New York Office
Internet Address: http://www.bls.gov/ro2/home.htm
Media Contact: Michael L. Dolfman,(212) 337-2500
Information: Martin Kohli,(646) 264-3620 FOR RELEASE: Monday, November 19, 2007
MANHATTAN AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE AT $2,821 IN FIRST QUARTER 2007
The average weekly wage in New York County, more commonly known as
the borough of Manhattan, climbed 16.7 percent over the year to $2,821 in
the first quarter of 2007. Among the nation's counties with at least
75,000 jobs, Manhattan had the highest average weekly wage and the second
largest over-the-year gain. (See table 1.) Regional Commissioner
Michael L. Dolfman noted that Manhattan's substantial wage growth had a
significant impact on national average weekly wage growth. Without
Manhattan's increases in employment and wages, the national rise in the
average weekly wage would have been 4.2 percent, rather than 5.1 percent.
Among the other counties that comprise New York City, the Bronx,
with an over-the-year wage gain of 5.1 percent, matched the national
increase. The other three counties had wage growth less than that for
the nation. The average weekly wage rose by 4.8 percent in Kings County
and by 3.5 percent in both Queens and Richmond Counties. (See chart 1.)
From March a year ago, all but one of the five counties comprising
New York City had employment growth above the national rate of 1.4
percent. Richmond County had the largest employment increase, 3.2
percent, followed by Manhattan (2.3 percent), Queens (2.1 percent), and
Kings County (1.9 percent). Employment in the Bronx declined over the 12-
month period, -0.6 percent.
Average weekly wages
Manhattan's average wage during the first quarter of 2007 was more
than three times the national average-$2,821 compared to $885. No other
county in New York City had an average weekly wage above that of the
nation. Average wages in Queens, Bronx, Kings, and Richmond Counties
were $831, $788, $742, and $733, respectively, and ranged from 6 to 17
percent below the national level. (See table 1.)
Within Manhattan, the financial activities supersector had the
highest average weekly wage, $10,156. (See table 2.) As is often
typical during the first quarter, the payment of year-end bonuses and
commissions in finance contributed to the high average. The next highest
wage average was in information ($2,586) followed by natural resources
and mining ($2, 411) and professional and business services ($2,258).
Leisure and hospitality had the lowest average wage of any industry
supersector, $769. Wages in every supersector in Manhattan were higher
than their respective national industry averages. The largest percentage
differential occurred in financial activities, with wages 437 percent
above the U.S. average; the smallest occurred in government, with wages
16 percent above the national level.
Among the 328 largest counties in the nation, Fairfield, Conn.,
trailed Manhattan with the second highest average weekly wage, $1,979,
followed by Suffolk, Mass. ($1,659), and San Francisco, Calif. ($1,639).
Four of the 10 counties with the highest wages in the nation were located
in the greater New York metropolitan area (New York, N.Y., Fairfield,
Conn., Somerset, N.J., and Hudson, N.J.), 3 others were located in or
around the San Francisco area (Santa Clara, San Francisco, and San Mateo,
all in California), while 2 more were located in or around the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area (Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Va.).
Rounding out the top 10 was Suffolk County, Mass., part of the Boston
metropolitan area. At the other end of the spectrum, the two counties
with the lowest average wages in the nation were Hidalgo ($516) and
Cameron ($502), both in Texas.
Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 5 reported average
wages greater than $1,000 per week. At $1,428, weekly wages in the
District of Columbia were well above the national average of $885.
Following the District were New York ($1,397), Connecticut ($1,263),
Massachusetts ($1,110), and New Jersey ($1,097). At the lower end of the
scale, four states reported average weekly wages under $620: Mississippi
($616), North Dakota ($615), South Dakota ($602), and Montana ($600).
(See table 3.)
Over-the-year wage changes
Manhattan had the 2nd highest percentage increase in wages among the
328 counties in the nation with at least 75,000 employees. The Bronx
ranked 78th. No other county in New York City ranked among the top 100
in wage growth.
In Manhattan, average weekly wages rose 24.2 percent in financial
activities, followed by increases of 14.6 percent in manufacturing and
10.1 percent in professional and business services. For the nation,
annual wage gains in the first quarter were also largest in financial
activities (12.2 percent), followed by professional and business services
(6.2 percent) and information (4.6 percent). Average weekly wage growth
in all of the other sectors (including manufacturing) ranged from 3.4 to
4.4 percent over the year.
Leading the nation in average weekly wage growth was Trumbull
County, Ohio, with an increase of 22.3 percent. Manhattan's 16.7-percent
gain was next highest, followed by Cobb, Georgia (11.2 percent), and
Suffolk, Mass. (10.8 percent). None of the other large counties
experienced wage growth above 10 percent for the year. At the other end
of the spectrum, four counties experienced declines in average weekly
wages of greater than 2.0 percent from March 2006: Norfolk, Mass., and
Orleans, La. (both -2.7 percent), and Bibb, Ga., and Loudon, Va. (both -
3.0 percent).
Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, New York had the
largest over-the-year wage growth, 11.8 percent, followed by Wyoming (9.3
percent), Rhode Island (7.1 percent), and Connecticut and Massachusetts
(both 6.1 percent). Four states experienced growth of less than 2.5
percent: South Carolina and Vermont (both 2.3 percent), Delaware (2.1
percent), and Oklahoma (1.3 percent). No state saw its wages fall or
stay the same from the first quarter of 2006.
Employment
In March 2007, employment in Manhattan stood at 2,331,500,
accounting for 65 percent of the New York City total. Over-the-year
employment growth in the City was led by Richmond County's 3.2-percent
increase, which ranked 40th among the 328 largest counties. Manhattan
followed with a 2.3-percent growth, which ranked 73rd. Employment
increases in Queens (2.1 percent) and Kings (1.9 percent) Counties ranked
79th and 88th, respectively.
Nationally, Orleans, La., experienced the largest over-the-year
percentage increase in employment, 15.0 percent. Another recovering Gulf
Coast county, Harrison, Miss., followed closely behind with 14.5-percent
growth over the year. Overall, employment increased in 255 of the
nation's 328 large counties from March 2006 to March 2007, while 61
registered a decrease in employment. Three large counties, all located
in the Midwest, experienced over-the-year job losses above 3
percent-Montgomery, Ohio (-3.2 percent), Macomb, Mich. (-3.8 percent),
and Trumbull, Ohio (-6.2 percent).
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 reports submitted by employers
subject to unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The 8.9 million employer
reports cover 134.3 million full- and part-time workers. The average
weekly wage is computed by dividing the quarterly total wages of
employees covered by UI programs by the average monthly number of these
employees. This number then is 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, counties, and the nation are available on
the BLS Web site at http://www.bls.gov/cew/; however, data in QCEW press
releases have been revised (see Technical Note below) and may not match
the data contained on the Bureau's Web site.
Additional statistics and other information
An annual bulletin, Employment and Wages, features comprehensive
information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages
for the nation and all states. The 2006 edition of this bulletin will
contain selected data produced by Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on
job gains and losses, as well as selected data from the first quarter
2007 version of this news release. As with the 2005 edition, this
edition will include the data on a CD for enhanced access and usability
with the printed booklet containing selected graphic representations of
QCEW data; the data tables themselves will be published exclusively in
electronic formats as PDFs. Employment and Wages Annual Averages, 2006
will be available for sale in early 2008 from the United States
Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954,
Pittsburgh, PA 15250, telephone 866-512-1800, outside Washington, D.C.
Within Washington, D.C., the telephone number is 202-512-1800. The fax
number is 202-512-2104.
QCEW-based news releases issued by other regional offices have been
placed at one convenient BLS Web site location,
http://www.bls.gov/cew/cewregional.htm.
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 (212) 337-2400 from
9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET.
TECHNICAL NOTE
QCEW data are the sums of individual establishment records
reflecting the number of establishments that exist in a county or
industry at a point in time. For this reason, county and industry data
are not designed to be used as a time series.
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. The potential differences result from several
causes. Differences between BLS and state published data may be due to
the 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.
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| Changes to County Employment and Wages Data |
| |
| Beginning with the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) |
| data presented in this release, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is |
| introducing the 2007 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS |
| 2007). The conversion to NAICS 2007 resulted in minor changes to the |
| data and more accurately reflects the underlying business activities in |
| selected industries. For further information on the NAICS 2007 revision |
| and its effect on QCEW data, see the note on page 6 of the national |
| release (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cewqtr.pdf) and the U.S. |
| Census Bureau Web site at http://www.census.gov/epcd/naics07/index.html. |
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NYLS - 7307 Labor - New York
11/17/07
Table 1. Covered1 employment and wages in the United States, New York State, and five
counties in New York City, first quarter 20072
Employment Average weekly wage3
---------- --------------------
National
Area March Percent National Percent rank by
2007 change, Level rank by change, percent
(thousands) 2006-074 2007 level5 2006-074 change5
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States6 134,320.6 1.4 $ 885 -- 5.1 --
New York State 8,441.3 1.3 1,397 -- 11.8 --
Bronx 219.1 -0.6 788 159 5.1 78
Kings 464.8 1.9 742 212 4.8 101
New York 2,331.5 2.3 2,821 1 16.7 2
Queens 487.7 2.1 831 134 3.5 189
Richmond 91.9 3.2 733 224 3.5 189
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1Includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation
for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.
2Data are preliminary.
3Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.
4Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for
any noneconomic county reclassifications.
5Ranking does not include the county of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
6Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
Table 2. Covered1 employment and wages in the United States and New York County,
first quarter 20072
Employment Average weekly wage3
---------- --------------------
Area and supersector March Percent Average Percent
2007 change weekly change
(thousands) 2006-074 wage 2006-074
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States5 134,320.6 1.4 $ 885 5.1
Private industry 112,574.0 1.4 892 5.2
Natural resources and mining 1,683.1 3.2 925 4.0
Construction 7,298.4 0.0 859 4.4
Manufacturing 13,862.4 -1.7 1,061 3.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities 25,963.5 1.4 731 3.4
Information 3,011.6 -0.8 1,438 4.6
Financial activities 8,139.4 0.5 1,891 12.2
Professional and business services 17,617.5 2.7 1,083 6.2
Education and health services 17,314.4 2.8 740 3.6
Leisure and hospitality 12,938.1 2.4 351 4.2
Other services 4,395.2 1.6 527 3.9
Government 21,746.6 1.1 850 4.4
New York, NY 2,331.5 2.3 2,821 16.7
Private industry 1,883.8 2.8 3,261 17.4
Natural resources and mining 0.1 -10.0 2,411 -4.0
Construction 32.7 5.4 1,469 5.8
Manufacturing 37.3 -5.0 1,591 14.6
Trade, transportation, and utilities 242.2 1.6 1,202 6.6
Information 131.7 0.7 2,586 6.2
Financial activities 372.3 2.7 10,156 24.2
Professional and business services 475.5 3.1 2,258 10.1
Education and health services 289.7 1.8 954 3.1
Leisure and hospitality 202.9 3.4 769 4.5
Other services 84.9 1.3 961 5.7
Government 447.7 0.4 982 3.3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1Includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment
Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.
2Data are preliminary.
3Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.
4Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted
for any noneconomic county reclassifications.
5Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin
Islands.
Table 3. Covered1 employment and wages by state and territory, first quarter 20062
Employment Average weekly wage3
---------- --------------------------------------------
National
Area March Average National Percent rank
2007 weekly rank by change, by percent
(thousands) wage level4 2006-07 change4
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States5 134,320.6 $885 - 5.1 -
Alabama 1,953.7 716 35 3.5 39
Alaska 299.8 831 20 5.2 11
Arizona 2,667.2 803 21 4.7 18
Arkansas 1,179.9 642 46 3.2 42
California 15,569.4 988 6 3.9 34
Colorado 2,262.4 889 11 3.6 37
Connecticut 1,665.0 1,263 3 6.1 4
Delaware 416.6 986 7 2.1 50
District of Columbia 674.4 1,428 1 4.7 18
Florida 8,093.4 764 25 3.4 40
Georgia 4,065.1 837 17 4.9 14
Hawaii 626.4 748 27 4.2 30
Idaho 645.0 636 47 4.6 23
Illinois 5,795.7 956 8 4.6 23
Indiana 2,880.8 739 30 2.9 44
Iowa 1,457.6 686 39 3.6 37
Kansas 1,349.1 720 34 4.7 18
Kentucky 1,791.5 699 37 4.0 32
Louisiana 1,863.5 730 32 4.4 27
Maine 582.1 677 41 3.7 36
Maryland 2,527.0 939 9 4.6 23
Massachusetts 3,167.5 1,110 4 6.1 4
Michigan 4,130.2 851 15 4.0 32
Minnesota 2,629.6 873 12 5.2 11
Mississippi 1,127.3 616 48 3.2 42
Missouri 2,710.1 744 29 2.9 44
Montana 428.8 600 51 4.9 14
Nebraska 899.3 667 44 2.8 46
Nevada 1,282.3 802 22 4.8 16
New Hampshire 619.8 836 18 4.6 23
New Jersey 3,926.6 1,097 5 5.6 7
New Mexico 819.3 685 40 5.9 6
New York 8,441.3 1,397 2 11.8 1
North Carolina 4,034.3 779 24 4.7 18
North Dakota 334.5 615 49 4.8 16
Ohio 5,241.0 793 23 5.3 9
Oklahoma 1,534.3 676 43 1.3 51
Oregon 1,707.8 755 26 2.7 47
Pennsylvania 5,589.6 849 16 5.1 13
Rhode Island 472.2 834 19 7.1 3
South Carolina 1,885.9 677 41 2.3 48
South Dakota 381.9 602 50 3.4 40
Tennessee 2,732.5 738 31 4.7 18
Texas 10,143.0 872 13 5.6 7
Utah 1,203.9 696 38 5.3 9
Vermont 300.0 704 36 2.3 48
Virginia 3,644.6 901 10 4.4 27
Washington 2,869.9 868 14 4.3 29
West Virginia 700.3 652 45 4.2 30
Wisconsin 2,727.7 745 28 3.9 34
Wyoming 269.1 730 32 9.3 2
Puerto Rico 1,024.5 476 6 5.3 6
Virgin Islands 45.6 687 6 6.3 6
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1Includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for
Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.
2Data are preliminary.
3Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.
4Ranking does not include Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
5Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
6Data not included in the national ranking.
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