Fairfield County”™s median income rocketed up 18 percent between 2004 and 2005, new federal estimates show, triple the level of the next closest increase in the past decade and likely linked to big bonuses paid on Wall Street, as well as hiring at local financial companies.
In 2005, the median Fairfield County resident earned $71,500, up from $60,800 in 2004. In neighboring Westchester County, N.Y., the median resident likewise earned $71,500 in 2005, up 12 percent from $63,900 in 2004.
By tracking the median income, the U.S. Census Bureau eliminates some of the skewing effect of enormous compensation packages awarded to financiers and top executives who live in Fairfield County ”“ in theory giving a more accurate snapshot of the earning power of middle-income families.
Still, the sharp rise in income is likely pegged to large bonuses financial firms began awarding in 2005 as the economy fired on all cylinders, according to Edward Deak, a Fairfield University economist, a trend that continued in 2006 and 2007.
“The ”™07 numbers will be very high,” Deak said. “The question is: What is happening in the first quarter of this year?”
Fairfield County had the 17th-fastest average wage growth in the second quarter of 2007, according to fresh statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
The impact of bonuses on local median earnings appears to be so pronounced that Fairfield County median income actually fell three straight years between 2001 and 2004 before the big rebound in 2005. By contrast, Hartford and New Haven counties, which do not have the same concentration of financial industry workers and executives, saw median income track roughly in sync with the overall economy this decade.
Opening the new year with a rash of asset write-downs, Wall Street bonuses appear to be down 5 percent from last year”™s record high to $180,000, according to Thomas DiNapoli, comptroller for the state of New York. Actual bonuses vary, ranging from hundreds of dollars for clerical and support staff to tens of millions of dollars for rainmakers and key executives.
Despite the overall average decrease, however, employees in some financial areas such as mergers and acquisitions, equity underwriting and trading likely received increases.
