Average weekly wages in New York County, more commonly known as the borough of Manhattan, declined 0.5 percent over the year in the first quarter of 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli attributed the decline to lower wages in the professional and business services sector. Nationally wages increased 0.6 percent over the year. (See chart 1.)

Manhattan’s average weekly wages edged down to $2,448, yet remained the highest among the nation’s largest counties, those with 75,000 or more jobs. Queens led the remaining New York City boroughs with a weekly wage of $894, which was 10 percent below the national average of $989.

The largest employment gain among the City’s boroughs was in Staten Island (Richmond County), up 2.8 percent, followed by Bronx and Queens Counties, each up 2.2 percent. (See table 1.) Nationally, employment grew by 1.6 percent from March 2012 to March 2013. (See chart 2.)

Over-the-year wage changes

Four of the five New York City boroughs registered wage growth that exceeded the national average. Queens’ 1.7-percent and the Bronx’s 1.2-percent increase ranked 71st and 115th, respectively, among the nation’s 334 largest counties. Staten Island and Brooklyn (Kings County) followed with 0.9-percent and 0.8-percent gains, ranking among the top half of the nation’s large counties. In contrast, Manhattan ranked in the bottom quarter of the largest U.S. counties in wage growth.

In Manhattan, four supersectors with 1,000 or more employees reported declines over the year in average weekly wages—manufacturing (-8.3 percent); professional and business services (-4.4 percent); trade, transportation, and utilities (-1.3 percent); and other services (-0.2 percent). The largest supersector, professional and business services, had the largest impact on the borough’s average weekly wage. Four other supersectors registered wage gains of at least 1.0 percent—construction (1.9 percent), financial activities (2.3 percent), information (3.3 percent), and education and health (4.4 percent).

Nationally, the largest increase in average weekly wages occurred in information (3.6 percent), followed by other services (1.5 percent). The largest fall in average weekly wages occurred in professional and business services (-0.6 percent).

Among the 334 largest U.S. counties, 232 posted gains in average wages over the year; 92 experienced declines. The largest wage gain occurred in San Mateo, Calif., 14.8 percent. Williamson, Texas, recorded the largest decline, 13.4 percent.

Average weekly wages

Manhattan’s average weekly wage during the first quarter of 2012 was two and a half times the national average—$2,448 compared to $989. No other county in New York City had an average weekly wage above that of the nation. Staten Island and Brooklyn were the lowest-paying boroughs, with average wages below $800 per week. (See chart 3.)

Within Manhattan, the financial activities supersector had the highest first-quarter average weekly wage, $7,659. (See table 2.) Information had the next highest average wage ($2,939), followed by professional and business services ($2,444) and natural resources and mining ($2,201). Leisure and hospitality had the lowest average wage of the industry supersectors, $791. Wages in every supersector in Manhattan were higher than their respective national industry averages.

Among the 334 largest counties in the nation, Somerset, N.J., trailed Manhattan with the second highest average weekly wage, $2,009, followed by Santa Clara, Calif., $1,937. Four of the 10 counties with the highest wages in the nation were located in the greater New York area (New York, N.Y., Somerset, N.J., Fairfield, Conn., Morris, N.J.), while the rest were located in or around the San Francisco area, the Washington, D.C. area, and the Boston area.

Employment

From March 2012 to March 2013, all five of the counties which make up New York City gained jobs. Staten Island ranked 57th in employment growth among the nation’s 334 large counties, and Bronx and Queens both ranked 101st. Employment in Brooklyn and Manhattan rose 1.7 percent. Within Manhattan, among supersectors with 1,000 or more employees, construction reported the largest employment growth (7.3 percent), and financial activities reported the largest decline (-1.1 percent).

Nationally, employment increased in 282 of the 334 largest U.S. counties from March 2012 to March 2013. Fort Bend, Texas, posted the largest increase, with a gain of 7.0 percent over the year. Conversely, employment declined in 46 of the large counties. Sangamon, Ill., had the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment (-2.4 percent).

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 2012 edition of this bulletin, which was published in September 2013, 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 Bulletin 2012 are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn12.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: 800-877-8339.

County employment and wage data for the second quarter 2013 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, December 18, 2013.

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 9.2 million employer reports cover 132.3 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 website 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 website.

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 website. 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 website 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 United States, New York State, and five counties of New York City, first quarter 2013 (2)

Area	Employment		Average weekly wage
	March               2013      (thousands)	Percent change, March 2012-13 (4)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level (5)	Percent change, first quarter 2012-13 (4)	National ranking by percent change (5)
United States (6)	132,338.9	1.6	$989	--	0.6	--
New York State	8,565.7	1.0	1,362	2	0.4	37
Bronx	240.9	2.2	864	180	1.2	115
Kings	527.5	1.7	750	296	0.8	154
New York	2,403.9	1.7	2,448	1	-0.5	269
Queens	525.3	2.2	894	161	1.7	71
Richmond	93.4	2.8	784	265	0.9	141
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)    Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications. (5)    Ranking does not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. (6)    Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.

Table 2. Covered (1) employment and wages in the United States and New York County, first quarter, 2013 (2)

Area	Employment		Average weekly wage(3)
	March 2013 (thousands)	Percent change March 2012-13(4)	Average weekly wage	Percent change, first quarter 2012-13(4)
United States(5)	132,338.9	1.6	$  989	0.6
Private industry	110,877.4	2.0	995	0.5
Natural resources and mining	1,880.6	1.8	1,190	-0.3
Construction	5,476.8	3.4	979	0.9
Manufacturing	11,908.5	0.9	1,227	0.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	25,080.6	1.3	819	0.9
Information	2,682.6	0.1	1,772	3.6
Financial activities	7,539.8	1.8	1,924	1.1
Professional and business services	18,132.5	2.9	1,288	-0.6
Education and health services	20,157.2	1.9	837	1.2
Leisure and hospitality	13,703.0	2.8	382	-0.3
Other services	4,100.7	0.6	620	1.5
Government	21,461.5	-0.4	958	0.9
New York, NY	2,403.9	1.7	2,448	-0.5
Private industry	1,965.8	2.0	2,744	-0.8
Natural resources and mining	0.1	8.8	2,201	-20.4
Construction	32.7	7.3	1,674	1.9
Manufacturing	25.5	-0.7	1,488	-8.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	251.2	1.8	1,318	-1.3
Information	139.5	1.1	2,939	3.3
Financial activities	348.1	-1.1	7,659	2.3
Professional and business services	494.3	3.0	2,444	-4.4
Education and health services	318.0	2.4	1,175	4.4
Leisure and hospitality	254.6	1.8	791	0.1
Other services	93.8	3.3	1,040	-0.2
Government	438.1	0.2	1,119	0.5
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)  Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications. (5)  Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.

Table 3. Covered (1) employment and wages by state, first quarter 2013 (2)

State	Employment		Average weekly wage (3)
	March               2013      (thousands)	Percent change, March 2012-13	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level	Percent change, first quarter 2012-13	National ranking  by percent change
United States (4)	132,338.9	1.6	$989	--	0.6	--
Alabama	1,840.4	1.0	812	36	0.5	35
Alaska	317.9	0.5	988	15	1.5	12
Arizona	2,494.6	2.2	891	21	0.6	30
Arkansas	1,151.1	0.0	765	47	2.4	2
California	15,168.9	3.0	1,116	6	-0.2	45
Colorado	2,298.0	3.0	1,004	13	0.1	41
Connecticut	1,618.4	0.4	1,319	3	-0.5	49
Delaware	403.7	1.4	1,070	7	-0.2	45
District of Columbia	717.6	1.0	1,613	1	0.5	35
Florida	7,540.7	2.2	843	30	0.7	28
Georgia	3,878.7	1.8	940	18	1.0	20
Hawaii	616.3	2.4	842	31	1.2	14
Idaho	613.4	3.0	695	51	0.6	30
Illinois	5,601.4	0.7	1,058	9	-0.2	45
Indiana	2,808.1	1.1	832	34	1.2	14
Iowa	1,463.2	1.0	799	39	1.8	6
Kansas	1,322.0	0.7	807	37	0.4	37
Kentucky	1,765.2	0.9	791	40	0.8	23
Louisiana	1,885.8	1.0	847	28	1.3	13
Maine	561.6	0.0	771	45	1.8	6
Maryland	2,509.0	0.8	1,066	8	-0.6	50
Massachusetts	3,218.5	1.0	1,236	4	0.7	28
Michigan	3,950.7	2.1	922	20	0.3	39
Minnesota	2,632.9	1.9	1,002	14	1.2	14
Mississippi	1,088.9	0.4	696	50	1.2	14
Missouri	2,610.3	0.7	842	31	0.6	30
Montana	427.4	1.9	707	49	0.1	41
Nebraska	914.9	1.0	777	43	1.7	9
Nevada	1,144.1	2.3	844	29	-0.2	45
New Hampshire	606.0	0.7	938	19	1.6	11
New Jersey	3,780.4	1.1	1,234	5	0.6	30
New Mexico	784.7	0.6	778	42	-0.6	50
New York	8,565.7	1.0	1,362	2	0.4	37
North Carolina	3,934.4	1.6	884	23	1.7	9
North Dakota	415.0	4.4	885	22	3.1	1
Ohio	5,004.8	0.7	884	23	1.1	19
Oklahoma	1,551.3	1.2	823	35	2.4	2
Oregon	1,644.4	1.9	864	25	0.0	43
Pennsylvania	5,543.3	0.1	968	16	0.9	21
Rhode Island	445.3	0.8	954	17	2.4	2
South Carolina	1,823.7	1.4	773	44	1.2	14
South Dakota	394.3	1.0	709	48	0.9	21
Tennessee	2,675.0	1.5	854	27	0.8	23
Texas	10,928.5	3.0	1,015	12	0.3	39
Utah	1,233.4	3.3	804	38	0.6	30
Vermont	299.3	0.7	791	40	2.3	5
Virginia	3,616.8	0.9	1,027	11	0.8	23
Washington	2,890.8	2.3	1,028	10	1.8	6
West Virginia	701.0	-0.7	767	46	-0.1	44
Wisconsin	2,664.9	0.9	833	33	0.8	23
Wyoming	272.2	0.1	859	26	0.8	23
Puerto Rico	931.3	0.0	515	(5)	-1.2	(5)
Virgin Islands	39.8	-6.7	726	(5)	0.4	(5)
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.