Among the largest counties, Rock Island County, Illinois (which borders Iowa), had the largest over-the-year gain in average weekly wages in the second quarter of 2008, with an increase of 10.5 percent coming largely from the manufacturing supersector.
Weld, Colorado (which borders Nebraska and Wyoming), was second with growth of 10.4 percent, followed by the counties of Utah, Utah (which includes Provo), Whatcom, Washington (which includes Bellingham), and East Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The U.S. average weekly wage rose by 2.6 percent over the same time span.
The BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program produced this data, which is preliminary and subject to revision. Data presented here is for all workers covered by State and Federal unemployment insurance programs. The largest counties are those with employment levels of 75,000 or more. Find out more in "County Employment and Wages: Second Quarter 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release 09-0032.
