The smaller the Southern California paycheck, the bigger the raise

Workers in Southern California’s lesser-compensated counties are getting the bigger pay hikes.

My trusty spreadsheet reviewed quarterly wage stats from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics for the second quarter, focusing on details for 29 California counties and seven from Southern California.

The 9.9 million local workers collectively saw annualized earnings rise 3.6% in 12 months to an average $75,600 annual wage.

By the way, Southern California’s workforce is roughly the size of all the employees in New York state or the Netherlands.

Details

Let’s start with paying the Inland Empire and its big logistics industries.

Across San Bernardino County, annual wages rose 5.3% in a year to $62,504 for 837,800 workers. That’s the region’s biggest raise – but its only eighth-best out of the among 29 California counties tracked by the report.

Meanwhile, neighboring Riverside County had 4.3% increases (No. 14 statewide) to $59,384 for 836,100 workers.

And in Santa Barbara County, an economy heavy with hospitality jobs, wages were up 4.7% (No. 9 statewide) to $67,496 for 222,400 workers.

Now, let’s contrast those raises better-paid parts of Southern California. These counties have higher concentrations of workers at technology and business-services companies.

Orange County’s one-year raises averaged 4.2% (No. 15 statewide) to $78,312 for 1.65 million workers. Los Angeles County pay was up 4.1% increase (No. 16) to $79,768 for 4.5 million workers. In Ventura County, there was a 3.2% increase (No. 19) to $68,068 for 339,100 workers.

And then contemplate San Diego County, with the region’s best pay. These 1.54 million workers got the smallest raises statewide – only a 0.1% increase to $79,352.

Bottom line

Stronger raises at the bottom of the pay spectrum earlier in 2024 likely reflect hikes in various minimum wages and continued staffing challenges for bosses in lower-paying industries.

Southern California pay hikes were significantly below what bosses handed out in nine Bay Area counties, which amounted to 6.1% increases to $138,900-a-year wage for 4 million workers.

By the way, the state’s biggest raises were in Santa Clara County – a 10% jump to $188,864 for its 1.1 million workers.

Southern California also trailed 13 other California counties in the study, where collectively pay was up 4% in a year to $64,300 for 3.1 million workers.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

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