An article in the WSJ, shows that weekly wages grew 4% or better in 44 of the 342 U.S. counties with at least 75,000 jobs [or 12.5%], according to Labor Department data released Wednesday. Meanwhile, wages fell from a year earlier in 21 counties, including Midland, Texas, and Union, N.J.* The best and the worst counties are given in the tables below. You are encouraged to look at the original article in which you can search for your or other counties with at least 75,000 jobs.
Rockland County, N.Y., had by far the largest wage gain, up 24.9% in the third quarter of 2015 from a year earlier. Those gains were led by a leap in manufacturing pay for the county northwest of New York City. Employment in the county grew 2.6%.
Lake County, Ill., north of Chicago, was second, with wages growing 11.7%. Those were the only two counties with double-digit percentage gains.*
Weekly wages declined 6.7% in the energy hub of Midland, the most of anywhere in the county. That corresponds with a 7.3% fall in employment. Union, N.J., wages fell 5% over the year.
Ector, Texas, had the largest employment decline, down 8.3%. Wages fell 4.9%.
The average for all the counties was a 2.6% increase which the article says is not very good. In my own case, however, a 2.6% wage increase in a year was very good with about once every 10 yrs having an increase of maybe 10%.
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