USLBS Survey: NYers Make More Money
The New York Times' City Room Blog draws our attention to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report considering wages in the Greater Metropolitan Area. It says that our average wages are "significantly higher than the national averages in every category." Unsurprisingly, the further down the wage scale you go, the less of a premium there is for doing business here: a butcher makes about the same in New York as he would in Grand Rapids.
But these figures may be unreliable. For one thing, the Feds think the average hourly rate for a New York CEO is $93.37. (Richard Parsons must have been in the shower when they called.)
They also think that reporters make, get this, $32.44 an hour -- more than "public relations specialists"!
Crain's New York Business seems downright proud of us, quoting an economist from the City comptroller's office who declares "the premiums must mean New York workers are more productive than workers elsewhere in the country."
Both the City Room and Crain's fail to mention that City living expenses largely absorb whatever economic advantages most of us accrue from it, probably because it would ruin the mood.
(By the way, the Wall Street Journal's Wealth Report says that Florida has officially overtaken New York in the millionaire count, leaving us in third behind them and California. We have only 168,000 millionaires. No wonder the Governor wants to protect this endangered species from taxes!)
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