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News Release Information

16-2229-CHI
Friday, December 30, 2016

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

County Employment and Wages in South Dakota – Second Quarter 2016

South Dakota’s only large county, Minnehaha, reported employment growth of 0.8 percent from June 2015 to June 2016, 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 2015 annual average employment.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that in June 2016, Minnehaha County’s employment level of 125,900 accounted for 29.1 percent of total employment within the state. (See table 1.)

Nationally, employment rose 1.5 percent from June 2015 to June 2016, as 291 of the 344 largest U.S. counties gained jobs. Nationwide, the 344 largest counties made up 72.5 percent of total U.S. employment, which stood at 142.7 million in June 2016.

The average weekly wage in Minnehaha County was $847 in the second quarter of 2016, up 2.8 percent from the previous year. Nationally, the average weekly wage rose 2.2 percent over the year to $989 in the second quarter of 2016.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 65 counties in South Dakota with employment below 75,000. All 65 of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average. (See table 2.)

Large county wage changes

Minnehaha County’s 2.8-percent wage growth from the second quarter of 2015 to the second quarter of 2016 ranked 107th nationally. (See table 1.) Among the 344 largest U.S. counties, 304 had over-the-year increases in average weekly wages in the second quarter of 2016. McLean, Ill., ranked first in average weekly wage growth with a gain of 21.0 percent. Thirty-six of the 344 largest counties experienced over-the-year decreases in average weekly wages. Ventura, Calif., had the largest percentage decline in average weekly wages with a loss of 8.4 percent.

Large county average weekly wages

Minnehaha County’s $847 average weekly wage ranked 235th among the 344 large U.S. counties in the second quarter of 2016. Nationally, weekly wages were higher than the U.S. average of $989 in 102 of the largest U.S. counties. Santa Clara, Calif., held the top position with an average weekly wage of $2,252. Santa Mateo, Calif., was second at $1,871, followed by New York, N.Y. ($1,866), and San Francisco, Calif. ($1,806). Minnehaha was among the 241 large U.S. counties with an average weekly wage below the national average. Horry, S.C. ($598) reported the lowest weekly wage, followed by the Texas counties of Cameron ($602), Hidalgo ($626), and Webb ($659).

Average weekly wages in South Dakota’s smaller counties

All 65 counties in South Dakota with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages lower than the national average of $989. Among these smaller counties, Union County had the highest average weekly wage at $904 and Lyman County had the lowest at $485. (See table 2.)

When all 66 counties in South Dakota were considered, 17 reported average weekly wages of $599 or less, 18 had wages from $600 to $649, 14 reported wages from $650 to $699, and 17 had wages of $700 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.

Employment and Wages Annual Averages Online features comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2015 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 2016 version of the national news release. Tables and additional content from Employment and Wages Annual Averages 2015 are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/publications/employment-and-wages-annual-averages/2015/home.htm. The 2016 edition of Employment and Wages Annual Averages Online will be available in September 2017.

The County Employment and Wages release for third quarter 2016 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, March 7, 2017.


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 9.7 million employer reports cover 142.7 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.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Covered employment and wages in the United States and the largest county in South Dakota, second quarter 2016
Area Employment Average weekly wage (1)
June 2016 (thousands) Percent change, June 2015-16 (2) National ranking by percent change (3) Average weekly wage National ranking by level (3) Percent change, second quarter 2015-16 (2) National ranking by percent change (3)

United States (4)

142,717.2 1.5 -- $989 -- 2.2 --

South Dakota

432.7 1.0 -- 760 49 2.7 11

Minnehaha, S.D.

125.9 0.8 238 847 235 2.8 107

Footnotes:
(1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.
(2) Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications.
(3) Ranking does not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
(4) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
 

Note: Data are preliminary. Covered employment and wages includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.
 

Table 2. Covered employment and wages in the United States and all counties in South Dakota, second quarter 2016
Area Employment June 2016 Average weekly wage(1)

United States(2)

142,717,157 $989

South Dakota

432,694 760

Aurora

895 568

Beadle

8,873 704

Bennett

908 568

Bon Homme

1,843 609

Brookings

18,696 777

Brown

21,292 748

Brule

1,896 583

Buffalo

519 707

Butte

2,914 587

Campbell

503 606

Charles Mix

3,578 608

Clark

1,068 608

Clay

5,667 689

Codington

16,214 694

Corson

870 675

Custer

2,955 599

Davison

12,738 704

Day

2,025 558

Deuel

1,498 669

Dewey

2,234 709

Douglas

1,180 621

Edmunds

1,295 675

Fall River

2,639 640

Faulk

627 589

Grant

3,782 716

Gregory

1,561 546

Haakon

824 688

Hamlin

1,997 655

Hand

1,428 600

Hanson

616 668

Harding

451 719

Hughes

11,178 787

Hutchinson

2,716 625

Hyde

565 725

Jackson

868 525

Jerauld

1,417 667

Jones

498 519

Kingsbury

1,833 630

Lake

4,894 718

Lawrence

12,310 634

Lincoln

21,160 863

Lyman

1,462 485

Marshall

1,746 674

McCook

1,395 646

McPherson

638 553

Meade

6,957 698

Mellette

339 496

Miner

748 608

Minnehaha

125,916 847

Moody

2,446 683

Oglala Lakota

3,891 745

Pennington

58,949 743

Perkins

1,255 574

Potter

958 578

Roberts

3,682 637

Sanborn

625 578

Spink

2,476 649

Stanley

1,466 637

Sully

634 634

Todd

2,767 670

Tripp

2,172 640

Turner

2,134 593

Union

9,725 904

Walworth

2,260 628

Yankton

13,003 729

Ziebach

280 659

Footnotes
(1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.
(2) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
 

Includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.
Data are preliminary.
 

Table 3. Covered employment and wages by state, second quarter 2016
State Employment Average weekly wage (1)
June 2016 (thousands) Percent change, June 2015-16 Average weekly wage National ranking by level Percent change, second quarter 2015-16 National ranking by percent change

United States (2)

142,717.2 1.5 $989 -- 2.2 --

Alabama

1,923.5 1.2 835 37 2.0 29

Alaska

338.7 -2.4 1,011 10 -1.7 49

Arizona

2,619.6 2.6 921 22 1.9 33

Arkansas

1,197.5 1.1 785 47 3.0 7

California

16,754.1 2.5 1,157 5 2.4 19

Colorado

2,574.5 2.3 999 14 1.0 43

Connecticut

1,689.9 -0.1 1,213 3 3.0 7

Delaware

444.0 0.9 990 16 -0.6 48

District of Columbia

756.0 1.7 1,623 1 1.1 42

Florida

8,161.8 3.2 883 25 2.6 14

Georgia

4,269.5 2.7 929 21 2.7 11

Hawaii

643.4 1.0 906 24 3.5 5

Idaho

699.7 3.3 740 50 3.8 3

Illinois

5,945.0 0.2 1,038 9 2.4 19

Indiana

2,995.4 1.0 828 39 2.1 27

Iowa

1,566.0 0.3 825 40 2.9 9

Kansas

1,378.4 -0.2 829 38 1.2 39

Kentucky

1,877.2 1.5 838 36 1.9 33

Louisiana

1,905.2 -1.4 852 32 0.2 46

Maine

622.8 1.0 795 46 3.5 5

Maryland

2,656.0 0.9 1,070 8 2.5 15

Massachusetts

3,538.2 1.2 1,233 2 2.0 29

Michigan

4,300.9 1.9 942 19 2.7 11

Minnesota

2,846.8 0.7 997 15 2.0 29

Mississippi

1,120.1 0.5 727 51 2.5 15

Missouri

2,785.6 1.4 863 30 2.4 19

Montana

468.6 2.2 767 48 1.7 35

Nebraska

978.3 0.9 805 43 2.4 19

Nevada

1,289.4 3.3 874 27 2.2 26

New Hampshire

655.1 1.1 1,003 12 3.7 4

New Jersey

4,051.2 1.7 1,147 6 1.7 35

New Mexico

808.1 -0.3 812 42 0.9 44

New York

9,264.0 1.5 1,210 4 2.5 15

North Carolina

4,285.3 2.5 865 29 2.1 27

North Dakota

423.3 -4.9 908 23 -3.3 51

Ohio

5,353.1 0.8 882 26 2.0 29

Oklahoma

1,570.5 -1.4 823 41 0.6 45

Oregon

1,867.8 2.7 933 20 4.1 2

Pennsylvania

5,786.8 0.4 971 17 1.4 37

Rhode Island

482.9 0.6 949 18 2.5 15

South Carolina

2,013.7 2.4 804 44 2.8 10

South Dakota

432.7 1.0 760 49 2.7 11

Tennessee

2,900.4 2.4 874 27 1.3 38

Texas

11,810.7 1.0 1,000 13 1.2 39

Utah

1,395.9 3.8 840 35 2.3 25

Vermont

310.6 -0.1 850 33 2.4 19

Virginia

3,833.4 1.6 1,011 10 1.2 39

Washington

3,281.6 2.8 1,083 7 5.4 1

West Virginia

693.2 -1.9 800 45 -0.4 47

Wisconsin

2,869.1 0.9 856 31 2.4 19

Wyoming

281.7 -3.7 849 34 -2.2 50

Puerto Rico

879.5 -0.7 512 (3) 0.2 (3)

Virgin Islands

38.4 0.9 743 (3) -0.4 (3)

Footnotes:
(1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.
(2) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
(3) Data not included in the national ranking.
 

Note: Data are preliminary. Covered employment and wages includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs.
 

  Chart 1. Average weekly wages by county in South Dakota, second quarter 2016


 

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, December 30, 2016