Nine of Illinois’ 13 large counties reported employment increases from December 2010 to December 2011, 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 2010 annual average employment.) Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that, at 2.2 percent, Du Page County was the only large county in the state to exceed the national job growth of 1.4 percent.

Nationally, employment increased in 266 of the 322 largest U.S. counties. Kern, Calif., posted the largest increase, with a gain of 5.3 percent over the year. Benton, Wash., experienced the largest over-the-year decrease in employment among the largest counties in the U.S. with a loss of 3.4 percent.

Among the 13 largest counties in Illinois, employment was highest in Cook County (2,413,100) in December 2011. Two other large counties, Du Page (570,900) and Lake (313,600) had employment levels of more than 300,000. Collectively, Illinois' 13 large counties accounted for 80.0 percent of the state's employment with Cook County alone accounting for 42.8 percent. Nationwide, the 322 largest counties made up 70.7 percent of total U.S. employment.

Average weekly wages in St. Clair and Lake Counties fell 6.2 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, from the fourth quarter of 2010 to the fourth quarter of 2011, the largest declines among Illinois' 13 large counties. Lake County had the highest average weekly wage in the state at $1,208, followed by Cook ($1,122), and Du Page ($1,112) Counties. (See table 1.) Nationally, the average weekly wage fell 1.7 percent over the year to $955 in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 89 counties in Illinois with employment below 75,000. Eighty-five of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average. (See table 2.)

Large county wage changes

Four of Illinois' 13 large counties recorded wage declines greater than the national decrease of 1.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 to the fourth quarter of 2011. (See table 1.) As noted, St. Clair and Lake Counties experienced the state's largest wage declines, ranking 315th and 298th, respectively, among the nation's 322 largest counties. In total, 10 large counties in Illinois posted falling wages while the remaining three counties, McLean (1.5 percent, ranked 11th), McHenry (0.6 percent, ranked 26th), and Peoria (0.3 percent, ranked 32nd), recorded gains.

Nationwide, 282 large counties experienced declines in average weekly wages. Olmsted, Minn., had the greatest wage loss (-21.3 percent). Douglas, Colo., had the second largest decrease (-8.6 percent), followed by Williamson, Tenn. (-6.7 percent).

Among the 322 largest counties, 36 had over-the-year increases in average weekly wages in the fourth quarter of 2011. Tulsa, Okla., had the largest average weekly wage increase with a gain of 8.6 percent, followed by the counties of Harford, Md. (5.8 percent), Lake, Ohio (4.9 percent), Snohomish, Wash. (3.0 percent) and Westmoreland, Pa (2.9 percent).

Large county average weekly wages

Average weekly wages in 4 of Illinois' 13 large counties were above the national average of $955 in the fourth quarter of 2011. Lake County ($1,208) placed 24th, followed by Cook ($1,122, 41st), Du Page ($1,112, 44th), and Sangamon ($956, 102nd). Champaign ($786) reported the lowest average weekly wage among the state’s large counties and ranked 264th nationwide.

Nationally, New York, N.Y., recorded the highest average weekly wage at $1,889, followed by Santa Clara, Calif. ($1,836), Washington, D.C. ($1,668), Suffolk, Mass. ($1,599), and San Francisco, Calif. ($1,597).

There were 219 large counties with an average weekly wage below the U.S. average in the fourth quarter of 2011. Horry, S.C. ($569), reported the lowest wage, followed by the counties of Cameron, Texas ($597), Hidalgo, Texas ($601), and Yakima, Wash. ($648).

Average weekly wages in Illinois' smaller counties

Eight-five of the 89 counties in Illinois with employment below 75,000 had average weekly wages lower than the national average of $955. The exceptions were Rock Island ($1,219), which was also the highest wage among all Illinois counties, Christian ($1,115), Tazewell ($1,082), and Grundy ($979). Calhoun reported the lowest weekly wage among the smaller counties, averaging $451 in the fourth quarter of 2011. (See table 2.)

When all 102 counties in Illinois were considered, all but eight had wages below the national average of $955. Two counties reported average weekly wages below $550, 30 reported wages from $550 to $649, 39 had wages from $650 to $749, 17 had wages from $750 to $849, and 14 had wages above $850. (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 2010 edition of this publication, which was published in November 2011, contains selected data produced by Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on job gains and losses, as well as selected data from the first quarter 2011 version of the national news release. Tables and additional content from the Employment and Wages Annual 2010 are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn10htm. The 2011 edition of Employment and Wages Annual Averages Online will be available later in 2012.

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 131.3 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 Web site 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 13 largest counties in Illinois, fourth quarter 2011 (2)

Area	Employment			Average weekly wage (3)
	December 2011 (thousands)	Percent change, December 2010-11 (4)	National ranking by percent change (5)	Average weekly wage	National ranking by level (5)	Percent change, fourth quarter 2010-11 (4)	National ranking by percent change (5)
United States (6)	131,254.2	1.4	--	$955	--	-1.7	--
Illinois	5,635.9	1.1	--	1,013	8	-2.1	35
Champaign, Ill.	87.4	-0.5	291	786	264	-0.6	67
Cook, Ill.	2,413.1	1.3	119	1,122	41	-2.9	240
Du Page, Ill.	570.9	2.2	63	1,112	44	-1.1	105
Kane, Ill.	192.5	0.2	248	863	173	-0.9	88
Lake, Ill.	313.6	0.1	256	1,208	24	-4.5	298
Madison, Ill.	94.9	-0.7	303	791	260	-1.5	126
McHenry, Ill.	92.4	-0.6	298	820	230	0.6	26
McLean, Ill.	86.2	0.3	238	937	119	1.5	11
Peoria, Ill.	102.6	0.4	231	926	127	0.3	32
Sangamon, Ill.	130.5	0.8	179	956	102	-0.1	38
St. Clair, Ill.	96.6	-2.9	319	796	259	-6.2	315
Will, Ill.	201.4	1.1	144	827	223	-4.4	296
Winnebago, Ill.	125.8	0.1	256	815	235	-1.5	126
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.