North Dakota Shows Continued Growth in Average Compensation Per Job

The average compensation per job in North Dakota rose to $40,876 in 2007, an increase of 4.4 percent per year, on average, since 1998. This annual growth was the ninth largest in the nation behind seven states and the District of Columbia. During this same period, inflation grew an average of 2.7 percent per year.

“This is very good news for North Dakotans, especially given the national economy,” says Richard Rathge, North Dakota State Data Center director. The center is at North Dakota State University. “This means our buying power grew at a pace one and a half times that of inflation, on average.”

Employee compensation consists of wage and salary disbursements and supplements to salaries and wages (employer contributions for employee pension and insurance funds and employer contributions for government social insurance).

On average, employer supplements in North Dakota grew faster than actual wages and salaries from 1998 to 2007. Supplements grew an average of 6.4 percent annually. Wages and salaries grew an average of 5.5 percent per year.

This month’s “Population Bulletin,” a monthly publication from the North Dakota State Data Center, focuses on average compensation per job released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) at www.bea.gov. The BEA provides compensation data for the nation, states and counties, plus metropolitan and micropolitan areas.

Nationally, compensation per job increased an average of 4.1 percent per year from 1998 through 2007. Compensation reached $53,892 in 2007. In North Dakota, the average compensation per job for all 53 counties grew at least 3 percent per year, on average. Seven counties (McKenzie, Burke, Bowman, Divide, Williams, Billings and Slope), all in the western part of the state, grew an average of at least 6 percent annually.

Out of the 3,141 counties in the nation, Oliver County in west-central North Dakota had the 94th highest average compensation per job ($60,382) in 2007.

While compensation in North Dakota is experiencing consistent and positive growth, the average compensation of $40,876 earned in North Dakota still lags behind most states and was 24.2 percent below the national average of $53,892 in 2007. Three other states had lower averages than North Dakota: Montana ($40,446), Mississippi ($40,027) and South Dakota ($38,893). The District of Columbia had the highest average compensation per job in 2007 ($92,281), followed by New York ($70,656) and Connecticut ($69,008).

NDSU Agriculture Communication