Midwest Information Office

For release: Friday, May 6, 2011
BLSInfoChicago@bls.gov
General Information: (312) 353-1880
Media Contact: (312) 353-1138

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COUNTY EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN WISCONSIN - THIRD QUARTER 2010

Four of the six largest counties in Wisconsin reported employment increases from September 2009 to September 2010, 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 2009 annual average employment.) Winnebago County had the largest employment increase, up 1.4 percent, followed by Brown and Dane Counties, up 0.6 percent each, and Waukesha County up 0.2 percent. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that these four large counties posted employment increases greater than or equal to the national increase of 0.2 percent. However, employment fell in Milwaukee and Outagamie Counties, down 0.7 and 0.1 percent, respectively.

Among the six largest counties in Wisconsin, employment was highest in Milwaukee County (467,300) in September 2010, followed by Dane (294,400), and Waukesha (220,600). Three other counties—Brown (144,100), Outagamie (100,400), and Winnebago (89,000)—had employment levels of less than 150,000. Collectively, Wisconsin's six large counties accounted for 49.5 percent of total employment within the State. Nationwide, the 326 largest counties made up 70.6 percent of U.S. employment, which stood at 128.4 million in September 2010.

The average weekly wage in Outagamie County rose 4.1 percent from the third quarter of 2009 to the third quarter of 2010, the largest increase among Wisconsin's large counties. Waukesha County had the highest average weekly wage in the State at $865, followed by the Milwaukee ($856) and Dane ($837). (See table 1.) Nationally, the average weekly wage rose 3.4 percent over the year to $870 in the third quarter of 2010.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 66 counties in Wisconsin with employment below 75,000. All counties in Wisconsin had average weekly wages below the national average. (See table 2.)

Large county wage changes
Three of Wisconsin’s large counties recorded wage growth above the national increase of 3.4 percent from the third quarter of 2009 to the third quarter of 2010. (See table 1.) Outagamie County experienced the State’s largest average weekly wage increase of 4.1 percent, ranking 75th in the nation, followed by  Brown and Waukesha (up 3.8 percent each, ranking 97th). Conversely, 3 counties with wage increases slower the national rate placed in the bottom half of the national ranking--Milwaukee (2.8 percent, 183rd), Winnebago (2.1 percent, 233rd), and Dane (1.9 percent, 256th).

Among the 326 largest counties, 319 had over-the-year increases in average weekly wages in the third quarter of 2010. Rock Island, Ill., ranked first in average weekly wage growth, with an increase of 12.2 percent. Benton, Ark., had the second largest increase (10.4 percent), followed by Santa Clara, Calif., (10.1 percent). Only one county, Sacramento, Calif., experienced an average weekly wage decline with a loss of 2.2 percent over the year.

Large county average weekly wages
Average weekly wages in all of Wisconsin’s six large counties were below the national average of $870 in the third quarter of 2010. As noted, Waukesha County ($865) had the highest average weekly wage in the State, ranking 116th among the 326 largest counties across the nation, followed by Milwaukee ($856) and Dane ($837) which placed 121st and 141st respectively. Outagamie ($737) reported the lowest average weekly wage among the State’s largest counties and ranked 255th nationwide.

Nationally, average weekly wages were higher than average in 110 of the 326 largest U.S. counties. Santa Clara, Calif., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $1,662. New York, N.Y., was second at $1,572, followed by Arlington, Va. ($1,505), Washington, D.C. ($1,471), and Fairfax, Va. ($1,374).

Among the 212 large counties with an average weekly wage below the U.S. average in the third quarter of 2010, 5 had wages below $600. Horry, S.C. ($541) reported the lowest wage, followed by the counties of Cameron, Texas ($560), Hidalgo, Texas ($575), Webb, Texas ($595), and Yakima, Wash. ($599).

Average weekly wages in Wisconsin’s smaller counties
As noted, all 72 counties in Wisconsin had average weekly wages lower than the national average of $870. Among the State’s smaller counties with annual average employment of 75,000 or less, Wood County had the highest average weekly wage at $822. Florence County had the lowest weekly wage at $405. (See table 2.)

When all 72 counties in Wisconsin were considered, 6 reported average weekly wages less than $500, 24 had wages from $500 to $599, 26 reported wages from $600 to $699, 12 had wages from $700 to $799, and 4 had wages of $800 or more. (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/.

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 2009 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 2010 version of the national news release. This web-only publication has replaced the annual print bulletin, Employment and Wages Annual Averages. The March 2010 issue of this annual bulletin was the final one to be issued on paper.  Tables and additional content from the 2009 Employment and Wages Annual Bulletin are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn09.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 Midwest Information Office in Chicago at (312) 353-1880 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.

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 9.0 million employer reports covered 128.4 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 BLS 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 (1) employment and wages in the United States and the 6 largest counties in Wisconsin, third quarter 2010 (2)

Area	Employment			Average Weekly Wage (3)
	September 2010 (thousands)	Percent change, September 2009-10 (4)	National ranking by percent change (5)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level (5)	Percent change, third quarter 2009-10 (4)	National ranking by percent change (5)
United States (6)	128,440.4	0.2	--	$870	--	3.4	--
Wisconsin	2,657.7	0.5	--	752	33	3.6	24
Brown, Wis.	144.1	0.6	107	773	211	3.8	97
Dane, Wis.	294.4	0.6	107	837	141	1.9	256
Milwaukee, Wis.	467.3	-0.7	230	856	121	2.8	183
Outagamie, Wis.	100.4	-0.1	172	737	255	4.1	75
Waukesha, Wis.	220.6	0.2	142	865	116	3.8	97
Winnebago, Wis.	89.0	1.4	46	792	185	2.1	233
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 3. Covered (1) employment and wages by state, third quarter 2010 (2)

State	Employment		Average weekly wage (3)
	September 2010 (thousands)	Percent change, September 2009-10	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level	Percent change, third quarter 2009-10	National ranking by percent change
United States (4)	128,440.4	0.2	$870	--	3.4	--
Alabama	1,813.9	-0.1	774	30	4.0	13
Alaska	333.5	1.3	926	10	4.4	5
Arizona	2,342.3	-0.9	821	21	2.6	43
Arkansas	1,147.0	0.8	684	47	3.8	20
California	14,469.7	-0.3	982	6	3.3	29
Colorado	2,183.8	-0.2	898	13	2.5	45
Connecticut	1,611.9	0.0	1,069	2	4.3	6
Delaware	404.7	0.8	902	12	2.4	46
District of Columbia	693.8	2.0	1,471	1	1.2	50
Florida	7,045.3	0.0	780	28	2.8	36
Georgia	3,749.9	-0.1	823	20	2.7	40
Hawaii	585.6	-0.1	804	23	2.2	47
Idaho	616.8	-1.1	667	48	3.1	31
Illinois	5,539.5	0.0	916	11	4.0	13
Indiana	2,736.7	0.8	742	36	3.9	17
Iowa	1,439.8	-0.5	719	42	3.6	24
Kansas	1,296.1	-1.0	731	38	3.5	27
Kentucky	1,728.3	0.8	729	39	3.3	29
Louisiana	1,834.8	0.0	790	27	3.9	17
Maine	589.4	-0.6	714	43	3.6	24
Maryland	2,469.7	0.5	966	7	2.7	40
Massachusetts	3,169.8	0.8	1,069	2	4.5	4
Michigan	3,825.9	0.9	840	18	3.8	20
Minnesota	2,574.3	0.4	875	15	4.7	3
Mississippi	1,077.4	0.0	653	50	2.8	36
Missouri	2,596.8	-0.5	764	32	2.7	40
Montana	428.7	0.0	647	51	1.6	49
Nebraska	899.8	-0.2	708	45	2.8	36
Nevada	1,106.8	-1.7	815	22	1.2	50
New Hampshire	608.9	0.1	854	17	2.9	34
New Jersey	3,759.0	-0.4	1,024	5	2.8	36
New Mexico	785.9	-1.0	745	35	2.9	34
New York	8,364.2	0.5	1,057	4	4.3	6
North Carolina	3,806.2	-0.3	768	31	3.1	31
North Dakota	366.1	3.0	726	40	6.8	1
Ohio	4,942.1	0.3	791	25	3.4	28
Oklahoma	1,487.5	-0.2	726	40	4.0	13
Oregon	1,620.5	0.3	791	25	3.1	31
Pennsylvania	5,500.9	0.9	860	16	4.1	12
Rhode Island	456.0	0.8	826	19	4.2	11
South Carolina	1,763.7	0.5	714	43	3.9	17
South Dakota	393.7	0.4	660	49	4.3	6
Tennessee	2,578.3	0.8	777	29	4.3	6
Texas	10,204.5	1.5	876	14	3.7	23
Utah	1,160.6	0.5	740	37	2.2	47
Vermont	294.3	0.5	752	33	2.6	43
Virginia	3,544.1	0.4	930	9	3.8	20
Washington	2,855.7	-0.3	953	8	4.0	13
West Virginia	699.4	1.1	702	46	4.3	6
Wisconsin	2,657.7	0.5	752	33	3.6	24
Wyoming	278.9	0.0	793	24	4.9	2
Puerto Rico	910.0	-2.7	502	(5)	1.6	(5)
Virgin Islands	43.5	2.3	754	(5)	4.3	(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.

 

 

Last Modified Date: May 6, 2011