The Bay Area Worker Is Rich

Workers in the Bay Area were the highest paid on average in the  nation last year, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of  Labor Statistics.
     
The data showed workers in the San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland  metropolitan area earned 20 percent more than the national average in 2009,  the agency said.

The survey included the nine-county Bay Area, plus Santa Cruz and  San Benito counties, in that category, according to bureau economist Todd  Johnson.

The data showed above-average wages in all of the employment  categories surveyed, but particularly among construction jobs, service jobs,  sales, office and administrative jobs, and professionals.

Workers in the Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas metropolitan area on  the U.S.-Mexico border were paid the least, earning 79 cents for every dollar  earned by workers nationwide, the agency said.

Bay Area workers also were the highest paid in 2008, earning 17  percent more than the national average, according to Johnson.