Survey sheds light on area wages

Full-time workers in the Springfield area earned $16.74 an hour on average - $34,700 per year - as of October, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey.

More than 200 businesses were surveyed in Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties for the 2008 National Compensation Survey.

Wages are up 2.6 percent from the $16.32 per hour posted for full-time workers in the 2007 survey, but BLS spokeswoman Cassandra Yocum said the bureau does not use the numbers for purposes of year-to-year comparison. She noted that the survey is more of a snapshot of the area; different companies are surveyed each year and different workers are surveyed at those companies, meaning direct annual comparison is impossible.

"They select establishments using probability sampling, so from year to year you might select different establishments," Yocum said. "Then, once they have the establishment, they do another probability sample for occupation, so you might not get the same occupations at the same establishment from year to year. That's why they're considered snapshots as opposed to time series."

'In the ballpark'

The snapshot at Springfield stainless steel fabricator Custom Metalcraft Inc. is of a company dealing with a weakened economy, resulting in fewer and smaller raises to its approximately 200 employees. The company posted 2008 revenues of about $30 million, off its 2007 mark by almost 20 percent.

Co-owner Dwayne Holden, however, said the company's wages are in line with other metal fab shops. The survey notes hourly wages for production workers ranging from $12.44 for entry-level employees up to $15.62 per hour for skilled workers.

"When reviews of raises come up for plant workers, we check with all the local area fabricators and with the surveys to make sure we're competitive and that we can afford that increase," Holden said. "The same goes with the salaried workers and office people - we review the surveys that are published for equal industries to ensure that with those types of jobs we are in the ballpark."

Mark Cook, president of food-processing equipment manufacturer Central States Industrial, said his employees also fall into the average range for the area, which is not surprising. Cook said his company uses the government wage data combined with private surveys to determine appropriate pay and benefits for workers.

Cook said Springfield's wages are considerably lower than those in California and in the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina, where CSI also has facilities, though he said those lower wages can be tied in part to the lower overall cost of living in the Ozarks.

"We believe that we're able to attract talent here because of the cost of living here compared to the (North Carolina) Research Triangle or somewhere in California," Cook said. "We have a better labor market here in terms of cost, but I think it's a function of the cost of living as well."

Economic strain

Both Cook and Holden said the economy is taking its toll on their companies' ability to offer the raises they'd like to provide.

Cook said his company last year started moving to more performance-based bonuses as opposed to permanent pay raises.

"It has forced us to freeze normal pay raises except for entry-level employees - they start at a lower rate, so they have been getting their raises," Cook said. "But long-time employees have had their raises frozen."

Holden said pressure from his customers forces him to keep costs as low as possible, especially in a difficult economy - and that means keeping wages in check.

"We're having some customers tell us (to) drop prices, period, and with major customers you have to do that to retain market share," Holden said. "If in selected areas there are people who are excelling, then we do give them some performance bonus, but not at this time as a permanent raise. We have to remain competitive in the industry - with the pricing structure and competition, there's no room to add additional cost."

Bargaining chips

BLS spokeswoman Yocum said that while the survey is not meant for year-to-year comparisons, it does have several other uses.

"It's often used in collective bargaining negotiations between unions and companies, and it's also used to evaluate benefit packages and analyze contract settlements," she said.

"It can help in decisions by businesses for plant locations, just based on what kind of companies and wages are in an area. In the public sector, it's used for formulating and assessing public policy, and it's used to index Medicare payments and formulate monetary policy," she added.

The collective bargaining issue is important to Jim Kabell, program manager for Teamsters Union Local 245.

"There's no question that we use some materials from surveys about wages in dealing with bargaining," Kabell said.

He said that workers in his union - such as drivers for Yellow Roadway, Associated Wholesale Grocers, Hiland Dairy and UPS - earn wages between $18 and $27 an hour, slightly above the $20.23 per hour cited in the survey for tractor-trailer drivers. That's why Kabell said his union uses other factors as well, such as other regional wage surveys, in its negotiations.

"If I'm dealing with a company that has several locations around the country, I look at those labor contracts and those surveys as well, and use those kinds of comparisons," he said.[[In-content Ad]]