Census Bureau: Counties saw decrease in jobs in 2009
The number of businesses with paid employees declined by 168,000 from 2008 to 2009, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Bureau’s “County Business Patterns: 2009,” released Thursday, found that New York County, N.Y., saw the largest decline in payroll per employee between 2008 and 2009 among the top 50 counties in the United States by number of business establishments. Also, Los Angeles County, Calif., businesses had the highest number of paid employees in 2009 at more than 3.7 million.
“County Business Patterns: 2009” found that New York County’s payroll per employee decreased 11.4 percent, from $102,000 per employee in 2008 to $90,000 per employee in 2009. Other findings among the 50 largest counties based on number of establishments include:
• Maricopa County, Ariz., had a decline of 4.1 percent in the total
number of establishments in 2009.
• Kings County, N.Y., gained 1,299 business locations; a 2.9
percent increase.
• Clark County, Nev., businesses lost nearly 79,000 employees in 2009; a decline of 9.4 percent.
The report also found that between 2008 and 2009, employment dropped 5.3 percent, a decrease of more than 6 million employees. All states showed declines in the number of establishments during that time period, led by Arizona, which lost 6,000 establishments (4.3 percent) and more than 200,000 employees (9.1 percent). Only Alaska (1.8 percent) and the District of Columbia (0.1 percent) gained employees from 2008.
“During the early years of the decade, the nation saw steady, if moderate growth in the number of establishments year to year,” William Bostic, associate director for economic programs at the U.S. Census Bureau, said in a statement. “In contrast, the years 2008 and 2009 coincided with the recession and showed declines. In 2009, we also saw a drop in the number of employees.”
See more information from “County Business Patterns: 2009,” including a press release and slides.
