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October 2011, Vol. 134, No. 10
Pay premiums among major industry groups in New York City
Lisa Boily
Lisa Boily is an economist in the Office for Economic Analysis and Information in the New York regional office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Email: boily.lisa@bls.gov.
Although workers in New York City continue to earn substantially more on average than workers in lower-cost areas, most of the rise in New York City's pay premium is attributable to growth in average pay in the financial activities industries; despite a 2007–2009 decline, the financial activities pay premium nearly doubled during the 1990–2009 period.
New York City's pay premium— the percent by which people who work in the combined five counties of New York City were paid above the national average—has risen substantially since 1990.1 Employees in New York City earned an average of $34,381 in 1990, which was 46 percent above the national average, and earned $73,845 in 2009, 62 percent above the national average.2 After adjustment for inflation, average annual earnings of New Yorkers rose 26 percent over the 19-year period, while the earnings of U.S. workers rose 18 percent. In the City's financial activities industries, the growth in pay premiums was even more pronounced, rising from 83 percent in 1990 to 163 percent in 2009, with average annual pay among employees in New York financial firms rising from $52,227 to $183,925 over the same period.
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
Structural changes in Manhattan's post-9/11 economy.—Oct. 2006.
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