Wages in San Diego County were basically flat — even before accounting for inflation.

County wages rose 0.1 percent annually since the second quarter, said data released Wednesday, which are several months old, by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was well below the 4.4 percent national average and the slowest gain among the 10 largest U.S. counties

The bureau calculates wage growth by looking at the average weekly wage, which was $1,390 for the nation, and breaks the numbers down by county. He said the average weekly wage in San Diego County was $1,526 at the end of June.

Only Cook County, where Chicago is located, also had somewhat sluggish wage growth compared to 3 percent. King County, where Seattle is located, had the most at 10 percent.

While San Diego’s numbers might be daunting, San Diego County’s annual salary is still higher than three other counties on the 10-county list (Orange, Miami-Dade and Maricopa).

The bureau’s data also tends to be somewhat volatile because it uses a broad definition of pay that includes bonuses, stock options, severance pay, profit distributions and more, said Ric Wise, an economist at the bureau. This can distort the data if, for example, some companies decided not to pay bonuses or there were no other large payments.

Another thing to consider is previous salary earnings. San Diego County had the largest annual wage gain of the 10 largest counties, 7 percent, in the second quarter of 2023. Wise said the recent numbers could be an example of wages adjusting after a big increase.

However, there’s no getting around the fact that wages haven’t risen much in the past year, which matters to workers even if they got a big raise a year or two ago. Alan Gin, an economist at the University of San Diego, said inflation, while slowing, is still at work this year — an average of 3.3 percent in San Diego County through September.

“Your standard of living is going down,” he said of people without raises. “Your real income has gone down.”

Gin said San Diego County has always struggled with wages compared to other large counties because of a lack of corporate headquarters (where bonuses are paid) and a “San Diego rebate” — sometimes called the sunshine tax — where workers accept a lower salary because of the great weather.

One factor that hurt overall wage growth in San Diego was the loss of jobs in the high-paying business and professional services sector. This includes legal, scientific, waste management and architectural jobs. The bureau said there were 259,000 jobs in the sector, down 4.4% in a year.

Wages fell 6.5 percent to $2,198 a week for the professional and business services sector. A decline is common when there have been noticeable reductions in employment.

Sectors with slow wage gains included education and health services (healthcare, social care), up 1% annually to a weekly wage of $1,243. Leisure and hospitality (hotels, gambling, restaurants) rose 2.5% to $746 per week (lowest paying sector); production rose 2.9% to $2,125 for the week.

The information sector, which includes work in broadcasting, telecommunications, newspapers and the publishing industry, saw the biggest increase, up 11.2%, with a weekly wage of $2,987. There are only 20,600 workers in the sector, down 6% in a year, so it was like a drop in the county average. Also, the industry is small enough that only one or two companies with high wage earnings could have made a difference.

Other sectors with wage gains that could beat inflation were government (mainly education), up 4.8 percent with weekly wages of $1,671; construction, up 4.5% in a year to $1,579 a week; and trade, transportation and utilities (retail, wholesalers, warehousing), up 4.4% year over year to $1,183 per week.

Nearby Orange County fared better with wage growth, up 4.2 percent for a weekly wage of $1,506, which was still $20 less than San Diego.

A more comprehensive picture of wages for workers in San Diego County is expected from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis in mid-December. The annual report looks at real personal income, a general way of looking at how much money Americans make in a year. The number includes wages, interest, stock dividends and government benefits, which are then reduced by the rate of inflation.

Wage growth in the largest counties by population

Second quarter 2024, annual

King: $2,507 average weekly wage, 10.4% annual increase Dallas: $1,644, 5.2% New York: $2,721, 4.6% Maricopa: $1,381, 4.6% Harris: $1,574, 4.4 % Orange: $1,506, 4.4% Los Angeles: 4.4% 4.1% Miami-Dade: $1,400, 3.2% Cook: $1,570, 3% San Diego: $1,526, 0.1%

Originally published: November 20, 2024 at 3:05 PM PST