Employment rose in the four largest counties in Utah from March 2015 to March 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. (Large counties are defined as those with employment of 75,000 or more as measured by 2015 annual average employment.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that Utah County experienced the fastest employment growth, up 6.7 percent over the year, and ranked second nationwide among the 344 largest U.S. counties. Two other large counties in the state also had employment gains exceeding the national average of 2.0 percent and the remaining large county had a gain that matched the national average.

Nationally, employment increased in 318 of the 344 largest U.S. counties from March 2015 to March 2016. Williamson, Tenn., posted the largest percentage increase with a gain of 7.9 percent over the year. Midland, Texas, had the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment among the largest U.S. counties with a loss of 9.0 percent.

Among the four largest counties in Utah, employment was highest in Salt Lake County (659,800) and lowest in Weber (101,300). Together, the four largest counties accounted for 79.9 percent of total employment within the state. Nationwide, the 344 large counties made up 72.6 percent of total U.S. employment.

Average weekly wages increased in all four large counties in Utah from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016. Weber County had the largest wage gain, up 1.3 percent. Salt Lake County had the highest average weekly wage ($973) among Utah’s large counties. (See table 1.) Nationally, average weekly wages decreased 0.5 percent over the year to $1,043.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 25 counties in Utah with employment below 75,000. All of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average. (See table 2.)

Large county wage changes

As mentioned, Weber County had the largest wage gain at 1.3 percent, placing it 72^nd in the national ranking. The three remaining large counties ranked in the top one-third of the nation in wage growth—Davis (0.9 percent, 102^nd), Utah (0.8 percent, 108^th), and Salt Lake (0.7 percent, 114^th). (See table 1.) 

Among the 344 largest U.S. counties, 167 had over-the-year decreases in average weekly wages in the first quarter of 2016. McLean, Ill., had the largest percentage decline in average weekly wages with a loss of 13.3 percent. Nationally, 164 large counties experienced over-the-year increases in average weekly wages. Clayton, Ga., had the largest percentage increase in average weekly wages with a gain of 15.5 percent.

Large county average weekly wages

At $973, Salt Lake County’s average weekly wage ranked 139^th among the 344 largest U.S. counties in the first quarter of 2016. The three remaining large counties in Utah had average weekly wages that placed them in the bottom quartile of the national ranking—Davis ($796, 287^th); Utah ($794, 289^th); and Weber ($726, 325^th).

Nationally, weekly wages were higher than the U.S. average of $1,043 in 91 of the 344 largest counties. New York, N.Y., held the top position with an average weekly wage of $2,783. Santa Clara, Calif., was second at $2,210, followed by San Mateo, Calif. ($2,195); San Francisco, Calif. ($2,054); and Somerset, N.J. ($2,022). Among the 253 large counties with an average weekly wage below the U.S. average in the first quarter of 2016, Horry, S.C. ($587) reported the lowest wage.

Average weekly wages in Utah’s smaller counties

Each of the 25 counties in Utah with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages lower than the national average. Emery County’s wage of $864 was the highest among the small counties followed by Duchesne at $859. Piute reported the lowest weekly wage in the state with an average of $510 in the first quarter of 2016. (See table 2.)

When all 29 counties in Utah were considered, 8 reported average weekly wages under $600, 5 reported wages from $600 to $649, 5 posted wages from $650 to $699, 5 had wages from $700 to $749, and 6 had wages of $750 or higher. (See chart 1.) 

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/.

Employment and Wages Annual Averages Online features comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2015 edition of this publication contains selected data produced by Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on job gains and losses, as well as selected data from the first quarter 2016 version of the national news release. Tables and additional content from Employment and Wages Annual Averages 2015 are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/publications/employment-and-wages-annual-averages/2015/home.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

The County Employment and Wages release for second quarter 2016 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, December 7, 2016.

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 9.7 million employer reports cover 140.1 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 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 employment and wages in the United States and the 4 largest counties in Utah, first quarter 2016

Area	Employment			Average weekly wage (1)
	March 2016 (thousands)	Percent change, March 2015-16 (2)	National ranking by percent change (3)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level (3)	Percent change, first quarter 2015-16 (2)	National ranking by percent change (3)
United States (4)	140,070.8	2.0	--	$1,043	--	-0.5	--
Utah	1,369.2	3.8	--	849	35	0.6	12
Davis, Utah	117.3	3.2	69	796	287	0.9	102
Salt Lake, Utah	659.8	3.8	33	973	139	0.7	114
Utah, Utah	215.2	6.7	2	794	289	0.8	108
Weber, Utah	101.3	2.0	168	726	325	1.3	72
Footnotes: (1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data. (2) Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications. (3) Ranking does not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. (4) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
Note: Data are preliminary. Covered employment and wages includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.

Table 3. Covered employment and wages by state, first quarter 2016

State	Employment		Average weekly wage (1)
	March 2016 (thousands)	Percent change, March 2015-16	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level	Percent change, first quarter 2015-16	National ranking by percent change
United States (2)	140,070.8	2.0	$1043	--	-0.5	--
Alabama	1,902.6	1.6	842	37	-0.2	22
Alaska	317.6	-1.4	1028	15	-2	43
Arizona	2,679.8	2.8	918	23	-0.8	30
Arkansas	1,191.1	2.1	793	45	0.5	13
California	16,455.5	2.6	1206	6	0	20
Colorado	2,514.6	2.4	1057	13	-1.3	36
Connecticut	1,650.6	0.6	1362	3	-1.4	38
Delaware	429.7	1.5	1072	10	-3	48
District of Columbia	749.6	2.0	1766	1	0.4	14
Florida	8,301.8	3.5	887	27	0.2	18
Georgia	4,215.1	3.0	1008	17	1.9	2
Hawaii	645.1	1.4	896	26	1.7	3
Idaho	670.4	3.5	725	50	-1.5	39
Illinois	5,800.6	1.2	1126	7	-0.5	28
Indiana	2,949.5	1.9	853	33	-0.5	28
Iowa	1,518.2	0.9	844	36	-0.4	27
Kansas	1,362.3	0.4	833	38	-2	43
Kentucky	1,843.9	1.9	823	41	0.1	19
Louisiana	1,910.5	-0.8	860	32	-2.6	47
Maine	580.5	1.8	804	44	1.1	8
Maryland	2,591.7	1.9	1103	9	-0.8	30
Massachusetts	3,414.8	2.1	1327	4	-1	33
Michigan	4,163.7	2.1	976	20	0.7	11
Minnesota	2,750.1	1.5	1065	12	-1.2	34
Mississippi	1,121.0	1.7	713	51	0.4	14
Missouri	2,729.5	1.9	879	29	-0.3	25
Montana	447.8	1.8	751	49	0.3	16
Nebraska	956.6	1.4	817	42	0	20
Nevada	1,264.1	3.0	875	30	1.2	5
New Hampshire	635.1	1.9	998	18	1.6	4
New Jersey	3,909.7	2.4	1268	5	-1.7	41
New Mexico	800.4	0.0	792	46	-1.6	40
New York	9,042.2	2.0	1456	2	-0.3	25
North Carolina	4,220.3	3.0	928	22	-0.2	22
North Dakota	409.4	-6.2	908	25	-7.6	51
Ohio	5,236.2	1.8	913	24	-0.8	30
Oklahoma	1,578.6	-0.9	833	38	-4.1	49
Oregon	1,808.2	3.2	929	21	1.2	5
Pennsylvania	5,662.2	1.1	1012	16	-1.9	42
Rhode Island	464.6	1.9	985	19	-2.2	46
South Carolina	1,974.6	2.7	806	43	0.8	10
South Dakota	410.5	0.9	771	48	1.2	5
Tennessee	2,859.2	3.3	887	27	0.3	16
Texas	11,638.7	0.7	1066	11	-2.1	45
Utah	1,369.2	3.8	849	35	0.6	12
Vermont	304.6	0.1	832	40	1	9
Virginia	3,748.1	2.6	1057	13	-1.2	34
Washington	3,147.7	3.1	1121	8	3	1
West Virginia	683.9	-1.2	782	47	-1.3	36
Wisconsin	2,771.4	1.3	875	30	-0.2	22
Wyoming	267.9	-3.7	850	34	-4.7	50
Puerto Rico	895.2	-1.2	520	(3)	-0.4	(3)
Virgin Islands	38.6	0.4	769	(3)	2.9	(3)
Footnotes: (1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data. (2) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. (3) Data not included in the national ranking.
Note: Data are preliminary. Covered employment and wages includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.