Average weekly wage: methodology

Average weekly wage for employment covered by unemployment insurance, as published by the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). All ownerships and all industries.

How BLS derives it. Total quarterly wages divided by average monthly employment for the quarter, divided by 13 weeks. We store the published figure and do not recompute it.

Wages here are everything taxable. The quarterly total includes bonuses, commissions, tips, the cash value of meals and lodging, and — significantly for a quarter-to-quarter comparison — exercised stock options and lump-sum payments. That is why first and fourth quarters often stand above their neighbours in counties with a few large employers, and why a jump of that kind is usually a bonus cycle rather than a pay rise.

Nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation, and not seasonally adjusted.

A quarterly average across every covered job in the area. A county whose job mix shifts toward lower-paying work shows a falling average weekly wage even if no individual wage fell. Part-time and partial-quarter employment are in the denominator as whole jobs, so this is not a full-time equivalent wage.

The most recent quarter is preliminary and is normally revised in the next release. Suppressed figures are stored as empty with a suppressed flag rather than as the zero the file contains.