PHOENIX — A new analysis reports salaries are falling in many states, and Arizona is one of them.
Every month, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) analyzes payroll transactions for 10 million employees across the country. Its March data has both good and bad news for Arizona workers.
ADP says the median annual pay for an Arizona employee was $51,500 in March. An 8% increase compared to last year, but a $300 drop from last month, a half a point.
Arizona is only one of a handful of states with lower payrolls in the first quarter of the year. The state had the second-biggest monthly decline at 1%. Neighboring New Mexico had a larger drop with the median payroll decreasing 1.2%.
The news is not all bad. Even though the increase in annual nominal wages fell this month to 8%, when adjusting for inflation the buying power of Arizona workers has risen for seven consecutive months. Real salaries increased 3% annually, a half a point higher than last month.
ADP also provides nationwide statistics in their data.
Employees on the job for more than a year had a 6.9% rise in median pay. It was more than double for those changing jobs.
Job stayers made more money overall.
Employees analyzed by ADP remaining in their jobs had a median annual salary of $57,700. Those that changed jobs had a median salary of $48,400.
Employees working at larger firms saw a better pay bump in March. Salaries at companies that employ over 50 people rose by over 7%.
Employees at these larger firms also have higher median annual salaries compared to people working for smaller businesses.
