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United States businesses with employees added more than 100,000 establishments in 2007, bringing the total number to 7.7 million and adding more than 650,000 employees to their payrolls. Overall, employees of businesses in the United States earned more than $5 trillion in annual payroll in 2007, up from $4.8 trillion in 2006.
These economic numbers come from County Business Patterns: 2007, an annual report that contains data covering establishments with paid employees at the national and state levels, and in more than 3,100 counties. An establishment is a single physical location at which business is conducted or services or industrial operations are performed. The report provides data on the number of establishments, employees, and quarterly and annual payroll for most of the 1,100 industries identified by the North American Industry Classification System.
Among the counties with the most establishments, Maricopa, Ariz., added 3,058 establishments; Los Angeles, Calif., added 3,027 establishments; and Orange, Calif., added 1,363 establishments.
A sampling of the 50 counties with the most employees showed average annual per-employee payrolls of $79,848 in Santa Clara, Calif.; $55,477 in Fulton, Ga.; and $53,134 in Hennepin, Minn.
Industry findings:
The number of law offices increased by more than 850 between 2006 and 2007, bringing the national total to 176,009. California had the most law offices with 21,417, followed by Florida with 15,612 and New York with 13,460. A sampling of counties across the United States showed King, Wash., with 1,637 law offices; Clark, Nev., with 1,039; and Wayne, Mich., with 611.
The landscaping services industry added 2,713 locations between 2006 and 2007, bringing the U.S. total to 93,121. The state with the highest average payroll per employee in this industry was Rhode Island ($55,595), followed by Massachusetts ($54,866) and Connecticut ($48,776).
Among counties with the most landscaping establishments, the average annual payroll per employee in Cook, Ill., was $50,517, while Montgomery, Pa., had an average annual payroll of $41,584, and St. Louis, Mo., had an average of $32,360 in 2007.
County Business Patterns excludes self-employed people, employees of private households, railroad employees, agriculture production workers and most government employees. Information on businesses without paid employees will be released this year as part of the Nonemployer Statistics report. Data for metropolitan statistical areas and five-digit ZIP codes also will be released this year.