Ten Largest U.S. Counties
Of the 10 largest U.S. counties (based on 2003 employment levels), 6 reported increases in employment, while declines occurred in 4 from March 2003 to March 2004. Orange County, Calif., experienced the fastest growth in employment among the largest counties, with a 3.5 percent increase. The largest employment increases were in financial activities (10.3 percent) and professional and business services (9.2 percent). Orange County showed employment gains in every industry group except natural resources and mining, manufacturing, information, and government. (See table 2.) Maricopa County, Ariz., had the next largest increase in employment, 2.5 percent, followed by San Diego, Calif. (1.3 percent). The largest decrease in employment for the 10 largest counties was in Dallas County, Texas, with a 0.6 percent decline. The next largest declines in employment were recorded in Cook County, Ill. (-0.5 percent), and Harris County, Texas (-0.2 percent).All of the 10 largest U.S. counties saw over-the-year increases in average weekly wages. New York County, N.Y., had the fastest growth in wages among the top 10 counties, growing at a 13.6 percent rate. New York County's fastest growing supersectors were financial activities, where the average weekly wage rose by 27.4 percent, and manufacturing, with a 9.5 percent increase. Dallas County, Texas, was second in wage growth, increasing by 6.3 percent, followed by Cook County, Ill., and Miami-Dade County, Fla., where average wages increased by 5.2 percent each. King County, Wash., experienced the smallest increase in average weekly wages among the largest 10 counties, rising by only 2.2 percent, primarily due to wage decreases in the information supersector. This was followed by Orange County, Calif., with an increase in average weekly wages of 3.8 percent and by two other California counties, Los Angeles and San Diego (3.9 percent each).
