From December 2012 to December 2013, employment in Delaware’s only large county, New Castle, increased 1.8 percent, 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 2012 annual average employment.) Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that New Castle County gained jobs at the same rate as the nation over the year and ranked in the top half of all 334 large counties nationwide (139th) for job growth.

Employment increased in 292 of the 334 largest U.S. counties from December 2012. Weld, Colo., had the largest percentage increase, with a gain of 6.0 percent over the year. Lee, Fla., had the next-largest percentage increase (5.5 percent), followed by the counties of Sonoma, Calif., and Douglas, Colo. (5.2 percent each). Employment fell in 39 large counties during this period. St. Clair, Ill., experienced the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment (-3.1 percent), followed by Peoria, Ill., and Broome, N.Y. (-2.2 percent each).

New Castle County’s employment in December 2013 was 277,400 and accounted for about two-thirds of Delaware’s total employment. Nationwide, the 334 large counties accounted for 71.7 percent of total U.S. employment, which stood at 136.1 million in December 2013. These 334 counties had a net job growth of 2.3 million over the year, accounting for 76.2 percent of the overall U.S. employment increase.

The average weekly wage in New Castle County decreased 1.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012 to the fourth quarter of 2013, ranking it 265th among the large counties in the U.S. for wage change. Over the year, the national average weekly wage was unchanged. Santa Cruz, Calif., had the fastest wage increase among the largest U.S. counties (6.5 percent). Douglas, Colo., had the largest average wage decrease, down 29.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012.

New Castle County’s average weekly wage of $1,160 ranked 48th among the 334 largest counties. Delaware’s largest county exceeded the U.S. average weekly wage of $1,000 in the fourth quarter of 2013 by 16.0 percent.

Average weekly wages were higher than the national average in 98 of the largest 334 U.S. counties. San Mateo, Calif., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with a wage of $2,724. New York, N.Y., was second at $2,041, followed by Santa Clara, Calif. ($1,972). (See table 1.) There were 235 counties with an average weekly wage below the national average in the fourth quarter of 2013. The lowest average weekly wage was reported in Horry, S.C. ($587), followed by the counties of Cameron, Texas ($598); and Hidalgo, Texas ($620).

Average Weekly Wages in Delaware’s Smaller Counties

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the two counties in Delaware with employment below 75,000. Both Kent ($782) and Sussex ($728) had average weekly wages more than 20 percent below the national average. (See table A and chart 1).

 

Additional statistics and other information

QCEW data for states have been included in this release in table 2. 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 2012 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 2013 version of the national news release. Tables and additional content from Employment and Wages Annual Averages 2012 are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/publications/employment-and-wages-annual-averages/2012/home.htm. The 2013 edition of Employment and Wages Annual Averages Online will be available in September 2014.

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.

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 9.3 million employer reports cover 136.1 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.

Chart 1. Average weekly wages by county in Delaware, fourth quarter 2013
 

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Data are preliminary.