1999 Annual Pay Levels in Metropolitan Areas — 2000-11-28

Average annual pay of employees within the nation's 316 metropolitan areas increased by 4.4 percent from 1998 to 1999, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. The over-the-year gain was smaller than 1998's gain of 5.2 percent. (See chart 1.) Annual pay in metropolitan areas averaged $34,868 in 1999, up from $33,407 in 1998. Average annual pay for the entire nation, metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas combined, was $33,313 in 1999, a 4.3 percent increase from 1998. (Average annual pay by state and industry was issued on Nov. 17, 2000, in USDL 00-339.) Average annual pay data are compiled from reports submitted by employers subject to state and federal unemployment insurance (UI) laws covering 127.0 million full- and part-time jobs. Average annual pay is computed by dividing the total annual payrolls of employees covered by UI programs by the average monthly number of these employees.