Employment rose in 12 of the 17 largest counties in New York State from June 2010 to June 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.) New York County, commonly known as Manhattan, experienced the largest employment growth, 1.9 percent, followed by Kings County (Brooklyn), up 1.8 percent. (See chart 1.) Acting Regional Commissioner Denis M. McSweeney noted that Oneida County registered the largest decline (-2.1 percent).

Nationally, employment grew 0.9 percent over the year. Among the nation's largest counties, Ottawa, Mich., posted the highest increase (4.7 percent), followed by Montgomery, Texas (4.1 percent); Utah, Utah (4.0 percent); Washington, Pa., and Webb, Texas (each at 3.9 percent); and Elkhart, Ind. (3.8 percent). Harris County, Texas, added the most jobs, 48,400, followed by Manhattan with 43,600.

In New York, employment was highest in Manhattan (2,334,100) followed by Suffolk (631,300) and Nassau (600,000) Counties. Altogether, New York's large counties accounted for 83.7 percent of total employment within the state. Nationwide, the 322 largest counties made up 70.5 percent of total U.S. employment.

Sixteen of New York's large counties reported an increase in average weekly wages, led by Rockland County, 4.5 percent, and Oneida County, at 4.0 percent. (See chart 2.) Bronx County posted the next largest wage gain, 3.7 percent, and Dutchess and Orange Counties, at 3.2 percent each, rounded out the top five. Manhattan had the highest wage average in New York State, $1,645, followed by Westchester ($1,205) and Nassau ($1,034). (See table 1.) Nationally, the average weekly wage increased 3.0 percent over the year to $891 in the second quarter of 2011.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 44 counties in New York with employment below 75,000. All but two of these small counties had an average wage below the U.S. average. (See table 2.)

Large county wage changes

From the second quarter 2010 to the second quarter of 2011, six large New York counties recorded wage growth above the national increase of 3.0 percent. (See table 1.) Three of these large counties ranked among the top 100 nationwide --Rockland County (4.5 percent; 44th); Oneida County (4.0 percent; 65th); Bronx (3.7 percent, 80th). Wage growth elsewhere in New York City contrasted sharply with the Bronx: Queens, Richmond County (Staten Island), and Brooklyn posted among the state's smallest increases, ranging from 0.8 to 0.4 percent. Manhattan was the only large county in the state to report a decline in weekly wages, down 1.1 percent.

Among large counties in the United States, 307 recorded wage gains, with Williamson, Texas, registering the largest over-the-year increase in average weekly wages in the second quarter (18.0 percent). Middlesex, Mass., was the only other large county with a wage increase above 10 percent (10.2), and 27 other counties registered wage gains of at least 5.0 percent. Among the 11 counties with declining weekly wages, Champaign, Ill., recorded the largest loss, 3.6 percent.

Large county average weekly wages

Seven of New York's large counties reported average weekly wages above the $891 national average in the second quarter of 2011. The three counties with averages above $1,000 (New York, Westchester, and Nassau) ranked among the top 50 in the nation. Two additional counties, Rockland and Suffolk, had average wages that exceeded $950 per week, and ranked 53rd and 64th, respectively, among the 322 large counties nationwide.

At the other end of the scale, Broome ($722), Oneida ($731), and Kings ($743) Counties recorded the lowest weekly average among the state's large counties, placing them in the lowest 25 percent of the national ranking.

Weekly wages were higher than the national average in 107 of the 322 largest U.S. counties. Of the 10 highest paying counties in the nation, 3 were located in or around the San Francisco area (Santa Clara, San Francisco, and San Mateo); 3 were located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area (Arlington, Va., Washington, D.C., and Fairfax, Va.); 2 were located in the New York, N.Y. metropolitan area (New York, N.Y. and Fairfield, Ct.); and 2 were located in the Boston area (Middlesex and Suffolk, both in Mass.).

Among the 215 large counties with an average weekly wage below the U.S. average, Horry, S.C. ($526) reported the lowest wage, followed by Hidalgo, Texas ($571), Cameron, Texas ($572), Yakima, Wash. ($610), and Webb, Texas ($616).

Average weekly wages in New York's smaller counties

Forty-three of New York's 45 counties with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages below the national average. Hamilton County in the Adirondacks and Yates County in western New York reported the lowest average weekly wages at $540 and $570, respectively. (See table 2.) Schenectady ($937) and Putnam ($948) were the only small counties to record wages higher than the national average.

When all 62 counties in New York were considered, 19 had an average weekly wage above $800, 13 of which were clustered in the Hudson River valley and on Long Island. Forty-three counties encompassing a large portion of the state had average weekly wages below $800, with 16 counties located mostly in the north and the west reporting wages below $700. (See chart 3.)

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 publication, 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 national 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 Online 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 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET.

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 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 and the 17 largest counties in New York, second quarter 2011(2)

Area	Employment		Average weekly wage(3)
	June 2011 (thousands)	Percent change, June 2010-11(4)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level(5)	Percent change, second quarter 2010-11(4)	National ranking by percent change(5)
United States(6)	$130,469.9	0.9	$891	--	3.0	--
New York	8,575.3	1.0	1,092	--	1.0	--
Albany	218.8	-0.9	931	83	2.1	209
Bronx	236.0	-0.9	876	121	3.7	80
Broome	91.8	-0.8	722	282	1.1	280
Dutchess	111.6	-0.6	946	78	3.2	109
Erie	457.5	0.7	782	211	1.7	243
Kings	508.4	1.8	743	257	0.4	301
Monroe	377.6	1.0	852	142	0.2	305
Nassau	600.0	0.9	1,034	43	2.0	218
New York	2,334.1	1.9	1,645	2	-1.1	316
Oneida	107.8	-2.1	731	273	4.0	65
Onondaga	244.2	0.1	826	162	1.1	280
Orange	133.1	0.2	811	180	3.2	109
Queens	504.5	1.2	845	145	0.8	291
Richmond	92.6	0.2	774	227	0.5	300
Rockland	116.4	1.1	997	53	4.5	44
Suffolk	631.3	0.7	980	64	1.2	272
Westchester	412.8	1.0	1,205	16	3.1	120
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 all counties in New York, second quarter 2011(2)

Area	Employment June 2011 (thousands)	Average weekly wage(3)
United States(4)	130,469.9	$891
New York	8,575.3	1,092
Albany	218.8	931
Allegany	13.6	654
Bronx	236.0	876
Broome	91.8	722
Cattaraugus	30.8	700
Cayuga	27.1	703
Chautauqua	52.1	660
Chemung	39.0	763
Chenango	17.1	729
Clinton	32.8	756
Columbia	20.6	714
Cortland	17.5	683
Delaware	15.8	686
Dutchess	111.6	946
Erie	457.5	782
Essex	14.6	687
Franklin	18.8	750
Fulton	17.9	703
Genesee	24.5	657
Greene	14.8	743
Hamilton	2.1	540
Herkimer	17.1	618
Jefferson	44.0	718
Kings	508.4	743
Lewis	6.9	675
Livingston	20.1	692
Madison	21.7	675
Monroe	377.6	852
Montgomery	19.0	665
Nassau	600.0	1,034
New York	2334.1	1,645
Niagara	71.9	706
Oneida	107.8	731
Onondaga	244.2	826
Ontario	51.4	777
Orange	133.1	811
Orleans	13.6	732
Oswego	34.0	761
Otsego	25.1	717
Putnam	25.5	948
Queens	504.5	845
Rensselaer	52.2	821
Richmond	92.6	774
Rockland	116.4	997
Saratoga	77.8	804
Schenectady	64.9	937
Schoharie	9.0	635
Schuyler	5.3	634
Seneca	11.6	707
St. Lawrence	35.6	724
Steuben	37.7	839
Suffolk	631.3	980
Sullivan	26.0	701
Tioga	13.9	888
Tompkins	49.8	841
Ulster	58.7	742
Warren	41.5	686
Washington	15.7	764
Wayne	29.9	753
Westchester	412.8	1,205
Wyoming	14.0	707
Yates	7.1	570
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.

Table 3. Covered(1) employment and wages by state, second quarter 2011(2)

Area	Employment	Average weekly wage(3)
	June 2011 (thousands)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level(4)	Percent change, second quarter 2010-11	National ranking by percent change(4)
United States(5)	130,469.9	$891	--	3.0	--
Alabama	1,824.8	767	34	2.3	41
Alaska	335.9	941	9	2.6	27
Arizona	2,336.3	842	20	2.7	26
Arkansas	1,140.4	703	47	2.6	27
California	14,664.6	1,019	6	4.0	7
Colorado	2,234.7	900	13	3.4	16
Connecticut	1,630.2	1,116	3	3.8	9
Delaware	408.4	926	12	5.9	2
District of Columbia	711.3	1,541	1	2.4	36
Florida	7,092.3	802	25	2.6	27
Georgia	3,803.1	832	21	2.5	32
Hawaii	590.5	799	26	2.4	36
Idaho	616.6	667	49	2.3	41
Illinois	5,633.0	939	10	3.2	17
Indiana	2,769.2	749	41	2.2	46
Iowa	1,476.9	726	43	2.5	32
Kansas	1,313.2	754	40	2.9	23
Kentucky	1,751.8	760	38	2.3	41
Louisiana	1,844.3	794	28	3.1	18
Maine	593.8	712	46	1.9	48
Maryland	2,513.5	987	7	3.1	18
Massachusetts	3,230.4	1,120	2	5.6	3
Michigan	3,896.9	845	19	2.4	36
Minnesota	2,645.4	898	15	3.5	12
Mississippi	1,079.4	664	50	1.8	49
Missouri	2,617.7	774	31	1.6	50
Montana	434.1	681	48	3.5	12
Nebraska	911.6	714	45	2.4	36
Nevada	1,123.0	816	24	2.5	32
New Hampshire	615.2	888	16	2.4	36
New Jersey	3,836.2	1,056	5	2.6	27
New Mexico	788.7	763	37	2.8	24
New York	8,575.3	1,092	4	1.0	51
North Carolina	3,865.9	783	30	2.5	32
North Dakota	382.4	769	33	8.2	1
Ohio	5,009.1	795	27	2.6	27
Oklahoma	1,510.3	749	41	4.5	5
Oregon	1,637.5	819	22	4.2	6
Pennsylvania	5,606.5	875	17	3.1	18
Rhode Island	458.1	862	18	3.5	12
South Carolina	1,801.6	726	43	2.3	41
South Dakota	404.8	656	51	3.8	9
Tennessee	2,616.9	794	28	2.3	41
Texas	10,462.4	900	13	4.0	7
Utah	1,183.9	756	39	3.1	18
Vermont	297.0	773	32	2.8	24
Virginia	3,619.7	949	8	2.2	46
Washington	2,875.8	928	11	3.5	12
West Virginia	702.9	765	36	5.4	4
Wisconsin	2,712.0	767	34	3.0	22
Wyoming	284.7	819	22	3.7	11
Puerto Rico	915.1	496	(6)	0.6	(6)
Virgin Islands	44.1	747	(6)	5.5	(6)
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.