Employment rose in the four largest counties in Utah from March 2013 to March 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. (Large counties are defined as those with employment of 75,000 or more as measured by 2013 annual average employment.) Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that Utah County experienced the fastest growth, up 4.7 percent over the year. Three of the four counties registered employment gains exceeding the national average of 1.7 percent.

Nationally, employment increased in 281 of the 339 largest U.S. counties from March 2013 to March 2014. Weld, Colo., posted the largest percentage increase with a gain of 7.5 percent over the year. Peoria, Ill., experienced the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment with a loss of 2.6 percent.

Among the four largest counties in Utah, employment was highest in Salt Lake County (614,600) and lowest in Weber (94,300). Together, the four largest counties accounted for 79.4 percent of total employment within the state. Nationwide, the 339 large counties made up 72.0 percent of total U.S. employment.

Two of Utah’s four large counties experienced wage growth that exceeded the 3.8-percent national gain from the first quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014; however, the four counties’ average weekly wages were all below the $1,027 national average. Utah County recorded the fastest rate of wage growth (5.9 percent) while Salt Lake County had the highest average weekly wage ($947) among Utah’s large counties. (See table 1.)

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 25 counties in Utah with employment below 75,000. All of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average. (See table 2.)

Large county wage changes

As mentioned, Utah County had the largest wage gain at 5.9 percent, placing it 21^st in the national ranking, followed by Weber (4.9 percent, 41^st). (See table 1.) Salt Lake and Davis registered wage growth of 3.4 and 1.0 percent, respectively, and placed 111^th and 288^th.

Among the 339 largest U.S. counties, 323 had over-the-year increases in average weekly wages in the first quarter of 2014. Chester, Pa., ranked first in average weekly wage growth with an increase of 13.9 percent. Benton, Ark., had the largest average weekly wage decrease with a loss of 3.2 percent.

Large county average weekly wages

At $947, Salt Lake County’s average weekly wage ranked 146^th among the 339 largest U.S. counties in the first quarter of 2014. The three remaining large counties in Utah had average weekly wages that placed them in the bottom quartile of the national ranking—Davis ($778, 289^th); Utah ($771, 296^th); and Weber ($721, 320^th).

Nationally, weekly wages were higher than the average of $1,027 in 95 of the 339 largest U.S. counties. New York, N.Y., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $2,749. Santa Clara, Calif., was second at $2,074, followed by San Mateo, Calif. ($2,058) and Somerset, N.J. ($2,048). Among the 244 large counties with an average weekly wage below the U.S. average in the first quarter of 2014, Horry, S.C. ($571) reported the lowest wage.

Average weekly wages in Utah’s smaller counties

Each of the 25 counties in Utah with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages lower than the national average. Duchesne County’s wage of $955 was the highest among the small counties followed by Uintah at $953. Piute reported the lowest weekly wage in the state with an average of $480 in the first quarter of 2014. (See table 2.)

When all 29 counties in Utah were considered, 11 reported average weekly wages under $600, 8 reported wages from $600 to $699, 7 posted wages from $700 to $799, and 3 had wages greater than $800. (See chart 1.) Most of the counties with average weekly wages above $600 were located in the northern half of the state while counties with wages under $600 were predominantly located in the southern half.

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 2013 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 2014 version of the news release. Tables and additional content from Employment and Wages Annual Averages 2013 are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/publications/employment-and-wages-annual-averages/2013/home.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 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 9.4 million employer reports cover 134.6 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 employment and wages in the United States and the 4 largest counties in Utah, first quarter 2014

Area	Employment			Average Weekly Wage (1)
	March 2014 (thousands)	Percent change, March 2013-14 (2)	National ranking by percent change (3)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level (3)	Percent change, first quarter 2013-14 (2)	National ranking by percent change (3)
United States (4)	134,555.0	1.7	--	$1,027	--	3.8	--
Utah	1,270.8	3.1	--	831	37	3.4	18
Davis, Utah	110.7	3.4	47	778	289	1.0	288
Salt Lake, Utah	614.6	2.7	80	947	146	3.4	111
Utah, Utah	189.6	4.7	11	771	296	5.9	21
Weber, Utah	94.3	1.4	162	721	320	4.9	41
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: Covered employment and wages includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs. Data are preliminary.

Table 2. Covered employment and wages in the United States and all counties in Utah, first quarter 2014

Area	Employment March 2014	Average weekly wage (1)
United States (2)	134,554,959	$1,027
Utah	1,270,842	831
Beaver	2,670	608
Box Elder	17,585	667
Cache	49,647	625
Carbon	8,351	730
Daggett	318	692
Davis	110,684	778
Duchesne	9,472	955
Emery	3,344	791
Garfield	1,762	567
Grand	4,801	553
Iron	15,288	565
Juab	3,099	598
Kane	2,799	541
Millard	4,390	677
Morgan	1,858	716
Piute	238	480
Rich	581	505
Salt Lake	614,563	947
San Juan	3,955	650
Sanpete	6,687	541
Sevier	7,878	583
Summit	26,963	693
Tooele	14,939	775
Uintah	14,631	953
Utah	189,634	771
Wasatch	6,921	618
Washington	52,665	590
Wayne	795	564
Weber	94,324	721
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.
Note: Covered employment and wages 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, first quarter 2014

State	Employment		Average weekly wage (1)
	March 2014 (thousands)	Percent change, March 2013-14	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level	Percent change, first quarter 2013-14	National ranking by percent change
United States (2)	134,555.0	1.7	$1,027	--	3.8	--
Alabama	1,849.5	0.6	825	38	1.6	50
Alaska	319.1	0.3	1,023	15	3.5	17
Arizona	2,540.8	1.9	918	22	3.1	26
Arkansas	1,152.6	0.3	784	46	2.5	37
California	15,572.9	2.8	1,165	6	4.5	5
Colorado	2,370.1	3.1	1,046	13	4.2	9
Connecticut	1,627.2	0.5	1,362	3	3.3	24
Delaware	412.5	2.0	1,110	7	3.9	13
District of Columbia	727.3	1.2	1,701	1	5.3	3
Florida	7,752.4	2.9	868	28	3.0	28
Georgia	3,974.8	2.6	972	18	3.4	18
Hawaii	624.9	1.2	857	32	1.9	42
Idaho	631.5	3.3	722	50	3.9	13
Illinois	5,651.2	0.9	1,104	8	4.2	9
Indiana	2,842.5	1.2	845	35	1.7	48
Iowa	1,485.4	1.5	824	39	3.0	28
Kansas	1,343.0	1.7	840	36	4.1	11
Kentucky	1,784.1	1.1	811	40	2.7	33
Louisiana	1,909.8	1.2	868	28	2.6	35
Maine	565.9	0.7	786	45	1.9	42
Maryland	2,512.8	0.1	1,086	9	1.8	47
Massachusetts	3,272.2	1.3	1,300	4	5.3	3
Michigan	4,013.5	1.7	950	20	3.1	26
Minnesota	2,652.3	0.8	1,036	14	3.4	18
Mississippi	1,096.8	0.6	707	51	1.7	48
Missouri	2,634.6	1.0	866	31	2.9	30
Montana	429.9	0.7	730	49	3.3	24
Nebraska	930.7	1.7	797	42	2.6	35
Nevada	1,183.5	3.4	867	30	2.7	33
New Hampshire	614.2	1.3	970	19	3.4	18
New Jersey	3,794.3	0.6	1,263	5	2.2	38
New Mexico	787.0	0.2	793	43	1.9	42
New York	8,699.5	1.6	1,460	2	7.3	1
North Carolina	4,003.2	1.7	914	23	3.4	18
North Dakota	428.9	3.3	944	21	6.7	2
Ohio	5,071.5	1.3	909	24	2.8	32
Oklahoma	1,565.2	0.7	854	34	3.9	13
Oregon	1,688.5	2.8	893	25	3.4	18
Pennsylvania	5,560.9	0.3	1,007	16	4.1	11
Rhode Island	449.7	1.1	996	17	4.4	8
South Carolina	1,873.6	2.7	787	44	1.9	42
South Dakota	400.2	1.4	741	48	4.5	5
Tennessee	2,718.2	1.7	874	27	2.2	38
Texas	11,220.6	2.6	1,062	11	4.5	5
Utah	1,270.8	3.1	831	37	3.4	18
Vermont	301.1	0.5	807	41	1.9	42
Virginia	3,613.2	0.0	1,050	12	2.2	38
Washington	2,966.3	2.6	1,068	10	3.8	16
West Virginia	694.6	-0.9	779	47	1.4	51
Wisconsin	2,694.5	1.0	856	33	2.9	30
Wyoming	275.4	1.0	877	26	2.1	41
Puerto Rico	914.9	-1.8	521	(3)	1.4	(3)
Virgin Islands	38.3	-3.6	744	(3)	2.6	(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: Covered employment and wages includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs. Data are preliminary.