Wages, benefits survey released

Levels of competition in hiring discovered

GRANT COUNTY - The Grant County Economic Development Council reports wages are on the rise from the last time it conducted a business survey.

The council recently released its 2007 Area Wage and Fringe Benefit Report.

The council conducted the survey to see what wages were paid in manufacturing and technology industries in Grant County, said council Communications and Research Manager Jon Smith.

The council invited 75 industrial and high-tech companies to participate in the survey, and 34 responded.

The companies who responded represent more than 3,700 workers and indicated:

• Eighty-five percent of the workers were classified as hourly and 14 percent were classified as salaried.

• Thirty-one of the companies surveyed pay either 100 percent or a partial percentage of employee health insurance, while 24 companies offer a 401K.

• Twenty-one companies provide vacation eligibility after one year, and 15 companies provide sick leave benefits.

• Average wage information was gathered for 57 hourly positions and 45 salaried positions.

The council previously contracted with Dallas, Texas-based company The Pathfinders to compile and produce the report while working to attract Boeing's 787 project into the area in 2003. At the time, Boeing wanted to know how many people in the area were underemployed, or working at a job which was not using all their skills and they would be easy to move up into a job which could utilize those skills.

A wage and benefits study was also conducted to let Boeing know the wages being paid in the county at various positions.

"A lot has changed since the Boeing project," Smith said, so the wage and benefit survey is being updated. "Since then, Genie Industries had grown, REC Silicon was expanding, new businesses have located here, other businesses were looking to locate here. What had that done to wages?"

The underemployment study is huge, intricate and very costly, he added.

"Even the United States only reports underemployment on a regional basis, meaning the western half of the U.S. and the eastern half of the U.S.," he explained. "So those numbers are kind of hard to drill out."

The council mailed a form developed by The Pathfinders to participating businesses, which then returned it to The Pathfinders. The council never sees responses and doesn't know what wages are at any businesses.

"The importance of this report is local businesses that are expanding or hiring need to remain competitive, and in the hiring process, wages and benefits are things employees look at, in addition to quality of the work and those kinds of things," Smith said. "It also helps the businesses to see where they're at, what they're offering and see what they can do to be competitive that way."

As the unemployment rate continues to drop, getting employees becomes more of an issue.

"The more people who are at work, the less people there are to hire," Smith said. "So it's critical to remain competitive."

Wages have increased since the 2003 survey, Smith said, with wages in Grant County growing more quickly than the state average.

"While our wages are lower than the state average by quite a bit, the rate at which we're catching up is increasing," Smith said. "State averages are also going up, but we're closing that gap."