US County Level Employment Summary

By Nate Griffin – November 24, 2021

News Brief:

On Tuesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the County Employment and Wages Summary for the second quarter of 2021. The release covers employment data from the largest 344 counties in the nation.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Notable Year-Over-Year changes:

• Between June of 2020 and June of 2021, 339 of those counties reported gains in employment and 302 reported increases in average weekly wages.

• On average, weekly wages for the nation increased 4.5 percent to $1,241.

• Atlantic, NJ had the highest employment increase, gaining 36.8 percent.

  • Leisure and hospitality was the fastest growing industry in the county, adding over 24,000 jobs.

  • Average wages for the county actually fell by 7.4 percent year over year. This is likely because wages in the leisure and hospitality industry tend to be lower, therefore pulling down the average.

• Wages in San Francisco, CA grew the fastest at 29.7 percent from the year before

• Calcasieu, LA was the only county tracked by the BLS to see a decrease in employment, which fell by .09 percent. Largely from reductions in the education and health fields.