SJ County posts strong gains in jobs, wages

By Reed Fujii

Record Staff Writer 

Posted Mar. 11, 2016 at 4:34 PM

San Joaquin County showed strong gains in employment and in average weekly wages in the third quarter last year, federal economic officials reported this week.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the county’s 4.2 percent job growth ranked 22nd among the nation’s 342 largest counties and a gain of 4 percent in average weekly wages (to $834/week) made it No. 44 of those counties.

Jeffrey Michael, director of the Center for Business and Policy Research at University of the Pacific, said San Joaquin County was among the top 20 percent of all counties in the nation for both job and wage growth.

“It’s definitely another piece of good data for the county,” he said Friday.

As the economic recovery picked up steam, wage and income gains only began to register in 2015.

“It’s the first time we’ve seen wage gains outpacing inflation since the Great Recession,” Michael said. Previously, “we’ve seen pretty good job gains, but we hadn’t seen wage gains.”

The average wage increase in July-through-September of 2015 compared to the same period of 2014 reflects broad employment growth in most job sectors, including construction, transportation and warehousing, Michael said.

“It shows an improving labor market, and it’s a sign of growth in higher-paying jobs,” he said. “It’s a very good showing for an area that’s had so many problems in recent years.”

The new report only bolsters the research center’s forecast for rapid employment gains for San Joaquin County this year, according to Michael, who said, “We’re confident that we’ll see continued improvement.”

In its quarterly report on employment and wages in U.S. counties, the Labor Statistics agency said national job growth was 1.9 percent in September 2015 from September 2014. Employment increased in 312 of the 342 counties analyzed, those with 75,000 or more jobs in 2014.

The U.S. average weekly wage increased 2.6 percent over the year, growing to $974 in the third quarter, the agency said.

http://www.recordnet.com/news/20160311/sj-county-posts-strong-gains-in-jobs-wages