2011 wages went up; what about 2012 revenues?

Brad Shannon | The Olympian • Published June 19, 2012 Modified June 20, 2012

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The Employment Security Department put out numbers this morning to show that wages on average went up in Washington in 2011. The new average annual pay for jobs covered by unemployment insurance is now $49,894.

The encouraging news comes on the eve of the next state revenue forecast, which should shed light on more recent job trends – as well as paint the outlook for revenue growth to feed state government.

The ESD wages announcement, linked here, says the rise in average pay was due to the welcome increase in better-paying jobs, unlike the previous year:

“Month to month, we’ve been seeing strong growth in industries that tend to offer above-average pay, and that seems to be reflected in last year’s earnings,” said Employment Security Commissioner Paul Trause.

The three industries with the highest wage growth in 2011 were the information sector, with wage growth of 9.5 percent; company management, up 7.9 percent; and manufacturing, up 5 percent.

The 2011 numbers stood in sharp contrast to 2010, when the 2.1 percent rise in the average annual wage was caused mostly by the loss of low-paying jobs. The number of insured workers declined by nearly 32,000 that year, and wages grew by just $1.2 billion.

The next revenue forecast is scheduled for release at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Olympia from the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council. Our post on the council’s tax-collection report issued last week is here with additional links to the February revenue forecast.

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