Wage growth report shows Westchester County No.2 in nation

Westchester County was second among large counties in the nation for growth in average weekly wages paid by businesses during the second quarter of 2020, according to figures  supplied to the Business Journal by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The wage growth report ranked 357 large counties. Westchester”™s average weekly wage represented a growth of 21.7% over the second quarter of 2019 and came as the Covid-19 pandemic was continuing to build. Westchester ranked 13^th in the nation in terms of the level of average weekly wages paid, which was $1,721.

The nationwide average weekly wage was $1,188 and the report showed the number of employees in the U.S. to be 135,114,354 as of June 2020. The number of employees in New York state was 8,142,573 with average weekly wages of $1,520.

The increase in average weekly wages may not necessarily reflect that employees were being paid more during the second quarter of 2020 than in the second quarter of 2019. Because employees in lower-paying jobs were especially hard hit and thrown out of work as impacts of the pandemic grew, their lower wages were no longer part of what went into  figuring the averages, thereby causing the higher wages, which were still included, to have a greater impact on the averages.

Atlantic County in New Jersey had the largest percentage wage increase at 22.5%. At the bottom of the list was Ector, Texas, where the over-the-year change in wages showed a 6.6% drop.

The 21.7% weekly wage increase put Westchester ahead of the 17 other large New York counties with employment greater than 75,000 tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor. The Bronx, for example, showed an 8% increase while Queens came in at 7.8%. When all 62 counties in New York were considered, only 19 had average weekly wages above $1,100. Seven counties reported average weekly wages from $1,000 to $1,099, and 30 had wages from $900 to $999. The six counties with the lowest average weekly wages, under $900, were small upstate counties, primarily located in the northern and western parts of the state.

Leading the nation was Santa Clara, California, where the average weekly wage was $3,045. At the bottom was Cameron, Texas, with an average weekly wage of just $689.

The report showed that there were 36,400 establishments in Westchester employing a total of 367,700 people as of 2020”™s second quarter. There were 10,800 businesses in Orange County employing 129,500 people, 8,500 establishments in Dutchess employing 98,100 people and 11,300 establishments in Rockland with 112,200 on the payrolls. No statistics were supplied for Putnam County.