Greene County wages rise 4%

Average wages in Greene County grew by 4.4 percent to $714 per week in the third quarter of 2011, compared to the same quarter the previous year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The percent change ranks Missouri 197th out of the country’s 323 counties with more than 75,000 employees. The U.S. average weekly wage increased 5.3 percent to $916 in the third quarter, the BLS said.

The federal quarterly wage and employment report released today also pinned Greene County’s job growth at 1.6 percent, which matches the federal rate, between September 2010 and September 2011. With 149,400 workers employed at roughly 8,000 Greene County establishments, the year-over-year percent growth ranked the county 128th among the nation’s largest counties.

Missouri’s Clay County in metropolitan Kansas City recorded the country’s largest decline in average weekly wages with a loss of 2.3 percent during the year to $844. The report cited a decline of 24 percent, or $49.7 million, in manufacturing wages.

The BLS said employment increased in 271 of the 323 counties in Missouri sampled between September 2010 and September 2011.