David Nicklaus David Nicklaus is a business columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow David Nicklaus Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

If you're searching for a job, St. Charles County may be a good place to look, but if you're looking for a raise, wages are rising faster in Madison County and the city of St. Louis.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released third-quarter 2018 employment and wage figures Wednesday for the St. Louis region's five largest counties. All five lagged behind the national rate of job growth, and employment actually fell in the two largest Metro East counties between September 2017 and September 2018.

St. Charles County's 0.7 percent job growth was the fastest in the region, but was far behind the 1.6 percent U.S. job gain for the same 12 months. Employment grew 0.4 percent in St. Louis County and 0.2 percent in the city, and fell by 0.4 percent in Madison County and 0.7 percent in St. Clair County.

The Illinois counties both landed in the bottom 10 percent when the nation's 349 largest counties were ranked by job growth.

Weekly wages grew 4.1 percent in both the city and Madison County, beating the national increase of 3.3 percent between September 2017 and September 2018. Wages rose 3.3 percent in St. Charles County, 3.2 percent in St. Louis County and just 0.2 percent in St. Clair County.