Economic-Watching: County Employment & Wages – Second Quarter 2024

[from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20 November, 2024]

From June 2023 to June 2024, employment increased in 259 of the 369 largest U.S. counties, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. In June 2024, national employment increased to 155.7 million, a 0.8-percent increase over the year, as measured by the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program. Kings, NY, had the largest over-the-year increase in employment, with a gain of 4.0 percent. Employment data in this release are presented for June 2024, and average weekly wage data are presented for second quarter 2024.

Among the 369 largest counties, 348 had over-the-year increases in average weekly wages. In the second quarter of 2024, average weekly wages for the nation increased to $1,390, a 4.4-percent increase over the year. Hamilton, IN, had the largest second quarter over-the-year wage gain at 33.4 percent. (See table 1 [archived PDF].)

Large County Employment in June 2024

Kings, NY, had the largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment (+4.0 percent). Within Kings, the largest employment increase occurred in education and health services, which rose by 37,473 (+10.3 percent).

Elkhart, IN, had the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment (-3.0 percent). Within Elkhart, the largest employment decrease occurred in manufacturing, which fell by 3,243 (-5.0 percent).

Large County Average Weekly Wage in Second Quarter 2024

Hamilton, IN, had the largest over-the-year percentage increase in average weekly wages (+33.4 percent). Within Hamilton, an average weekly wage gain of $2,161 (+139.6 percent) in professional and business services made the largest contribution to the county’s increase in average weekly wages.

Essex, MA, had the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in average weekly wages (-2.1 percent). Within Essex, an average weekly wage loss of $644 (-25.7 percent) in professional and business services made the largest contribution to the county’s decrease in average weekly wages.

Ten Largest Counties

Nine of the 10 largest counties had over-the-year percentage increases in employment. In June 2024, Miami-Dade, FL, had the largest over-the-year employment percentage gain (+1.5 percent). Within Miami-Dade, leisure and hospitality had the largest employment increase and rose by 3,530 (+2.4 percent). (See table 2 [archived PDF].)

All of the 10 largest counties had over-the-year percentage increases in average weekly wages. In the second quarter of 2024, King, WA, experienced the largest over-the-year percentage gain in average weekly wages (+10.4 percent). Within King, professional and business services had the largest impact, with an average weekly wage increase of $774 (+24.5 percent).

For More Information

The tables included in this release contain data for the nation and for the 369 U.S. counties with annual average employment levels of 75,000 or more in 2023. June 2024 employment and second quarter 2024 average weekly wages for all states are provided in table 3 [archived PDF] of this release.

Over-the-year changes of employment and wages presented in this news release are adjusted and may differ from unadjusted data used in BLS data tools and interactive charts. More information is available in the QCEW Technical Note.

QCEW reporting rates tables are available here.

The most current news release on quarterly measures of gross job flows is available from QCEW Business Employment Dynamics.

Several BLS regional offices issue QCEW news releases targeted to local data users. Links to these releases are available here.

QCEW data are available in the Census Business Builder suite of web tools, assisting business owners and regional analysts in data-driven decision making.

The QCEW news release schedule is available here.


The County Employment and Wages full data update for second quarter 2024 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, December 5, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

The County Employment and Wages news release for third quarter 2024 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

The full report with tables [archived PDF].

Then and Now Thinking: Zola Novels

Émile Zola died in 1902 and gives us a social overview of France, people caught between all kinds of pressures and changing circumstances and disruptions.

La Curée (1871–72; English translation: “The Kill”) is the second novel in Émile Zola’s 20-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart. It deals with property speculation and the lives of the extremely wealthy nouveau riche (“new money”) of the Second French Empire (1852-1870), against the backdrop of Baron Haussmann’s reconstruction of Paris in the 1850s and 1860s.

The Second French Empire, (officially the French Empire, French: Empire français), was the regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic (1848-1852) and the Third Republic (1870 to 1940).

Zola’s other novels such as L’Assommoir (“The Drinking Salon”) also have various kinds of “urban renewal” as backdrop.

Baron Haussmann, who died in 1891, was the “czar” of Parisian urban renewal and the speculation fever and real estate manipulating and maneuvering were echoes of Haussmann Paris.

Think of Robert Moses in New York a few decades ago and his remaking of NYC to fit automobiles and Jane Jacobs’s bitter struggle against Moses with her cars-should-adjust-to-the-city and not cities-to-cars view.

In Japan, in recent decades, real estate “nouveaux riches” are called “tochi narikin” (Japanese: 『土地成金』, “land rich”) and are similar to Zola’s “little foxes” since the way money was made was to know in advance via insider knowledge where railroads (say) were slated to be built and which stretches of land would be therefore needed and acquired by the government at any price (in the absence of “eminent domain”).

The debates and tensions raging around the Baron Haussmann Parisian bulldozing were obviously not about cars but the nature of the tensions was similar. Another dimension of these urban renewal “revolutions” was the impact on renters.

Thus Zola and his “society and social novels” do have “echoic” lessons for us and are “raw material” for “then and now” thinking which is a pillar of meta-intelligence (i.e., perspective-enhancing).

Then and now thinking helps students get some sense of long-term trends or resonances and to get away from history-started-this-morning myopia.