Idaho wages gain ground
Idaho personal income rose in all but one county last year, but were still behind the national average.
Statewide, the average wage rose 3.9 percent from 2012 levels to $37,800, the Idaho Department of Labor said Monday. The national average wage increased by 2 percent to an average wage of $50,012.
Because Idaho National Laboratory jobs are counted there, Butte County posted Idaho’s highest average wage at nearly $85,500, an increase of over 6 percent from 2012 and 171 percent of the national average.
Bonneville County wages rose by 3 percent to $33,984; Bannock County by 1.7 percent to $33,479; Bingham County by 4.9 percent to $33,756; and Madison County by 3.8 percent to $29,586.
Lewis County in north-central Idaho was the only one to experience a decline in total personal income, the result of a 23 percent drop in farm income.
By contrast, average business profits rose by a greater percentage than wages in 29 of the 44 counties. Statewide, average business profits grew 4 percent, just a tenth of a percentage point more than the average wage. Nationally, business profits rose 3.4 percent in 2013.
