1999 Average Annual Pay by State and Industry — 2000-11-17

The average annual pay of all workers covered by state and federal unemployment insurance (UI) programs rose 4.3 percent to $33,313 in 1999, according to preliminary data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. This compares with a 5.2 percent rise in 1998. The annual pay of private industry workers, comprising 84.7 percent of the nation's employment, grew 4.6 percent in 1999, while pay for government workers rose 2.7 percent. In 1998, the increase in pay for private sector workers was 5.6 percent and for government workers, 3.2 percent. Pay growth for U.S. workers in 1999, at 4.3 percent, slowed from the growth in 1998 and 1997, but was the fifth highest in the 1989-99 period. (See chart 1.) Average annual pay for workers grew 47.6 percent from 1989 to 1999, a gain of $10,750.