May 5--Somebody forgot to tell Minidoka and Cassia counties that we're in a recession.

Workers' average annual wage increased in Minidoka and Cassia counties from 2006 to 2007 despite a significant slowdown across Idaho and the rest of the nation, according to a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Minidoka County reported that its average annual wage growth increased almost 2 percentage points to 6.3 percent in 2007 -- the latest data available. Cassia County's average wage increased four-tenths of a percentage point to 5.1 percent.

The two counties ranked among the top 10 in Idaho in terms of wage growth.

Average annual wage growth indicates how fast wages increasing a reporting year -- the information is sometimes used to gauge county economic development.

However, the average annual wage growth in Twin Falls County fell almost two percentage points to an average annual growth rateof 3.5 percent.

State labor officials say the recession hit Idaho's urban counties sooner than rural areas.

Jan Roeser, regional economist with Idaho Department of Labor, said Minidoka and Cassia counties also have accelerated efforts to attract new jobs.

"Cassia wasn't really showing any construction activity before 2007 but TwinFalls was seeing a lot of it," she said "But within the past couple of years Cassia has seen significant growth while Twin Falls has slacked off."

Cassia and Minidoka counties have announced the opening of large employers such as DOT Foods, Pacific Ethanol, Hy-Line and Packaging Specialties since 2007.

"Now Cassia and Minidoka have some companies that are creating jobs with higher wages that the area did not have before," Roeser said.

But that is not the case throughout most of Idaho, where the average annual wage rose just 3.2 percent in 2007 to just over $33,200.

In 2007, wages in rural Idaho rose nearly 3.7 percent while wages in the urban areas were up less than 3 percent.

The urban average wage was $34,500, and the rural average was $30,500, according to the report.

Per capita income was highest at $64,200 in Blaine County. The lowest was $16,200 in Madison County, which includes a heavy concentration of students attending Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Nationally, the average annual wage hit $43,900 in 2007, up 4.5 percent and only the second time in the last seven years that the national wage increase has been higher than the wage increase for rural Idaho.

The rural-urban pattern was the same during the last recession. Rural Idaho posted small but substantially larger annual wage increases than urban Idaho during both the recession year of 2001 and its fallout in 2002, reflecting the greater economic volatility in urban areas where population and the economic activity that follows it ebb and flow in greater proportions.

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