DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — When it comes to pay and benefit increases, workers in Montgomery County fared the worst last year in the nation, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Monday, Dec. 22.

Total compensation of U.S. workers grew 5.2 percent in 2007 and most counties shared in that growth, the bureau reported.

But compensation in Montgomery County didn't grow at all. In fact, it dropped 0.6 percent.

Compensation grew in over 90 percent of the 3,111 counties in the U.S., as the average annual compensation per job in the U.S. grew by 4.1 percent to $53,892. Inflation, as measured by the national price index for personal consumption expenditures, grew 2.6 percent in 2007.

Large counties, those with at least $10 billion in total compensation, represent 5.3 percent of the nation's counties, but account for almost two-thirds of total national compensation. In these 164 counties, all metropolitan:

• Total compensation grew by 5.5 percent last year, ranging from Montgomery County's -0.6 percent to a high of 12.4 percent in Collin County, Texas.

• Average annual compensation ranged from $41,520 in El Paso, Texas to $116,977 in New York County (Manhattan), New York.

• The management of companies and enterprises sector had the largest rate of growth for total compensation at 10.5 percent, while the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting sector had the smallest rate of growth at 1.4 percent.

• The professional and technical services sector represented the largest share of 2007 total compensation at 10.8 percent.

Medium sized counties, those with total compensation of at least $1 billion and less than $10 billion, represent 21.4 percent of all U.S. counties, and account for 25.8 percent of total national compensation.

Small counties, those with total compensation of less than $1billion, represent the remaining 73.3 percent of all U.S. counties, but account for only 8.4 percent of total national compensation.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or agottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.