Employment rose in all seven large counties in Missouri from September 2014 to September 2015, 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 2014 annual average employment. The independent city of St. Louis has been designated as a county by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program.) Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that Clay County reported the largest increase at 5.1 percent followed by St. Charles, 4.8 percent. These two counties registered employment gains that exceeded the national average of 1.9 percent.

Nationally, employment increased in 312 of the 342 largest U.S. counties from September 2014 to September 2015. Williamson, Tenn., posted the largest percentage increase with a gain of 6.5 percent over the year. Ector, Texas, had the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment among the largest counties in the U.S. with a loss of 8.3 percent.

Among the seven largest counties in Missouri, employment was highest in St. Louis (593,300) in September 2015. Jackson County and St. Louis City also had employment levels exceeding 200,000. Together, Missouri’s seven large counties accounted for 61.2 percent of total employment within the state. Nationwide, the 342 largest counties made up 72.2 percent of total U.S. employment.

Average weekly wages increased in all seven large counties in Missouri from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015. Wages in Greene County experienced the largest growth (3.9 percent), followed by Boone (3.7 percent) and Clay (3.0 percent). Nationally, average weekly wages increased 2.6 percent. St. Louis City had the highest average weekly wage among the largest counties in the state at $1,045, followed by St. Louis ($1,004) and Jackson ($989). Average weekly wages in these three counties exceeded the national average of $974. Greene County recorded the lowest average weekly wage at $753. (See table 1.)

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 108 counties in Missouri 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, the 7 large counties in Missouri recorded wage gains from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015, with 3 counties posting wage increases greater than the U.S. average of 2.6 percent. (See table 1.) Greene County had the largest wage gain (3.9 percent), placing 47^th in the national ranking, followed by Boone (3.7 percent, 60^th) and Clay (3.0 percent, 117^th). Jackson County’s wage growth of 2.6 percent matched the national average, and placed 154^th. St. Louis City (1.6 percent, 259^th), St. Charles (1.2 percent, 286^th), and St. Louis (0.9 percent, 305^th) placed in the bottom quarter of the national ranking.

Among the 342 largest counties in the U.S., 319 had over-the-year increases in average weekly wages in the third quarter of 2015. Rockland, N.Y., ranked first in average weekly wage growth with an increase of 24.9 percent. Twenty of the 342 largest counties experienced over-the-year decreases in average weekly wages. Midland, Texas, had the largest percentage decline in average weekly wages with a loss of 6.7 percent.

Large county average weekly wages

Three of the state’s large counties had average weekly wage levels that placed in the top 100 of the 342 largest U.S. counties in the third quarter of 2015. Average weekly wages in St. Louis City ($1,045) and St. Louis County ($1,004) ranked 72^nd and 84^th, respectively. Jackson County’s average weekly wage of $989 was also above the national average of $974 and ranked 91^st. Wage levels in Missouri’s four other large counties were below the national average, and placed in the bottom half of the national ranking.

Nationally, weekly wages were higher than the average of $974 in 100 of the 342 largest U.S. counties. Santa Clara, Calif., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $2,090, followed by San Mateo, Calif. ($1,894), and New York, N.Y. ($1,829). Among the 242 large counties with an average weekly wage below the U.S. average in the third quarter of 2015, Horry, S.C. ($598), reported the lowest wage.

Average weekly wages in Missouri’s smaller counties

Of the 108 counties in Missouri with employment below 75,000, Platte County recorded the highest average weekly wage at $821. Ozark County reported the lowest weekly wage in the state at $411 in the third quarter of 2015. (See table 2.)

When all 115 counties in Missouri were considered, 60 reported average weekly wages of $599 or less, 43 reported wages from $600 to $749, 9 had wages from $750 to $899, and 3 had wages of $900 or higher. (See chart 1.) Of the 12 counties with wages of $750 or higher, half were located in the major metropolitan areas of Kansas City and St. Louis.

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 2014 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 2015 version of the national news release. Tables and additional content from the 2014 edition of Employment and Wages Annual Averages Online are now available at www.bls.gov/cew/publications/employment-and-wages-annual-averages/2014/home.htm. The 2015 edition of Employment and Wages Annual Averages Online will be available in September 2016.

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.

The County Employment and Wages release for fourth quarter 2015 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, June 8, 2016.

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 9.6 million employer reports cover 140.4 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 7 largest counties in Missouri, third quarter 2015

Area	Employment			Average weekly wage (1)
	September 2015 (thousands)	Percent change, September 2014-15 (2)	National ranking by percent change (3)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level (3)	Percent change, third quarter 2014-15 (2)	National ranking by percent change (3)
United States (4)	140,442.2	1.9	--	$974	--	2.6	--
Missouri	2,737.9	1.9	--	846	32	2.2	34
Boone, Mo.	92.5	1.8	172	795	279	3.7	60
Clay, Mo.	99.2	5.1	9	856	208	3.0	117
Greene, Mo.	162.0	1.1	227	753	316	3.9	47
Jackson, Mo.	358.0	2.0	151	989	91	2.6	154
St. Charles, Mo.	141.2	4.8	12	774	301	1.2	286
St. Louis City, Mo.	228.3	1.9	162	1,045	72	1.6	259
St. Louis, Mo.	593.3	1.6	192	1,004	84	0.9	305
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 3. Covered employment and wages by state, third quarter 2015

State	Employment		Average weekly wage (1)
	September 2015 (thousands)	Percent change, September 2014-15	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level	Percent change, third quarter 2014-15	National ranking by percent change
United States (2)	140,442.2	1.9	$974	--	2.6	--
Alabama	1,893.6	1.2	830	34	1.8	40
Alaska	346.4	0.4	1,041	9	2.2	34
Arizona	2,613.9	2.9	889	24	1.5	42
Arkansas	1,193.4	1.9	756	48	2.6	22
California	16,474.4	3.0	1,134	5	3.4	6
Colorado	2,513.0	2.9	1,006	12	2.4	30
Connecticut	1,668.3	0.2	1,147	4	2.0	38
Delaware	436.3	2.1	963	15	0.3	48
District of Columbia	743.6	1.4	1,667	1	2.3	33
Florida	8,023.2	3.5	852	31	3.1	10
Georgia	4,171.1	2.8	916	22	2.8	19
Hawaii	635.4	1.4	896	23	3.1	10
Idaho	680.3	3.3	736	50	2.1	37
Illinois	5,888.6	1.3	1,020	10	3.9	3
Indiana	2,971.7	1.6	818	39	2.4	30
Iowa	1,535.9	0.4	823	38	3.0	14
Kansas	1,370.9	0.6	809	41	1.8	40
Kentucky	1,852.5	1.4	804	42	2.9	18
Louisiana	1,926.3	-0.2	858	30	0.7	47
Maine	609.7	0.7	779	46	3.3	7
Maryland	2,607.8	1.3	1,067	8	2.4	30
Massachusetts	3,446.9	1.4	1,197	2	3.0	14
Michigan	4,203.0	1.6	921	20	2.7	20
Minnesota	2,800.7	1.4	990	14	2.6	22
Mississippi	1,118.9	1.2	706	51	1.3	43
Missouri	2,737.9	1.9	846	32	2.2	34
Montana	457.9	1.9	759	47	3.7	4
Nebraska	964.0	1.4	811	40	4.2	2
Nevada	1,254.5	3.2	862	29	2.5	27
New Hampshire	642.8	1.5	952	18	2.7	20
New Jersey	3,933.9	1.4	1,116	6	2.6	22
New Mexico	809.2	0.6	798	43	1.3	43
New York	9,065.4	1.8	1,180	3	3.1	10
North Carolina	4,194.1	2.5	863	28	3.0	14
North Dakota	438.0	-3.8	956	17	-2.3	51
Ohio	5,282.7	1.2	878	25	1.9	39
Oklahoma	1,598.0	0.2	825	37	0.0	49
Oregon	1,812.8	3.0	924	19	4.4	1
Pennsylvania	5,722.1	0.8	961	16	2.5	27
Rhode Island	477.4	1.2	919	21	2.6	22
South Carolina	1,959.7	2.9	788	44	2.6	22
South Dakota	419.5	0.9	756	48	3.1	10
Tennessee	2,850.6	2.7	864	27	3.2	8
Texas	11,681.0	2.1	999	13	1.1	45
Utah	1,353.9	3.7	829	35	3.2	8
Vermont	308.2	0.5	829	35	3.0	14
Virginia	3,759.7	2.5	1,014	11	2.5	27
Washington	3,187.6	2.5	1,111	7	2.2	34
West Virginia	702.4	-1.1	785	45	0.9	46
Wisconsin	2,815.7	0.9	834	33	3.5	5
Wyoming	287.4	-1.5	866	26	-1.1	50
Puerto Rico	891.1	-0.7	512	(3)	1.4	(3)
Virgin Islands	36.8	-2.1	738	(3)	2.1	(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.