U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Southwest Information Office

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County Employment and Wages in New Mexico – Fourth Quarter 2010

New Mexico’s only large county, Bernalillo, reported an employment decline of 1.3 percent from December 2009 to December 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. (See table 1. Large counties are those with 2009 annual average employment levels of 75,000 or more.) Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that Bernalillo was among 83 of the 326 large U.S. counties that recorded an employment decline from December 2009. Nationally, employment advanced 0.9 percent during the same time period.

Employment increased in 220 of the 326 large U.S. counties from December 2009 to December 2010. Elkhart County, Ind., recorded the highest percentage increase in the country, up 5.2 percent over the year. Manatee, Fla., registered the largest percentage employment decline, down 4.0 percent.

Employment in Bernalillo County stood at 312,900 in December 2010, accounting for 39.8 percent of total employment in the State. Nationwide, the largest 326 counties made up 70.9 percent of total U.S. employment, which stood at 129.5 million in December 2010. These large counties had a net job gain of 704,131 over the year, accounting for 61.8 percent of the overall U.S. employment increase.

The average weekly wage in Bernalillo County slipped 0.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2010. This percentage change ranked Bernalillo 299th among the largest U.S. counties. Over the year, 123 of the large U.S. counties registered increases in average weekly wages greater than the 3.0-percent national average. Olmstead County, Minn., ranked first in the country for wage growth, with an increase of 31.9 percent. Santa Clara, Calif., was second with a wage gain of 14.4 percent, followed by the counties of Williamson, Tenn. (9.0 percent), Rock Island, Ill. (8.1 percent), and Lake, Ind. (7.6 percent).

Wage growth was below the national average of 3.0 percent in 165 large counties in the United States and 23 additional large counties experienced over-the-year wage decreases. Union, N.J., had the largest wage decline with a loss of 2.8 percent. Montgomery, Ala., and Montgomery, Pa., had the second largest percent declines in average weekly wages, down 2.1 percent each from the fourth quarter 2009, followed by Collin, Texas (-1.8 percent), and Benton, Ark., and Williamson, Texas (-1.6 percent each).

The average weekly wage in Bernalillo stood at $849 in the fourth quarter of 2010, placing it 204th in the ranking for average wages. Nationally, the average weekly wage in the fourth quarter of 2010 was $971.

More than two-thirds of the largest U.S. counties (223) reported weekly wages below the national average. Horry County, S.C., reported the lowest wage ($585), followed by the counties of Cameron, Texas ($610), Hidalgo, Texas ($611), and Webb, Texas, and Yakima, Wash. ($653 each). Wages in these lowest-ranked counties were approximately one-third or less of the average weekly wage reported for the highest-ranked county, Santa Clara, Calif.

Nationally, 102 large counties registered average weekly wages above the U.S. average of $971 in the fourth quarter of 2010. Santa Clara, Calif., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $1,943. New York, N.Y., was second at $1,929, followed by Washington, D.C. ($1,688), and Fairfield, Conn., and Arlington, Va. ($1,668 each).

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 32 counties in New Mexico with employment levels below 75,000. All but two of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average of $971. The exceptions were Los Alamos County ($1,540) and Eddy County ($1,322). Two additional counties reported wage levels above that of the State’s largest county, Bernalillo, and within 10 percent of the national average: Lea ($935) and Santa Fe ($885). Guadalupe County reported the lowest weekly wage in the State at $526 in the fourth quarter of 2010, closely followed by Quay ($527). (See table 2.)

When all 33 counties in New Mexico were considered, 11 had wages averaging $599 or less. Fifteen counties averaged from $600 to $749 per week, four reported wages from $750 to $899, and three had wages exceeding $900. (See chart 1.) The counties with above average wages were concentrated around the metropolitan areas of Albuquerque, Carlsbad, Farmington, Hobbs, Los Alamos, and Santa Fe.

QCEW 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.

An annual bulletin, Employment and Wages Annual Averages, features comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2009 edition of this bulletin contains selected data produced by Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on job gains and losses, as well as selected data from the first quarter 2010 version of the national news release. Tables and additional content from the 2009 Employment and Wages Annual Bulletin are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn09.htm.

For personal assistance or further information on the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Dallas Information Office at 972-850-4800 from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.

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 9.1 million employer reports cover 129.5 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.