By JIMMY LAWTON

More St. Lawrence County residents are employed by the government than any other job sector, according to an employment report included in recently released study provided by the New York Power Authority.

Government sector jobs are also the second best paying jobs when dividing total earnings by the number of employees.

The report was included in a Study was a part of a relicensing review agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that was finalized in January of 2015.

The study was put together by the McKinsey & Co and cost the Power Authority about $4 million.

Largest employment sectors

The report shows that local, county, state or federal government employs 10,350 St. Lawrence County residents.

It also shows that government employees, on average, make more money than all other job sectors accept utilities.

The average salary for government employees in St. Lawrence County estimated at $80,000. The salary estimate is established by dividing the total earnings by the number of total employees.

St. Lawrence County’s second largest employment sector is health care, which provides about 6,450 jobs in St. Lawrence County, which an average salary of just $35,000.

Major health care employers include United Helpers, Canton-Potsdam Hospital, Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center and Massena Memorial Hospital.

Retail trade ranks third in St. Lawrence County, providing about 5,000 jobs with an average salary of $25,000, followed by the accommodation and food industries which employ 3,000 people with an average salary of $15,000.

Manufacturing, once St. Lawrence County’s leading industry, now provides 2,600 jobs with an average salary of $75,000.

Alcoa and Corning are among St. Lawrence County’s remaining retailers, though Alcoa has substantially cut its number of employees since this data was collected.

Education jobs come in sixth place with 2,100 jobs providing an average salary of $45,000 per year.

That’s followed by farms, which provide about 1,800 jobs with salaries averaged at only $15,000 per year.

Rounding out the top ten are construction, which employs about 1,350 people with salaries averaged at $35,000 and “other services” providing 1,050 jobs with an average salary of $20,000.

Best average salaries

In terms of pay, St. Lawrence County’s utility companies provide the best average pay salary at $115,000 per year. Utilities employ only about 200 residents.

The second best earners in St. Lawrence County are government employees with an average income of $80,000.

In third place are manufacturing jobs, which pay an average salary of $75,000. Manufacturers employ about 2,600 people, the report shows.

Ranking fourth are “management of companies” at $50,0000. This sector employs about 500 people and includes jobs such as consultants.

In fifth place is education with an average salary of $45,000 a year. This sector employs about roughly 2,100 people.

All other job sector employees earn and average of salary of $40,000 or less.

See chart for more detailed information.

The McKinsey report cites its sources for these numbers from the US Census Bureau Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Moody's Analytics, St. Lawrence County profile.