From June 2011 to June 2012, employment increased in 287 of the 328 largest U.S. counties. The five counties with the largest increases in employment were Harris, Texas (78,300); Los Angeles, California (64,100); New York, New York (56,200); Dallas, Texas (46,100); and Maricopa, Arizona (44,300).
Among the 10 counties with the largest increases in employment from June 2011 to June 2012, Santa Clara, California, and Harris, Texas, had the largest over-the-year percent increase (3.8 percent each).
All of the 10 largest counties experienced over-the-year percentage increases in employment in June 2012. Harris, Texas, experienced the largest gain. Within Harris, professional and business services had the largest over-the-year increase in employment among all private industry groups with a gain of 20,285 jobs (6.0 percent). Cook, Illinois, had the smallest percentage increase (1.3 percent).
The 328 U.S. counties with 75,000 or more jobs accounted for 70.9 percent of total U.S. employment and 76.2 percent of total wages. These 328 counties had a net job growth of 1.7 million over the year, accounting for 73.3 percent of the overall U.S. employment increase.
These data are from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program. To learn more, see "County Employment and Wages: Second Quarter 2012" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-13-0013. Large counties are defined as having employment levels of 75,000 or greater. Data are derived from summaries of employment of workers covered by state and federal unemployment insurance. Data for 2012 are preliminary and subject to revision.
United States Department of Labor
