Federal Survey Shows Bay Area Workers Highest Paid in U.S. in 2009
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KCBS) - Workers in the Bay Area were the highest paid on average in the nation last year, according to data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The data showed workers in the San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland metropolitan area earned 20 percent more than the national average in 2009, the agency said.
The survey included the nine-county Bay Area, plus Santa Cruz and San Benito counties, in that category, according to bureau economist Todd Johnson.
The data showed above-average wages in all of the employment categories surveyed, but particularly among construction jobs, service jobs, sales, office and administrative jobs, and professionals.
Workers in the Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas metropolitan area on the U.S.-Mexico border were paid the least, earning 79 cents for every dollar earned by workers nationwide, the agency said.
Bay Area workers also were the highest paid in 2008, earning 17 percent more than the national average, according to Johnson.
