COUNTY EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN TEXAS THIRD QUARTER 2012

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Rudolph Stephen Watts
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1 SOUTHWEST INFORMATION OFFICE Dallas, Texas For release: Thursday, April 11, DAL Contact information: (972) COUNTY EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN TEXAS THIRD QUARTER rose in 22 of the 24 largest counties in Texas from 2011 to, 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 2011 annual average employment.) Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that job growth rates in four Texas counties ranked in the top ten nationwide. Montgomery County s 5.5-percent gain led the state with the 4 th fastest growth in the nation. Also sharing top-ten national rankings were the Texas counties of Fort Bend (4.3 percent, 6 th ), Travis (3.9 percent, 9 th ), and Harris (3.8 percent, 10 th ). (See table 1.) nationwide advanced 1.6 percent from 2011 as 276 of the 328 largest U.S. counties registered increases. Elkhart, Ind., recorded the fastest rate of employment growth in the country, up 6.9 percent, while Benton, Wash., registered the largest decline, down 5.2 percent. Among the largest counties in Texas, employment was highest in Harris County (2,128,200) in, followed by Dallas County (1,478,500). Three other counties, Tarrant, Bexar, and Travis, had employment levels exceeding 600,000. Together, the 24 largest Texas counties accounted for 78.4 percent of total employment within the state. Nationwide, the 328 largest counties made up 71.0 percent of total U.S. employment. From the third quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of, average weekly wages nationwide fell 1.1 percent to $906. Among large counties in Texas, Galveston County registered the largest decrease in average weekly wages, falling 4.4 percent, while Lubbock recorded the fastest increase, up 1.8 percent. (See table 1.) In the third quarter of, Harris had the highest average weekly wage among the state s largest counties at $1,154 per week and Cameron had the lowest at $580. and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 230 counties in Texas with employment levels below 75,000 in Among these smaller counties, 90 percent (207) had average weekly wages below the national average in. (See table 2.) Large county wage changes A majority of Texas s large counties experienced wage declines from the third quarter of 2011 to the third quarter of. During the period, average weekly wages fell in 19 of the 24 largest counties in the state, led by Galveston County s 4.4-percent decrease. (See table 1.) In contrast, five counties recorded wage increases from the third quarter of Lubbock County s leading 1.8-percent increase was followed by Webb County s gain of 1.4 percent, placing 7 th and 14 th, respectively, in the national ranking of percent change in average weekly wages.

2 Among the 328 largest U.S. counties, 274 had over-the-year decreases in average weekly wages. Yolo, Calif., had the largest decline with a loss of 7.0 percent. Within Yolo, wage declines in government had the greatest impact on the county s over-the-year decrease. Three counties tied for the second largest loss, as wages fell 6.9 percent in Rockingham, N.H.; Lake, Ohio; and Benton, Wash. Increases were recorded in 46 large counties nationwide; San Mateo, Calif., led this group with an over-the-year wage gain of 7.3 percent. Large county average weekly wages weekly wages in 4 of the 24 large Texas counties were at least 10 percent above the national average of $906 per week in the third quarter of. Harris County led at $1,154 per week and ranked 22 nd among the 328 large counties nationwide. Harris was followed by Dallas ($1,085, 33 rd ), Collin ($1,057, 42 nd ), and Travis ($1,003, 56 th ). Four additional Texas counties Fort Bend, Williamson, Jefferson, and Tarrant reported average weekly wages ranging from $928 to $909. Texas had 4 of the 11 lowest-paying large counties in the United States, all located along the border with Mexico. These included Cameron ($580, 327 th ), Hidalgo ($584, 326 th ), Webb ($637, 320 th ) and El Paso ($654, 318 th ). Other Texas counties with low national rankings included two that are home to large public universities, Lubbock ($716, 297 th ) and Brazos ($721, 294 th ). ly, weekly wages were higher than the U.S. average in 102 of the largest counties in the country. Santa Clara, Calif., held the top position among the highest-paid large counties with an average weekly wage of $1,800. New York, N.Y., was second at $1,626, followed by San Mateo, Calif. ($1,537), Washington, D.C. ($1,514), and Arlington, Va. ($1,488). Of the largest counties in the United States, 225, or more than two-thirds, reported average weekly wages below the national average in the third quarter of. The lowest wage was reported in Horry, S.C., at $554 per week. Joining the Texas counties of Cameron and Hidalgo among the bottom five were Yakima, Wash. ($620) and Marion, Fla. ($621). Wages in these five lowest-ranked counties were about one-third or less of the average weekly wage in the highest-ranked county, Santa Clara, Calif. weekly wages in smaller Texas counties Twenty-three of the 230 smaller Texas counties those with employment below 75,000 reported average weekly wages equal to or above the national average of $906. Three of these smaller counties had wages that not only exceeded $1,000 per week, but were also the highest in the state: Carson ($1,312), Kenedy ($1,196), and Crane ($1,190). Delta County registered the lowest weekly wage, averaging $384 in the third quarter of. (See table 2.) When all 254 counties in Texas were considered, all but 31 had wages below the national average. Forty-eight reported average weekly wages under $600, 89 registered wages from $600 to $699, 48 had wages from $700 to $799, 36 had wages from $800 to $899, and 33 had wages of $900 or more per week. (See chart 1.) The counties with above average wages were concentrated around the metropolitan areas of Austin, Amarillo, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Midland, and Odessa. Lower paying counties were generally located in the agricultural areas of central Texas and the Texas Panhandle, as well as along the Texas-Mexico border. Additional Statistics and Other Information 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

3 and Wages Annual s Online features comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2011 edition of this publication contains selected data produced by Business Dynamics (BED) on job gains and losses, as well as selected data from the first quarter version of the news release. Tables and additional content from and Wages Annual s 2011 are now available online at The edition of and Wages Annual s Online will be available later in Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: ; Federal Relay Service: Technical Note weekly wage data by county are compiled under the Quarterly Census of 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 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 s (MSAs), counties, and the nation are available on the BLS Web site at however, data in QCEW press releases have been revised (see Technical Note below) 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

4 Table 1. Covered (1) employment and wages in the United States and the 24 largest counties in Texas, third quarter (2) (thousands) Percent change, (4) ranking by percent change (5) weekly wage ranking by level (5) Percent change, third quarter (4) ranking by percent change (5) United States (6) 132, $ Texas 10, Bell, Texas Bexar, Texas Brazoria, Texas Brazos, Texas Cameron, Texas Collin, Texas , Dallas, Texas 1, , Denton, Texas El Paso, Texas Fort Bend, Texas Galveston, Texas Gregg, Texas Harris, Texas 2, , Hidalgo, Texas Jefferson, Texas Lubbock, Texas McLennan, Texas Montgomery, Texas Nueces, Texas Smith, Texas Tarrant, Texas Travis, Texas , Webb, Texas Williamson, Texas (1) Includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs. (2) Data are preliminary. (3) 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

5 Table 2. Covered (1) employment and wages in the United States and all counties in Texas, third quarter (2) United States (4) 132,624,657 $906 Concho 881 $644 Texas 10,773, Cooke 16, Anderson 19, Coryell 14, Andrews 6,640 1,061 Cottle Angelina 35, Crane 1,751 1,190 Aransas 5, Crockett 1, Archer 1, Crosby 1, Armstrong Culberson 1, Atascosa 10, Dallam 4, Austin 10, Dallas 1,478,521 1,085 Bailey 2, Dawson 4, Bandera 2, De Witt 7, Bastrop 14, Deaf Smith 7, Baylor 1, Delta 1, Bee 9, Denton 185, Bell 108, Dickens Bexar 752, Dimmit 4, Blanco 2, Donley Borden Duval 3, Bosque 3, Eastland 7, Bowie 42, Ector 71, Brazoria 92, Edwards Brazos 88, El Paso 277, Brewster 4, Ellis 40, Briscoe Erath 15, Brooks 2, Falls 3, Brown 15, Fannin 6, Burleson 4, Fayette 8, Burnet 12, Fisher Caldwell 7, Floyd 1, Calhoun 10,012 1,045 Foard Callahan 2, Fort Bend 144, Cameron 128, Franklin 2, Camp 4, Freestone 6, Carson 4,623 1,312 Frio 5, Cass 7, Gaines 5, Castro 2, Galveston 95, Chambers 11, Garza 1, Cherokee 15, Gillespie 9, Childress 2, Glasscock Clay 1, Goliad 1, Cochran Gonzales 6, Coke Gray 8, Coleman 2, Grayson 42, Collin 309,724 1,057 Gregg 78, Collingsworth Grimes 8, Colorado 6, Guadalupe 30, Comal 42, Hale 14, Comanche 3, Hall See footnotes at end of table

6 Table 2. Covered (1) employment and wages in the United States and all counties in Texas, third quarter (2) (continued) Hamilton 2,575 $593 Liberty 17,472 $744 Hansford 2, Limestone 8, Hardeman 1, Lipscomb 1, Hardin 12, Live Oak 4, Harris 2,128,189 1,154 Llano 4, Harrison 22, Loving Hartley 1, Lubbock 126, Haskell 1, Lynn 1, Hays 52, Madison 4, Hemphill 2, Marion 1, Henderson 15, Martin 1, Hidalgo 225, Mason 1, Hill 9, Matagorda 10, Hockley 10, Maverick 16, Hood 14, McCulloch 3, Hopkins 12, McLennan 102, Houston 6, McMullen Howard 12, Medina 8, Hudspeth 1, Menard Hunt 26, Midland 81,478 1,107 Hutchinson 8, Milam 5, Irion Mills 1, Jack 2, Mitchell 2, Jackson 5, Montague 5, Jasper 10, Montgomery 143, Jeff Davis Moore 10, Jefferson 120, Morris 4, Jim Hogg 2, Motley Jim Wells 20, Nacogdoches 21, Johnson 43, Navarro 16, Jones 3, Newton 1, Karnes 4, Nolan 6, Kaufman 26, Nueces 155, Kendall 11, Ochiltree 5, Kenedy 539 1,196 Oldham 1, Kent Orange 22, Kerr 17, Palo Pinto 8, Kimble 1, Panola 9, King Parker 28, Kinney Parmer 5, Kleberg 12, Pecos 6, Knox 1, Polk 10, La Salle 2, Potter 75, Lamar 18, Presidio 2, Lamb 4, Rains 1, Lampasas 4, Randall 28, Lavaca 5, Reagan 2, Lee 6, Real Leon 5, Red River 2, See footnotes at end of table

7 Table 2. Covered (1) employment and wages in the United States and all counties in Texas, third quarter (2) (continued) Reeves 3,831 $673 Titus 15,453 $642 Refugio 2, Tom Green 45, Roberts Travis 607,255 1,003 Robertson 3, Trinity 2, Rockwall 22, Tyler 3, Runnels 2, Upshur 6, Rusk 13, Upton 1, Sabine 1, Uvalde 9, San Augustine 1, Val Verde 16, San Jacinto 2, Van Zandt 9, San Patricio 18, Victoria 39, San Saba 1, Walker 23, Schleicher Waller 14, Scurry 7, Ward 4, Shackelford 1,508 1,069 Washington 14, Shelby 8, Webb 90, Sherman Wharton 15, Smith 92, Wheeler 2, Somervell 3,766 1,007 Wichita 52, Starr 14, Wilbarger 6, Stephens 3, Willacy 3, Sterling Williamson 132, Stonewall Wilson 6, Sutton 2,534 1,120 Winkler 2,632 1,010 Swisher 1, Wise 21, Tarrant 786, Wood 9, Taylor 58, Yoakum 4,254 1,057 Terrell Young 6, Terry 3, Zapata 4, Throckmorton Zavala 2, (1) Includes workers covered by Unemployment Insurance [UI] and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees [UCFE] programs. (2) Data are preliminary. (3) weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data. (4) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. SOURCE: Quarterly Census of and Wages

8 Table 3. Covered (1) employment and wages by state, third quarter (2) weekly wage (3) State (thousands) Percent change, weekly wage ranking by level Percent change, third quarter ranking by percent change United States (4) 132, $ Alabama 1, Alaska Arizona 2, Arkansas 1, California 15, , Colorado 2, Connecticut 1, , Delaware District of Columbia , Florida 7, Georgia 3, Hawaii Idaho Illinois 5, Indiana 2, Iowa 1, Kansas 1, Kentucky 1, Louisiana 1, Maine Maryland 2, , Massachusetts 3, , Michigan 3, Minnesota 2, Mississippi 1, Missouri 2, Montana Nebraska Nevada 1, New Hampshire New Jersey 3, , New Mexico New York 8, , North Carolina 3, North Dakota Ohio 5, Oklahoma 1, Oregon 1, Pennsylvania 5, Rhode Island South Carolina 1, South Dakota Tennessee 2, Texas 10, Utah 1, Vermont Virginia 3, Washington 2, , West Virginia Wisconsin 2, Wyoming Puerto Rico (5) 0.0 (5) Virgin Islands (5) -1.1 (5) (1) Includes w orkers covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) programs. (2) Data are preliminary. (3) w eekly w ages w ere 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

9 Chart 1. weekly wages by county in Texas, third quarter Dallam Hartley ShermanHansfordOchiltreeLipscomb Hutchinson Moore Roberts Hemphill El Paso Wage (U.S. average = $906) Hudspeth $599 or less $600 - $699 $700 - $799 $800 - $899 $900 or more Oldham Deaf Smith Potter Carson Gray RandallArmstrong DonleyCollingsworth Parmer Castro Swisher Briscoe Wheeler Hall Childress Hardeman Bailey Lamb Hale Floyd Motley Cottle Wilbarger Foard Wichita Clay Hockley Lubbock Crosby Dickens King Knox Baylor Archer Montague Cochran Lamar Cooke Grayson Fannin Red River Bowie Throckmorton Delta Yoakum Terry Lynn Garza Kent Stonewall Haskell Young Jack Wise Denton Collin Hunt Hopkins Titus Morris Cass Rockwall Franklin Camp Rains Gaines Dawson Borden Scurry Fisher Jones Stephens Parker Tarrant Dallas Wood Upshur Marion Shackelford Palo Pinto KaufmanVan Zandt Harrison Hood Gregg Andrews Martin Howard Mitchell Ellis Smith Nolan Taylor Eastland Johnson Callahan ErathSomervell Henderson Rusk Panola Glasscock Hill Navarro Ector Coke Comanche Loving Winkler Midland Runnels Bosque Sterling ColemanBrown Anderson Shelby Hamilton Freestone Cherokee Mills Culberson Ward McLennanLimestone Nacogdoches Crane Upton Reagan Tom Green Coryell Houston San Augustine Reeves Irion Concho Falls Leon Sabine McCulloch Lampasas Angelina San Saba Bell Robertson Trinity Schleicher Menard Burnet Madison Polk Jeff Davis Pecos Crockett Mason Milam Tyler Llano Walker JasperNewton Williamson Brazos Sutton Kimble Grimes San Jacinto Burleson Gillespie Travis Lee Hardin Terrell Blanco Montgomery Washington Liberty Presidio Edwards Kerr Hays Bastrop Orange Val Verde Kendall Waller Real Fayette Austin Harris Jefferson Brewster Bandera Comal Caldwell Chambers Guadalupe Colorado Fort Bend Bexar Gonzales Kinney Uvalde Medina Lavaca Galveston Wharton Wilson Brazoria DeWitt Jackson Zavala Frio Atascosa Karnes Matagorda Maverick Victoria Goliad McMullen Dimmit Bee Calhoun La Salle Live Oak Refugio Webb San PatricioAransas DuvalJim Wells Nueces Kleberg ZapataJim Hogg Brooks Kenedy Starr Hidalgo Willacy Cameron Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Texas. Number of Army Reserve Members Deployed to OIF/OEF since 9/11/2001 by Home of Record County. Number of Service Members.

Texas. Number of Army Reserve Members Deployed to OIF/OEF since 9/11/2001 by Home of Record County. Number of Service Members. Army Reserve Members Deployed to OIF/OEF since 9/11/2001 by Home of Record Anderson 20 Carson 2 Donley 4 Hamilton Andrews 7 Cass 16 Duval 11 Hansford Angelina 14 Castro 1 Eastland 8 Hardeman Aransas 5