1998 Annual Pay Levels in Metropolitan Areas — 1999-12-30

Average annual pay of employees within the nation's 315 metropolitan areas increased by 5.2 percent from 1997 to 1998, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. The over-the-year gain was the largest since 1992, when average annual pay increased by 5.4 percent. (See chart 1.) Annual pay in metropolitan areas averaged $33,381 in 1998, up from $31,734 in 1997. (New Jersey data were not available for the third and fourth quarters of 1998 and therefore are not shown in this release. Totals for the United States were calculated using estimated data for New Jersey.) Average annual pay for the entire nation, metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas combined, was $31,908 in 1998, a 5.1 percent increase from 1997. (Average annual pay by state and industry for 1998 was issued on Dec.