Seven out of eight large counties in Indiana reported employment increases from March 2011 to March 2012, 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 2011 annual average employment.) Elkhart County had the largest increase, up 4.1 percent, followed by Tippecanoe County, 3.3 percent, and Hamilton County, 3.2 percent. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that 5 of the state's 8 large counties experienced over-the-year employment increases greater than the national increase of 1.8 percent.

Nationally, employment increased 1.8 percent during the 12-month period, as 293 of the 328 large U.S. counties gained jobs. Gregg, Texas, posted the largest percentage increase with a gain of 6.0 percent over the year. Benton, Wash., experienced the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment with a loss of 3.9 percent.

Among the eight largest counties in Indiana, employment was highest in Marion County (555,700) in March 2012. Two other counties, Lake (186,000) and Allen (173,300), had employment levels above 150,000. Collectively, Indiana's eight large counties accounted for 51.6 percent of total employment within the state. Nationwide, the 328 largest counties made up 71.1 percent of total U.S. employment, which stood at 130.2 million in March 2012.

The average weekly wage in Lake County rose 8.4 percent from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012, the largest increase among Indiana's large counties. Marion County had the highest average weekly wage of the state’s large counties at $1,029, followed by Hamilton ($952) and Lake ($852). (See table 1.) Nationally, the average weekly wage rose 5.4 percent over the year to $984 in the first quarter of 2012.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 84 counties in Indiana with employment below 75,000. Excluding the counties of Martin, Bartholomew, and Posey, all of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average. (See table 2.)

Large county wage changes

Six of Indiana's large counties recorded wage growth above the national increase of 5.4 percent from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012. (See table 1.) As noted, Lake County experienced the state’s largest average weekly wage increase of 8.4 percent, ranking 26th among the 328 largest counties in the nation. Allen (8.0 percent, 34th), Elkhart (7.3 percent, 59th), and Tippecanoe (6.6 percent, 84th) Counties also reported wage growth above the national average. Conversely, two counties with wage growth below the national average—Marion (4.1 percent, 270th) and Hamilton (3.3 percent, 305th)—ranked in the bottom third.

Among the 328 largest U.S. counties, 323 had over-the-year increases in average weekly wages in the first quarter of 2012. Williamson, Texas, had the largest increase (27.4 percent), followed by the counties of Middlesex, N.J. (13.6 percent), Washington, Penn. (12.4 percent), Newport News City, Va. (12.1 percent), and Collin, Texas (11.8 percent).

Nationwide, 4 large counties experienced average weekly wage declines. New York, N.Y., experienced the largest over-the-year decline with a loss of 6.3 percent. Somerset, N.J., had the second largest decrease (1.6 percent), followed by the counties of Hudson, N.J. (-0.4 percent) and Douglas, Colo. (-0.3 percent).

Large county average weekly wages

Average weekly wages in only one of Indiana’s eight large counties, Marion ($1,029), was above the national average of $984 in the first quarter of 2012. As noted, this county also had the highest average weekly wage of the state’s large counties and ranked 78th nationwide. Elkhart ($750) reported the lowest average weekly wage among Indiana’s large counties and ranked 284th out of the nation’s 328 large counties in March 2012.

Nationally, average weekly wages were lower than average in 232 of the 328 largest counties. Horry, S.C. ($559), reported the lowest wage, followed by the counties of Cameron, Texas ($570), Hidalgo, Texas ($579), Lake, Fla. ($620), and Webb, Texas ($624).

There were 95 large counties with an average weekly wage above the U.S. average in the first quarter of 2012. New York, N.Y., recorded the highest average weekly wage at $2,464, followed by Santa Clara, Calif., at $1,957. Rounding out the top five were Fairfield, Conn. ($1,942), Somerset, N.J. ($1,881), and San Francisco, Calif., ($1,791).

Average weekly wages in Indiana's smaller counties

Among the 84 counties in Indiana with employment below 75,000, three counties—Martin ($1,298), Bartholomew ($1,126), and Posey ($1,018)—had average weekly wages above the national average of $984. Among these smaller counties, Vermillion County had the 4th highest average weekly wage at $945 while Brown County had the lowest at $456. (See table 2.)

When all 92 counties in Indiana were considered, all but 4 had wages below the national average of $984. Two reported average weekly wages under $500, 14 had wages from $500 to $599, 43 reported wages from $600 to $699, 18 had wages from $700 to $799, and 15 had wages of $800 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 2011 edition of this publication, which was published in September 2012, contains selected data produced by Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on job gains and losses, as well as data from the first quarter 2012 version of the national news release and the 2011 annual averages. Tables and additional content from the Employment and Wages Annual 2011 are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn11.htm.

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 covered 130.2 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 BLS 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; TDD message referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Covered (1) employment and wages in the United States and the 8 largest counties in Indiana, first quarter 2012 (2)

Area	Employment			Average Weekly Wage (3)
	March 2012 (thousands)	Percent change, March 2011-12 (4)	National ranking by percent change (5)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level (5)	Percent change, first quarter 2011-12 (4)	National ranking by percent change (5)
United States (6)	130,175.4	1.8	--	$984	--	5.4	--
Indiana	2,777.0	2.2	--	822	34	6.3	17
Allen, Ind.	173.3	1.4	175	810	229	8.0	34
Elkhart, Ind.	106.9	4.1	17	750	284	7.3	59
Hamilton, Ind.	112.1	3.2	40	952	124	3.3	305
Lake, Ind.	186.0	2.0	121	852	184	8.4	26
Marion, Ind.	555.7	2.8	63	1,029	78	4.1	270
St. Joseph, Ind.	114.5	-0.3	306	760	278	5.6	162
Tippecanoe, Ind.	77.4	3.3	38	829	212	6.6	84
Vanderburgh, Ind.	105.8	1.2	197	766	271	5.7	158
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 the county of San Juan, Puerto Rico. (6) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.