Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Latest Data: 2023
Release Timing: Following March
Frequency: Annual
Contact: David Lenze, 202-606-9292, reis@bea.gov

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis "Wage and Salary Disbursements by Place of Work, a component of personal income, is defined as the monetary remuneration of employees, including the compensation of corporate officers, commissions, tips, bonuses, and receipts in kind. Disbursements are recorded on a place-of-work basis and are then adjusted to a place-of-residence basis for the data series Personal Income by Place of Residence. This is done so that the income of the recipients whose place of residence differs from their place of work will be correctly assigned to the appropriate state of residence. Additional definitions related to personal income are available in the BEA’s online glossary of regional economic accounts terms https://apps.bea.gov/regional/definitions/." 

The data presented here comes from Table SA7N Wages and Salaries by NAICS Industry 1/ ​Wages and salaries by place of work (thousands of dollars). 

Economists use index numbers for quick comparisons between sets of data across time. The "Wage & Salary Disbursements, Indexed to 2009" measure is calculated by identifying 2009 as the "base year" and scaling all of the other Total Wage & Salary Disbursements results off of that year.

For example, the Total Wage & Salary Disbursements value for Alabama in 2016 is represented by 1.0 (obtained by dividing the value by itself, 76.33/76.33 = 1.0), and the numbers from other years are similarly scaled down. The Total Wage & Salary Disbursements:2009 = 1.0’ value for 2016 is 1.2 obtained by dividing the 2016 Total Wage & Salary Disbursements value by the base year’s Total Wage & Salary Disbursements value (91.65/76.33 = 1.20)