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establishments Ramsey County, with 13,928 companies, didn't make the Census Bureau's Top 50 cut, but its average annual payroll per employee of $ 39,536, also ranked high within Minnesota. Some of the state's rural counties clearly have defied the trend. The increased number of companies in Dodge, Olmsted and Mower counties was a pleasant surprise, said Bob Isaacson, director of analysis and evaluation for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. He said he sees metro economic centers helping rural job growth in some areas, "a bit of bridging and reduction of the rural-urban split." Wadena County, west of Brainerd, for instance, registered the largest five-year percentage gain in companies. According to the report, it went from 299 companies, nearly all of them employing less than 50 people, in 1998 to 456 in 2003 --again of nearly 53 percent. The findings baffled community leaders there, however. They haven't noticed an economic boom in the area, they said. "I don't think that I can put a finger on the reason for it," said Jarrod Olson, director of the Wadena Development Authority. The area doesn't benefit much from the Lakes Country tourism and recreation economy, he said. Wadena County Commissioner Lane Waldahl called the findings a fluke. Perhaps the businesses in Wadena are simply flying under the radar. The Census Bureau data indicate that most of the new businesses are extremely small. In the construction industry, for example, the report shows 78 business establishments in 2003, more than triple the 25 reported in 1998. But 69 of those businesses consist of one to four employees, and none had more than 19 workers. Barbara Ronningen, senior research analyst at the Minnesota State Demographics Center in St. Paul, noted that the population drain from Minnesota's rural areas has slowed, although it's too early to say how it will play out in this decade. For a copy of the report, go to: http://www.census.gov.ezproxy.stthomas.edu/epcd/cbp/view/cbpview.html By Jennifer Bjorhus and Maryjo Sylwester To see more of the Pioneer Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.twincities.com. Copyright (c) 2005, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or a-mail reprints@krtinfo.com. JOURNAL-CODE: SP LOAD-DATE: August 11, 2005