Economic Update:  County Level Jobs Data

-10.02.2009

This week, we take a quick look at new county level data available…

County level data on jobs for the first quarter of 2009 were just released.  We now have a clearer understanding of the impact of the nation’s recession on jobs located in Floyd and Clark counties. 

As you may recall, national job losses escalated during the last quarter of 2008, and the first quarter of 2009 was also a time of significant job losses.   The Quarterly Census on Earnings and Wages also indicate that Floyd and Clark were not immune to the loss of non-farm payroll jobs. 

Figure 1 shows the change in jobs by sector from Q1 2008 to the Q1 2009.    Figure 1A shows the change in total jobs going back to 2001-2002.

Similar to the national economy, we see that manufacturing, construction, and retail suffered significant losses.     For example, total losses in non-farm payrolls were 2,406 and manufacturing alone was responsible for a loss of 1,464 jobs.   Construction and retail experienced losses of 508 and 414 respectively, and transportation and warehousing was also down by 335.  On the plus side, health care and social services saw a significant increase of almost 600 positions, and other services was also up.   Surprisingly, accommodation and food services also saw a positive change in jobs.

These data give us a look during the depth of the current recession.   The data are dated, and in essence we are looking in the rear view mirror.  It is important, however, to develop an understanding of how the various sectors were impacted, and Figure 1 does that.

Figure 2 shows the change in the average weekly wage and total quarterly wages from Q1 2008 to Q1 2009.   Clearly, we see an overall decline in both the average weekly wage and total wages.   The average weekly wage and total quarterly wages declined by 3.2% and 6.3% respectively.   

Nationally, we have seen that the personal savings rate is increasing and consumption spending has declined from the previous year.     Adding the decline in average weekly wages to these consumer behavioral changes, one can surmise that sectors relying on discretionary spending have faced challenges. 

Suggestions

If you have any suggestions on future columns or research about specific industries or other economic data, please send me an email at udufrene@ius.edu.

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This information is provided by

Uric Dufrene. 

Uric Dufrene, Ph.D. holds the Sanders Chair in Business in the School of Business at Indiana University Southeast.  He conducts research on local and regional economic trends, and teaches corporate finance at the undergraduate and graduate levels.   He previously served as dean of the School of Business.