N.D. Shows Continued Growth in Average Compensation Per Job

The average compensation per job in North Dakota rose to $43,372 in 2008. On average, the compensation rate has increased 4.4 percent per year since 1998. This average annual growth was the sixth largest in the nation behind four states and the District of Columbia.

During the same time frame, inflation grew an average of 2.8 percent per year.

“This increase shows how robust our state’s economy has been during the past decade,” says Richard Rathge, North Dakota State Data Center director at North Dakota State University. “However, we must remember these are state averages and they mask lower wage gains made by many of our rural counties.”

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

On average, employer supplements in North Dakota grew slightly faster than actual wages and salaries from 1998 to 2008. Employer supplements in the state have grown an average of 6.1 percent annually since 1998. Wages and salaries grew an average of 5.8 percent per year.

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

Nationally, the compensation per job has increased an average of 4 percent annually since 1998,reaching $56,116 in 2008. In North Dakota, the average compensation per job for all 53 counties grew at least 2.6 percent per year since 1998.

Five counties (McKenzie, Divide, Williams, Billings and Slope), all in the western part of the state, had increases of at least 7 percent annually. Out of the 3,141 counties in the nation, Oliver County in west-central North Dakota had the 117th highest average compensation per job ($61,464) in 2008.

While compensation in North Dakota is experiencing consistent and positive growth, the average compensation of $43,372 earned in North Dakota still lags behind most states and was 22.7 percent below the national average of $56,116 in 2008.

Four other states had lower averages than North Dakota in 2008: Idaho ($43,010), Mississippi ($42,949), Montana ($42,188) and South Dakota ($40,726).

The District of Columbia had the highest average compensation per job in 2008 ($95,881), followed by New York ($72,063) and Connecticut ($69,790).

NDSU Agriculture Communication