In sign of a cooling economy, Seattle wage growth slows in the first quarter after three quarters of strong growth.

The PayScale Index: Seattle Metro Area by Quarter

After three consecutive quarters of strong growth in wages across almost every industry, job category and company size, wages grew more slowly in the first quarter of 2013, according to PayScale’s Q1 Index. his is one indication of a cooling economy.

The slowdown in wage growth was the first since 2011. One area of strength was the the food services and accommodation industry, which came out on top with the highest quarterly growth for the first time in history. Among the weak areas was tech wages, which pushed down compensation levels in Seattle.

Building upon the current political and economic climate, this quarter was a bump in the road to recovery, as wages fell in previously high-performing areas including IT, Biotech, and Oil & Gas Exploration. It remains to be seen if this quarterly drop is a blip on the radar, or a long-term trend, said Katie Bardaro, Lead Economist, PayScale. Here are some highlights from the Payscale press release:

A setback in the mining, oil and gas exploration industry had geographical consequences as well. The 0.4 percent decrease in wages in this industry likely drove the 0.1 percent wage drop in the Houston metro area, the largest drop this city has seen since mid-2010.

• Tech hotspots cooled off. Cities with a strong tech presence that were previous wage winners were wage losers this quarter. Wages in Boston, Minneapolis, and Seattle fell this quarter (0.7 percent, 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent respectively). Wages in San Francisco softened with a quarterly growth of 0.7 percent compared to previous quarters of more than 1 percent.
• Biotech was the hardest hit of any tech job family. Here, wages fell by more than 1 percent this quarter, compared to IT, where wages simply slowed their growth to 0.2 percent, and architecture and engineering, where wages dropped by a mere 0.1 percent.
• Wage decreases in the manufacturing industry and job category reflect other economic reports. Information released by the Institute for Supply Management, which tracks manufacturing activity, found that the manufacturing sectors expansion slowed in March. This matches our findings that wages decreased by almost 1.0 percent for the job category and 0.4 percent for the industry overall in Q1 2013.
• Small businesses gave out the only wage increases across different company sizes. Wages in Q1 2013 grew by 0.3 percent for small companies, but fell by 0.2 percent for medium companies and fell by 0.5 percent for large companies. For the first time, small company wage growth since 2006 overtook large company wage growth.