Average weekly wages in New York County, more commonly known as the borough of Manhattan, declined 6.3 percent over the year in the first quarter of 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli attributed the loss to lower first quarter bonus payments in the financial sector. Nationally wages increased 5.4 percent over the year. (See chart 1.)

Manhattan's average weekly wages shrank to $2,464, yet remained the highest among the nation's largest counties, those with 75,000 or more jobs. Queens led the remaining New York City boroughs with a weekly wage of $877, which was still 11 percent below the national average of $984.

The largest employment gain among the City's boroughs was in Queens, up 2.9 percent, followed closely by Brooklyn (Kings County), up 2.8 percent. (See table 1.) Nationally, employment grew by 1.8 percent from March 2011 to March 2012. (See chart 2.)

Over-the-year wage changes

Although wages increased in four boroughs in New York City, none of the increases exceeded the national average. Brooklyn's 4.1-percent and the Bronx's 4.0-percent increase ranked 270th and 276th, respectively, among the nation's 328 largest counties. Queens followed with a 3.7-percent gain, ranking 291st, and Richmond County (Staten Island) posted a 2.8-percent rise and ranked 314th. Manhattan was the only New York City borough to post a loss (-6.3 percent). The loss represented the first over-the-year decline in first quarter wages in the borough since 2009, near the close of the 2007-09 recession.

Manhattan's overall decline was primarily attributable to total wage losses in financial activities of $5.3 billion (-13.4 percent). Average weekly wages in the supersector dropped 13.7 percent over the year. No other supersector of 1,000 or more employees reported a decline of more than 1.0 percent, although professional and business services was close (-0.9 percent). Other services (6.3 percent) and education and health (6.7 percent) posted the largest over-the-year gains and were the only supersectors to exceed comparable national growth rates.

Nationally, the largest increase in average weekly wages (7.5 percent) occurred in natural resources and mining, followed by information (6.8 percent). Financial activities reported the smallest over-the-year increase, 1.1 percent.

Among the 328 largest U.S. counties, 323 posted gains in average wages over the year; 4 experienced declines. The largest wage gain occurred in Williamson, Texas, 27.4 percent. New York, N.Y., recorded the largest decline, 6.3 percent.

Average weekly wages

Manhattan's average weekly wage during the first quarter of 2012 was two and a half times the national average—$2,464 compared to $984. No other county in New York City had an average weekly wage above that of the nation. Richmond and Kings were the lowest paying counties, with average wages below $800 per week. (See chart 3.)

Within Manhattan, the financial activities supersector had the highest first-quarter average weekly wage, $7,511. (See table 2.) Information had the next highest average wage ($2,835), followed by natural resources and mining ($2,784), and professional and business services ($2,560). Leisure and hospitality had the lowest average wage of the industry supersectors, $793. Even so, wages in every supersector in Manhattan were higher than their respective national industry averages.

Among the 328 largest counties in the nation, Santa Clara, Calif., trailed Manhattan with the second highest average weekly wage, $1,957, followed by Fairfield, Conn., $1,942. Four of the 10 counties with the highest wages in the nation were located in the greater New York area (New York, N.Y., Fairfield, Conn., Somerset, N.J., Morris, N.J.), while the rest were located in or around the San Francisco area, the Washington, D.C. area, and the Boston area.

Employment

From March 2011 to March 2012, four of the five counties which make up New York City gained jobs. Queens and Brooklyn ranked 54th and 63rd, respectively, in over-the-year employment growth among the nation's 328 large counties. Manhattan employment rose by 2.3 percent. Within Manhattan, among supersectors with 1,000 or more employees, leisure and hospitality reported the largest employment growth (5.9 percent), while government employment reported the only decline (-0.5 percent). Richmond's employment grew 0.6 percent. The Bronx recorded a slight over-the-year loss of 0.1 percent.

Nationally, employment increased in 293 of the 328 largest U.S. counties from March 2011 to March 2012. Gregg, Texas, posted the largest increase, with a gain of 6.0 percent over the year. Conversely, employment declined in 32 of the large counties. Benton, Wash., had the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment (-3.9 percent).

Additional statistics and other information

Quarterly data for states have 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, features comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2010 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 2011 version of the national news release. Tables and additional content from Employment and Wages Annual Bulletin 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.

County employment and wage data for the second quarter 2012 are scheduled to be released on Tuesday, January 8, 2013. .

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 130.2 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 website 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 website.

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 website. 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 website 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, New York State, and five counties of New York City, first quarter 2012(2)

Area	Employment		Average weekly wage(3)
	March 2012 (thousands)	Percent change, March 2011-12(4)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level(5)	Percent change, first quarter 2011-12(4)	National ranking by percent change(5)
United States(6)	130,175.4	1.8	$984	--	5.4	--
New York State	8,479.4	1.7	1,357	--	-0.8	--
Bronx	234.1	-0.1	851	185	4.0	276
Kings	518.1	2.8	754	282	4.1	270
New York	2,360.9	2.3	2,464	1	-6.3	327
Queens	513.9	2.9	877	161	3.7	291
Richmond	91.3	0.6	778	259	2.8	314
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.

Table 2. Covered(1) employment and wages in the United States and New York County, first quarter, 2012(2)

Area	Employment		Averageweekly wage(3)
	March 2012 (thousands)	Percent change, March 2011-12(4)	Average weekly wage	Percent change, first quarter 2011-12(4)
United States(5)	130,175.4	1.8	$984	5.4
Private industry	108,645.8	2.4	991	5.3
Natural resources and mining	1,847.8	8.6	1,197	7.5
Construction	5,282.2	2.8	972	6.0
Manufacturing	11,792.7	2.0	1,230	5.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities	24,782.6	1.9	815	6.4
Information	2,668.0	-0.1	1,717	6.8
Financial activities	7,424.5	0.9	1,905	1.1
Professional and business services	17,536.7	3.5	1,292	6.5
Education and health services	19,362.2	2.0	841	6.2
Leisure and hospitality	13,295.4	3.5	384	5.8
Other services	4,418.2	1.5	582	5.4
Government	21,529.7	-1.1	949	5.2
New York, NY	2,360.9	2.3	2,464	-6.3
Private industry	1.924.1	2.9	2,771	-7.3
Natural resources and mining	0.1	9.7	2,784	-11.1
Construction	29.9	1.3	1,650	2.5
Manufacturing	26.7	0.2	1,663	4.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities	244.7	3.9	1,321	5.6
Information	139.5	3.0	2,835	5.3
Financial activities	351.5	0.2	7,511	-13.7
Professional and business services	475.3	3.5	2,560	-0.9
Education and health services	309.5	0.8	1,128	6.7
Leisure and hospitality	248.2	5.9	793	4.2
Other services	90.6	3.4	1,045	6.3
Government	436.9	-0.5	1,112	1.7
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. See Technical Note. (5) 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, first quarter 2012(2)

State	Employment		Average weekly wage(3)
	March 2012 (thousands)	Percent change, March 2011-12	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level	Percent change, first quarter 2011-12	National ranking by percent change
United States(4)	130,175.4	1.8	$984	--	5.4	--
Alabama	1,822.8	0.8	808	35	5.6	32
Alaska	316.4	1.9	973	15	6.7	9
Arizona	2,437.2	2.1	887	21	5.7	29
Arkansas	1,151.5	1.5	747	47	4.6	46
California	14,670.6	2.0	1,125	6	5.5	33
Colorado	2,230.4	2.4	1,003	13	5.4	36
Connecticut	1,613.1	1.5	1,330	3	3.8	50
Delaware	398.8	0.8	1,071	7	4.2	48
District of Columbia	712.1	1.3	1,602	1	4.0	49
Florida	7,377.3	2.0	837	30	5.4	36
Georgia	3,815.5	1.3	931	17	5.2	41
Hawaii	600.3	0.9	834	32	5.7	29
Idaho	596.7	1.1	692	50	5.0	43
Illinois	5,557.5	1.5	1,061	9	5.9	25
Indiana	2,777.0	2.2	822	34	6.3	17
Iowa	1,448.3	1.9	784	40	6.4	14
Kansas	1,314.2	1.8	803	37	7.2	5
Kentucky	1,750.3	1.9	785	39	6.4	14
Louisiana	1,863.1	1.2	836	31	4.9	44
Maine	561.4	0.5	757	46	4.7	45
Maryland	2,492.4	1.7	1,071	7	6.0	23
Massachusetts	3,178.7	1.7	1,227	5	5.7	29
Michigan	3,865.8	2.6	920	20	5.5	33
Minnesota	2,586.3	2.1	989	14	6.1	20
Mississippi	1,083.5	0.8	687	51	5.9	25
Missouri	2,593.7	1.2	838	29	6.5	12
Montana	419.5	1.8	706	48	7.8	4
Nebraska	905.3	2.1	765	44	6.1	20
Nevada	1,118.4	1.4	846	28	5.5	33
New Hampshire	602.1	1.0	923	19	5.4	36
New Jersey	3,749.0	1.5	1,228	4	5.9	25
New Mexico	779.7	0.4	782	41	5.8	28
New York	8,479.4	1.7	1,357	2	-0.8	51
North Carolina	3,874.9	1.7	869	23	5.3	39
North Dakota	397.4	9.0	857	25	14.6	1
Ohio	4,967.8	2.0	873	22	6.6	11
Oklahoma	1,525.5	2.0	806	36	9.4	2
Oregon	1,613.0	1.4	864	24	6.4	14
Pennsylvania	5,531.1	1.2	960	16	7.1	7
Rhode Island	443.5	1.1	931	17	8.0	3
South Carolina	1,797.7	1.7	$764	45	6.0	23
South Dakota	390.4	2.1	703	49	6.7	9
Tennessee	2,636.7	2.4	847	27	6.8	8
Texas	10,605.2	2.6	1,013	11	7.2	5
Utah	1,193.1	3.2	799	38	6.1	20
Vermont	296.6	1.5	774	42	4.6	46
Virginia	3,586.3	1.4	1,019	10	5.3	39
Washington	2,831.9	1.9	1,009	12	6.5	12
West Virginia	705.5	2.4	768	43	6.2	18
Wisconsin	2,639.0	1.1	827	33	6.2	18
Wyoming	271.8	2.4	850	26	5.2	41
Puerto Rico	931.3	0.6	521	(5)	4.6	(5)
Virgin Islands	42.7	-5.4	722	(5)	-2.0	(5)
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. (5) Data not included in the national ranking.