Thomas Adkins, left, and Darrell Harden, who work for Steve Dick Masonry of Olathe, lay bricks for the new Dillons store on Jan. 17 in the 1800 block of Massachusetts Street. Payroll totals in 2010 for the construction industry in Douglas County shrank by almost 9 million compared with 2005, according to a new U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis study.

It is a magic trick even Houdini would be proud of: pop one bubble and make nearly $29 million worth of paychecks disappear.

A new set of federal numbers provide a glimpse at just how much Douglas County workers and businesses have suffered following the bursting of the housing bubble and the recession that ensued.

In 2010, the payroll totals for Douglas County’s construction industry had shrunk by $28.9 million compared with what they were in 2005, according to a new study from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Construction workers were hit the hardest, but they certainly weren’t alone. The BEA’s County Compensation report found that 633 counties in the country — out of just more than 3,100 nationwide — saw total countywide compensation numbers decrease in 2010.

And, yep, you guessed it, Douglas County found itself in the losing category.

Here’s a look at other findings from the report. The report only provides data through 2010, but as they say in kindergarten classes and Soviet soup lines, you get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.

Light paychecks

Total compensation, which includes wages and employee benefits such as 401(k) contributions and health insurance premiums, checked in at $2.165 billion in Douglas County in 2010. That’s down less than 1 percent from the $2.166 billion paid in 2009. But remember, none of these numbers is adjusted for inflation. Just to keep up with inflation in 2010, wages would have needed to grow by about 2 percent.

Hammered

In 2005, the construction industry provided $115.8 million in paychecks in Douglas County. By 2010, that number had dropped to $86.8 million. That’s a decline of 25 percent.

Biggest losers

In terms of wages paid, there were three other broad categories that actually had total payrolls that were smaller in 2010 than in 2005:

1) Transportation and warehousing: loss of $14.8 million

2) Administrative services, a broad category that includes everything from janitorial services to travel agencies: loss of $8.5 million.

3) Finance and insurance: loss of $965,000.

Biggest gainers

Government jobs continue to be Lawrence’s foundation for the economy. Government payrolls, including local, state and federal, increased by $152.9 million, or 23 percent, during the 2005 to 2010 period. Others large gainers included:

1) Professional, scientific and technical services: $25.9 million in payroll gains.

2) Health care and social assistance: gain of $22.3 million.

3) Membership service organization and other services: gain of $22 million.

4) Retail trade: gain of $12.1 million.

5) Educational services, which include businesses ranging from school bus companies to testing services: gain of $11.8 million.

Lagging behind

Several Douglas County industries didn’t add wages nearly as quickly as their counterparts across the state. Here’s a look at the growth rate for Douglas County payrolls from 2005 to 2010 compared with the statewide growth rate during that same time period:

1) Construction: Douglas County, down 25 percent; Statewide, up 7 percent. The report provides some pretty good evidence that the burst of the housing bubble made a louder bang in Lawrence than elsewhere else in the state. Interestingly, Lawrence construction payrolls started declining in 2006. Payrolls on the statewide level didn’t start declining until 2009.

2) Administrative services: Douglas County, down 16.7 percent; Statewide, up 24.8 percent.

3) Transportation and warehousing: Douglas County, down 27.8 percent; Statewide, up 5.8 percent.

4) Professional, scientific and technical services: Douglas County, up 19.3 percent; Statewide, up 28.1 percent. These are the high-tech, high-paying jobs Lawrence covets right now, so the city certainly wants to be above the statewide average in this category.

5) Health care: Douglas County, up 16.3 percent; Statewide, up 25.1 percent.

Ahead of the pack

Douglas County does have some industries that are adding payroll at a rate faster than their counterparts in the state.

1) Information services, which include Internet companies, computers companies and a host of technical consulting firms: Douglas County, up 5 percent; Statewide, down 17.3 percent.

2) Real estate and leasing: Douglas County, up 36 percent; Statewide, up 7.3 percent

3) Retail trade: Douglas County, up 8.9 percent; Statewide, up 4.0 percent.

4) Manufacturing: Douglas County, up 4.3 percent; Statewide, up 3.1 percent.

5) Arts/entertainment/recreation: Douglas County, up 59.1 percent; Statewide, up 16.1 percent. Some local leaders have been talking about how the arts can be a bigger player in economic development. This provides some evidence the industry is growing, but it is worth noting that it produced only $9.5 million in wages in 2010, or about 0.4 percent of the county’s total.

The mix

Douglas County’s economy brings to mind a saying about eggs and one basket. No surprise, government wages make up the largest percentage of the county’s total payroll. But if local leaders were hoping to reduce their dependence on government paychecks, they didn’t do so during the five-year period. In 2005, government jobs accounted for 34.6 percent of the compensation paid in Douglas County. By 2010, that number had grown to 37.6 percent. Here’s a look at the top-paying industries in Douglas County, measured by what percent their payrolls make up of the county’s total payroll, and how they compare with the economies in Johnson and Shawnee counties.

1) Government: Douglas, 37.6 percent of the county’s total payrolls; Shawnee, 27.7 percent; Johnson, 9.4 percent.

2) Manufacturing: Douglas, 10.1 percent; Shawnee, 7.5 percent; Johnson, 7.8 percent.

3) Professional/scientific/tech.: Douglas, 7.3 percent; Shawnee, 4.9 percent; Johnson, 12.8 percent.

4) Health care: Douglas, 7.3 percent; Shawnee, 15.3 percent; Johnson, 9.9 percent.

5) Retail trade: Douglas, 6.8 percent; Shawnee, 5.1 percent; Johnson, 5.8 percent.

And one last thing about paychecks: Lawrence’s bar and restaurant category generates 4 percent of Lawrence’s total payrolls. In both Shawnee and Johnson counties, they account for 2.5 percent.

Feel free to insert your own joke about paychecks and bars, right here.