Employment grew in 10 of the 15 largest counties in New Jersey from September 2010 to September 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (Large counties are defined as those with employment of 75,000 or more as measured by 2010 annual average employment.) Somerset County posted the largest increase, with a gain of 1.7 percent over the year. (See chart 1 .) Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that Somerset was the only New Jersey county to post a rate comparable with the national job growth rate of 1.6 percent. Monmouth County experienced the largest over-the-year decrease in employment with a loss of 1.4 percent.

Across the nation, Williamson, Tenn., posted the largest percentage increase in employment with a gain of 5.4 percent over the year. Frederick, Md., experienced the largest over-the-year decrease in employment among the largest counties in the U.S. with a loss of 2.6 percent. Among the 322 largest counties, the employment decline in Monmouth County, N.J. was third fastest.

In New Jersey, employment was highest in Bergen (426,800) followed by Middlesex and Essex Counties with 377,900 and 335,000 jobs, respectively. (See table 1.) Altogether, New Jersey's large counties accounted for 90.8 percent of total employment within the state. Nationwide, the 322 largest counties made up 70.5 percent of total U.S. employment.

All of New Jersey's large counties recorded over-the-year growth in average weekly wages in the third quarter of 2011. Two outpaced the nationwide increase of 5.3 percent—Mercer County which gained 8.7 percent and Union County, up 5.9 percent. (See chart 2.)

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the six counties in New Jersey with employment below 75,000. Two of these counties had average wages above $950. Cape May County reported the lowest weekly wages, $613. (See table 2.)

Large county wage changes

Mercer County's 8.7-percent wage increase over the year ranked 12th among the 322 largest counties in the United States. Union County recorded the second fastest increase (5.9 percent) and ranked 86th, followed by Essex and Middlesex Counties both ranked 164th, with an over-the-year increase of 4.8 percent. Among the largest counties in the state with slow wage growth were Monmouth (2.4 percent, ranked 297th), Passaic (2.5 percent, ranked 293rd), and Atlantic and Bergen (each at 2.6 percent, ranked 290th).

Among the 322 largest counties nationwide, 315 recorded growth in average weekly wages. Lake, Ohio, led the nation with a wage increase of 17.1 percent from the third quarter of 2010. Santa Clara, Calif., had the second-largest increase, 11.7 percent, followed by Oklahoma, Okla., at 11.5 percent. Only three counties posted a decrease in wages. The largest over-the-year wage decline was a loss of 2.3 percent in Clay, Mo.

Large county wage levels

Eleven of New Jersey's large counties reported average weekly wages at or above the $916 national average in the third quarter of 2011. Four counties (Somerset, Morris, Hudson, and Mercer) surpassed $1,200 weekly and ranked in the top 10 percent nationwide. Ocean County reported weekly wages of $736, the lowest of all New Jersey's large counties and ranked in the bottom quartile at 284th.

Average weekly wages were higher than the national average in 109 of the 322 largest U.S. counties. Santa Clara, Calif., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $1,857. New York, N.Y., was second with an average weekly wage of $1,647 followed by Arlington, Va. ($1,550); and Washington, D.C. ($1,527).

Nationally, the lowest weekly wage was reported in Horry, S.C. ($561), followed by Cameron, Texas ($591), Hidalgo, Texas ($602), Yakima, Wash. ($619), and Webb, Texas ($629).

Average weekly wages in New Jersey's smaller counties

Two of New Jersey's six counties with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages above the national average. Hunterdon reported the highest average weekly wage at $1,022, followed by Salem at $990. (See table 2.)

When all 21 counties in New Jersey were considered, 7 had an average weekly wage above $1,100. All of these counties were clustered in northern and central New Jersey. With the exception of Sussex in the north, counties with average weekly wages below $800 were located in southeastern New Jersey. (See chart 3.)

Additional statistics and other information

Quarterly 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 Annual Averages Online, features comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2010 edition of this bulletin, which was published in November 2011, contains selected data produced by Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on job gains and losses, as well as selected data from the first quarter 2011 version of the news release. Tables and additional content from Employment and Wages Annual Averages 2010 are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn10.htm. The 2011 edition of Employment and Wages Annual Averages will be available later in 2012.

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 New York-New Jersey Information Office at (646) 264-3600 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.

County employment and wage data for the fourth quarter 2011 are scheduled to be released on Thursday, June 28, 2012.

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 9.1 million employer reports cover 130.5 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 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. Covered¹ employment and wages in the United States and the 15 largest counties in New Jersey, third quarter 2011²

Area	Employment		Average weekly wage3
	September 2011 (thousands)	Percent change, September 2010-114	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level5	Percent change, third quarter 2010-114	National ranking by percent change5
United States6	130,524.7	1.6	$916	--	5.3	--
New Jersey	3,774.1	0.6	1,069	--	4.3	--
Atlantic	135.7	-0.4	785	241	2.6	290
Bergen	426.8	1.0	1,083	39	2.6	290
Burlington	191.1	0.1	971	74	2.9	280
Camden	192.3	0.0	903	119	3.2	267
Essex	335.0	0.5	1,138	25	4.8	164
Gloucester	96.7	-0.5	815	202	3.3	262
Hudson	230.4	1.0	1,283	14	3.7	242
Mercer	226.3	0.3	1,206	19	8.7	12
Middlesex	377.9	0.9	1,104	35	4.8	164
Monmouth	241.5	-1.4	929	96	2.4	297
Morris	268.3	-0.1	1,292	13	4.3	204
Ocean	149.7	0.6	736	284	3.1	274
Passaic	170.0	0.6	916	110	2.5	293
Somerset	168.8	1.7	1,338	10	3.6	249
Union	218.2	0.4	1,142	24	5.9	86

Footnotes

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 reclassifications.
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.

Footnotes

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.

Footnotes

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 Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
⁵ Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
⁶ Data not included in the national ranking.