 294.0 3.3 781 22 6.4 2

Puerto Rico

 992.8 -1.6 477 (5) 5.5 (5)

Virgin Islands

 44.9 -0.9 709 (5) 4.3 (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.

 

Chart 1.  Average weekly wages by county in Wisconsin, third quarter 2008

 

Chart 1. Average weekly wages by county in Wisconsin, third quarter 2008

 

Last Modified Date: May 26, 2009