County for jobs: Yakima in Washington

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- From June 2011 to June 2012, 87.5 percent of the United States' 328 largest counties gained in employment, the government said Tuesday.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Yakima County in the state of Washington posted the highest gain in employment for the year at 8.2 percent -- far higher than the national average of 1.8 percent.

In Yakima, which has a population of about 245,000 people, the biggest gain came in mining and natural resource, which added 8,646 jobs in the 12 month period.

The largest decreases among the largest U.S. counties were posted by Madison, Ill., St. Clair, Ill., and Clay, Mo., which each had 12-month declines of 2 percent.

The largest weekly wage increase, beating the national average of 1.3 percent, was posted by Washington County, Ore., where wages rose 8.5 percent on average.

The largest gain for Washington County was in manufacturing, which experienced a 16 percent raise with company bonuses significantly affecting the data.

The largest wage decrease was 17 percent posted by Williamson County in Texas. But the data in Williamson was skewed by large payouts in the second quarter of 2011, the bureau said.