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BLS 08-48 |
COUNTY EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN NEVADA
THIRD QUARTER 2007
The average weekly wage in Clark County was $796 in the third quarter of 2007, 5.9 percent higher than a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Labors Bureau of Labor Statistics. Washoe Countys weekly wage averaged $776, advancing 3.7 percent over the year. Clark and Washoe were the only large counties in Nevada, meaning they had 75,000 or more jobs as measured by 2006 annual average employment. Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that nationally, the average weekly wage was $818, growing at a 4.3-percent pace over the year. (See table 1.)
The average weekly wage in Clark County ranked 129th among the nations 328 large counties in the third quarter of 2007, and Washoe County placed 151st in the national ranking. Clark County ranked 36th in wage growth, while Washoe County ranked 149th.
Wage Levels in Large Counties
Average weekly wages were higher than the nationwide average in 112 of the largest 328 U.S. counties. Santa Clara, Calif., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $1,585. New York County, N.Y., was second with an average weekly wage of $1,544, followed by Washington D.C. ($1,376), Arlington, Va. ($1,364), and San Mateo, Calif. (1,322).
There were 215 counties with an average weekly wage below the national average in the third quarter of 2007. The lowest average weekly wage was reported in Cameron County, Texas ($518), followed by the counties of Hidalgo, Texas ($529), Horry, S.C ($536), Webb, Texas, ($548 each), and Yakima, Wash. ($568).
Wage Changes in Large Counties
Over the year, the average weekly wage rose by 4.3 percent nationally. Among the largest counties, Clayton, Ga., led the nation in growth in average weekly wages with an increase of 23.9 percent from the third quarter of 2006. Muscogee, Ga., was second with growth of 12.1 percent, followed by the counties of Santa Clara, Calif. (11.8 percent), Rock Island, Ill. (11.5 percent), and Davidson, Tenn. (9.1 percent).
Nationally, 10 large counties experienced over-the-year declines in average weekly wages. Trumbull Ohio, had the greatest decline (-10.6 percent), followed by Vanderburgh, Ind., (-6.1 percent), Genesee, Mich. (-4.0 percent), Saginaw, Mich. (-3.1 percent), and Montgomery, Ohio (-3.0 percent).
Employment Changes in Large Counties
Employment declined in Clark and Washoe Counties by 0.3 and 0.4 percent, respectively, from September 2006 to September 2007. Nationwide, employment declined in 86 counties, with the largest percentage decline occurring in Trumbull County, Ohio (-5.7 percent). A total of 217 large counties experienced employment increases, but only 130 grew faster than the national average of 0.9 percent. Orleans County, La., had the largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment with an 8.6-percent gain, followed by Fort Bend, Texas (7.1 percent). The large employment gains in Orleans County reflected the continued recovery from the substantial job losses that occurred in 2005 and 2006, which were related to Hurricane Katrina.
State Average Weekly Wages
Nevada had an average weekly wage of $792 in the third quarter of 2007, $26 below that for the nation, ranking it 19th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Across the country, the five highest average wage levels were in the District of Columbia ($1,376), Connecticut ($1,021), New York ($1,009), Massachusetts ($1,002), and New Jersey ($965). Average weekly wages in this group were 18 percent or more above the national average. In contrast, three states had average weekly wage levels at or less than 75 percent of the national average: South Dakota ($598), Mississippi ($607), and Montana ($608).
Average weekly wages in Nevada rose 5.5 percent from the third quarter of 2006, the fifth highest rate in the nation. The highest over-the-year percentage increase in wages for the third quarter of 2007 was recorded by Washington (6.7 percent), followed by Connecticut (6.6 percent). Rhode Island was the only state to record an over-the-year decline in wages, down 0.1 percent. The smallest wage gains among the states were registered in Delaware (1.2 percent), Indiana (2.2 percent), and Michigan (2.4 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 reports submitted by employers subject to state and federal unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The 9.0 million employer reports cover 136.2 million full- and part-time workers. The average weekly wage is computed by dividing the total quarterly payroll of employees covered by UI programs by the average monthly number of these employees. This number then is 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 Note below) and will not necessarily match the data contained on the Bureaus 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 will contain 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 will include the data on a CD for enhanced access and usability with the printed booklet containing selected graphic representations of QCEW data; the data tables themselves will be published exclusively in electronic formats as PDFs. Employment and Wages Annual Averages, 2006 will be available for sale in early 2008 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. Also, the 2006 bulletin will be available in a portable document format (PDF) on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn06.htm. In addition, 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 Western Information Office in San Francisco at (415) 625-2270 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. PDT.
NOTE
QCEW data are the sums of individual establishment records reflecting the number of establishments that exist in a county or industry at a point in time. For this reason, county and industry data are not designed to be used as a time series.
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. The potential differences result from several causes. Differences between BLS and State published data may be due to the 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) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
September 2007 (thousands) | Percent change, September 2006-07 (5) | Average weekly wage | National ranking by level (4) | Percent change, third quarter 2006-07 (5) | National ranking by percent change (4) | |
United States (6) |
136,246.9 | 0.9 | $818 | — | 4.3 | — |
Nevada |
1,286.4 | -0.1 | 792 | 19 | 5.5 | 5 |
Clark, Nev. |
920.2 | -0.3 | 796 | 129 | 5.9 | 36 |
Washoe, Nev. |
220.6 | -0.4 | 776 | 151 | 3.7 | 149 |
Footnotes: |
State | Employment | Average weekly wage (3) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
September 2007 (thousands) | Percent change, September 2006-07 | Average weekly wage | National ranking by level | Percent change, third quarter 2006-07 | National ranking by percent change | |
United States (4) |
136,246.9 | 0.9 | $818 | - | 4.3 | - |
Alabama |
1,959.0 | 1.1 | 707 | 32 | 3.7 | 37 |
Alaska |
327.3 | 0.7 | 840 | 13 | 5.4 | 9 |
Arizona |
2,644.9 | 0.5 | 783 | 20 | 4.1 | 25 |
Arkansas |
1,184.5 | 0.3 | 629 | 46 | 4.1 | 25 |
California |
15,755.0 | 0.7 | 932 | 6 | 4.5 | 18 |
Colorado |
2,314.3 | 2.4 | 844 | 12 | 3.2 | 42 |
Connecticut |
1,696.9 | 1.0 | 1,021 | 2 | 6.6 | 2 |
Delaware |
425.2 | 0.1 | 860 | 10 | 1.2 | 50 |
District of Columbia |
679.0 | 0.6 | 1,376 | 1 | 5.3 | 12 |
Florida |
7,879.9 | -0.9 | 741 | 26 | 4.1 | 25 |
Georgia |
4,089.4 | 1.2 | 782 | 21 | 4.1 | 25 |
Hawaii |
624.4 | 0.3 | 760 | 22 | 5.4 | 9 |
Idaho |
675.5 | 2.2 | 634 | 45 | 3.4 | 41 |
Illinois |
5,917.6 | 0.6 | 866 | 9 | 4.0 | 32 |
Indiana |
2,937.4 | 0.5 | 702 | 34 | 2.2 | 49 |
Iowa |
1,494.5 | 0.9 | 668 | 40 | 4.2 | 22 |
Kansas |
1,368.7 | 1.7 | 680 | 38 | 2.7 | 46 |
Kentucky |
1,814.3 | 1.0 | 676 | 39 | 3.0 | 44 |
Louisiana |
1,880.8 | 2.7 | 716 | 31 | 4.5 | 18 |
Maine |
615.3 | 0.7 | 660 | 44 | 3.9 | 35 |
Maryland |
2,563.7 | 0.7 | 892 | 7 | 4.1 | 25 |
Massachusetts |
3,261.0 | 1.0 | 1,002 | 4 | 5.5 | 5 |
Michigan |
4,218.2 | -1.4 | 808 | 16 | 2.4 | 48 |
Minnesota |
2,713.3 | 0.9 | 822 | 15 | 4.6 | 16 |
Mississippi |
1,142.2 | 0.6 | 607 | 50 | 3.8 | 36 |
Missouri |
2,746.7 | 0.8 | 719 | 29 | 4.2 | 22 |
Montana |
446.1 | 2.7 | 608 | 49 | 4.6 | 16 |
Nebraska |
922.7 | 1.7 | 666 | 41 | 5.4 | 9 |
Nevada |
1,286.4 | -0.1 | 792 | 19 | 5.5 | 5 |
New Hampshire |
637.2 | 0.3 | 799 | 18 | 3.2 | 42 |
New Jersey |
3,985.2 | 0.1 | 965 | 5 | 3.7 | 37 |
New Mexico |
830.4 | 0.8 | 682 | 37 | 4.1 | 25 |
New York |
8,585.3 | 1.3 | 1,009 | 3 | 6.1 | 3 |
North Carolina |
4,104.1 | 2.4 | 719 | 29 | 3.5 | 40 |
North Dakota |
347.4 | 1.5 | 621 | 48 | 5.8 | 4 |
Ohio |
5,331.9 | -0.2 | 745 | 25 | 2.8 | 45 |
Oklahoma |
1,548.2 | 1.8 | 666 | 41 | 5.5 | 5 |
Oregon |
1,751.7 | 1.2 | 750 | 24 | 4.2 | 22 |
Pennsylvania |
5,673.4 | 0.5 | 802 | 17 | 4.4 | 20 |
Rhode Island |
486.1 | -1.0 | 759 | 23 | -0.1 | 51 |
South Carolina |
1,904.7 | 1.7 | 664 | 43 | 3.6 | 39 |
South Dakota |
397.5 | 2.0 | 598 | 51 | 4.7 | 15 |
Tennessee |
2,774.4 | 0.5 | 728 | 28 | 4.3 | 21 |
Texas |
10,304.9 | 2.9 | 825 | 14 | 5.0 | 13 |
Utah |
1,231.6 | 3.6 | 696 | 36 | 5.5 | 5 |
Vermont |
305.2 | -0.2 | 699 | 35 | 4.0 | 32 |
Virginia |
3,686.6 | 1.0 | 857 | 11 | 5.0 | 13 |
Washington |
2,976.5 | 2.1 | 878 | 8 | 6.7 | 1 |
West Virginia |
713.8 | 0.3 | 623 | 47 | 4.0 | 32 |
Wisconsin |
2,802.3 | -0.1 | 705 | 33 | 2.6 | 47 |
Wyoming |
284.3 | 3.6 | 734 | 27 | 4.1 | 25 |
Puerto Rico |
1,008.0 | -1.1 | 453 | (5) | 2.5 | (5) |
Virgin Islands |
45.0 | 0.7 | 682 | (5) | -0.3 | (5) |
Footnotes: |
Last Modified Date: June 18, 2008