For Release: Thursday, July 03, 2014

14-1268-PHI

MID-ATLANTIC INFORMATION OFFICE: Philadelphia, Pa.
Technical information: (215) 597-3282 BLSInfoPhiladelphia@bls.gov www.bls.gov/regions/mid-atlantic
Media contact: (215) 861-5600 BLSMediaPhiladelphia@bls.gov

County Employment and Wages in Delaware - Fourth Quarter 2013

New Castle County’s Employment Increased; Wages Declined Over the Year

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).

Table A. Covered(1) employment and wages in the United States and all of the counties in Delaware, fourth quarter 2013(2)
Table A. Covered(1) employment and wages in the United States and all of the counties in Delaware, fourth quarter 2013(2)
AreaEmployment December 2013 (thousands)Average weekly wage(3)
 
 
 
- ContinuedNote: See footnotes at end of table.

United States(4)

136,129.4$1,000

Delaware

419.61,035

Kent

65.1782

New Castle

277.41,160

Sussex

67.2728

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.
 

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.
 


 

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.

Table 1. Covered(1) employment and wages in the top 10 counties ranked by average weekly wage, fourth quarter 2013(2)
Table 1. Covered(1) employment and wages in the top 10 counties ranked by average weekly wage, fourth quarter 2013(2)
AreaEmploymentAverage weekly wage(3)
December 2013 (thousands)Fourth quarter 2013National ranking by leve(4)Percent change, 2012-13(5)National ranking by percent change(4)
 
 
 
 
 
 
- ContinuedNote: See footnotes at end of table.

United States(6)

136,129.4$1,000--0.0--

San Mateo, Calif.

366.12,7241-15.8333

New York, N.Y.

2,500.22,0412-3.3325

Santa Clara, Calif.

965.71,97233.417

San Francisco, Calif.

630.51,75343.019

Suffolk, Mass.

614.31,74150.6134

Fairfield, Conn.

420.01,6536-3.3325

Washington, D.C.

727.31,6387-3.9328

Arlington, Va.

165.91,5888-2.4311

Fairfax, Va.

588.41,5589-2.0305

Morris, N.J.

283.31,553105.06

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) Ranking does not include the county of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
(5) Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for any noneconomic county reclassifications.
(6) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
 

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) Ranking does not include the county of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
(5) Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for any noneconomic county reclassifications.
(6) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
 



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

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

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


 

Table 2. Covered(1) employment and wages by state, fourth quarter 2013(2)
Table 2. Covered(1) employment and wages by state, fourth quarter 2013(2)
StateEmploymentAverage weekly wage(3)
December 2013 (thousands)Percent change, December 2012-13Fourth quarter 2012(3)National ranking by levelPercent change, fourth quarter 2012-13National ranking by percent change
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
- ContinuedNote: See footnotes at end of table.

United States(4)

136,129.41.8$1,000--0.0--

Alabama

1,866.51.085134-0.539

Alaska

315.10.01,022141.67

Arizona

2,571.02.490623-0.539

Arkansas

1,154.3-0.5771470.422

California

15,650.32.81,1756-0.943

Colorado

2,383.93.11,02313-0.943

Connecticut

1,661.20.31,2384-1.349

Delaware

419.61.81,0359-0.641

District of Columbia

727.30.61,6381-3.951

Florida

7,739.52.7883290.227

Georgia

3,986.92.592421-0.132

Hawaii

632.91.7871300.325

Idaho

634.52.6754503.02

Illinois

5,758.91.01,06080.227

Indiana

2,896.91.681440-0.235

Iowa

1,510.91.4834381.67

Kansas

1,359.51.683239-0.438

Kentucky

1,818.01.2804420.227

Louisiana

1,911.60.9889260.520

Maine

586.80.8786461.75

Maryland

2,555.10.41,0767-0.943

Massachusetts

3,332.91.51,25830.817

Michigan

4,072.42.095220-0.235

Minnesota

2,720.61.7988160.325

Mississippi

1,108.11.1729511.311

Missouri

2,670.41.186132-0.235

Montana

440.01.3760480.422

Nebraska

944.31.479643-0.132

Nevada

1,180.53.0884280.718

New Hampshire

629.31.41,01715-0.842

New Jersey

3,887.51.21,18651.114

New Mexico

796.2-0.1814401.410

New York

8,888.61.71,2662-1.148

North Carolina

4,045.51.9860330.718

North Dakota

435.03.3980173.81

Ohio

5,175.41.4887270.030

Oklahoma

1,581.30.685134-0.132

Oregon

1,699.62.5894252.63

Pennsylvania

5,650.30.4976180.422

Rhode Island

462.71.4960191.59

South Carolina

1,875.82.3793441.015

South Dakota

407.11.3759491.311

Tennessee

2,758.31.889524-0.943

Texas

11,246.32.61,027120.030

Utah

1,284.73.183637-0.943

Vermont

308.50.6848362.34

Virginia

3,670.00.11,02811-1.349

Washington

2,976.02.51,034101.75

West Virginia

710.1-0.6792450.520

Wisconsin

2,751.81.0865311.213

Wyoming

279.20.6917221.015

Puerto Rico

958.3-2.3551(3)0.2(3)

Virgin Islands

38.5-3.6754(3)2.4(3)

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.
 

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.