I often report economic data for the Augusta Metropolitan Statistical Area because the federal government releases this data in a timelier manner than for each individual county. It also makes sense to consider the metro area, as it is defined, in part, by commuting patterns between the constituent counties.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has just released the county-level data for the first quarter of 2022. I know this is not particularly timely or useful for business planning, but it is useful to think about the heterogeneity of our metro area. These wages are reported by employers and so reflect wages paid in that county, not necessarily where the worker lives.
Burke County continues to have the highest average weekly wage in the metro area at $2,169, over twice as high as the next highest counties, Richmond at $1,002, and Aiken County, at $1,076. The other counties all have average wages ranging from $675 (Lincoln County) to $850 (Edgefield County).
In terms of growth of wages over the last year, Burke, Lincoln, and Edgefield have recorded increases of about 10 percent, enough to compensate for inflation. Wage growth in Columbia, Richmond, and Aiken counties was about 5 percent and McDuffie County only recorded a 2 percent increase from the first quarter of 2021.
