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Average Annual Wage by Sector by City Covered wage data comes from the Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) "ES-202" data series, and consists of information from businesses covered under the state's unemployment insurance program. This series consists of wages for those firms, organizations and individuals whose employees are covered by the Washington Unemployment Insurance Act. Note that with covered wages there are some categories of wages that are not covered. Excluded are members of the armed forces, the self-employed, proprietors, domestic workers, unpaid family workers, and railroad workers covered by the railroad unemployment insurance system. Covered wages represent total compensation paid during the year regardless of when the services were performed. Included in wages are pay for vacation and other paid leave, bonuses, stock options, tips, the cash value of meals and lodging, and in some States, contributions to deferred compensation plans (such as 401(k) plans). Covered employer contributions for old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI), health insurance, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, and private pension and welfare funds are not reported as wages. Stock options were supposed to be eliminated from quarterly wage reports in 2004, but some employers continued to report them in the first two quarters. Average annual wages are calculated by dividing average annual employment by total wages, and are rounded to the nearest $100. Sector data is based on NAICS coding. Wages are reported in Current dollars, so in order to compare longitudinally, wages need to be converted to Constant dollars. Current Dollars vs. Constant Dollars Wages in current dollars is an amount of money in the year the money was reported as wages. In contrast, wages in constant dollars is an amount of money adjusted for inflation based on a price index. Current dollars are often used for comparison within a single time period. Current dollars are converted to constant dollars based upon the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) implicit price deflator for personal consumption expenditures, compiled by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The GDP implicit price deflator is commonly used in adjusting wages because it reflects both changes in prices and changes in consumption patterns, whereas the Consumer Price Index (CPI) mostly reflects changes in prices. DOWNLOAD
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