Rise in county’s average paycheck tops state figures

The July issue of Eastern Oregon Labor Trends showed the average annual wage in Baker County last year was $29,259.

That’s a 3.1-percent increase over the $28,388 average for 2008, said Jason Yohannan, regional employment economist for the state.

“Wages did go up in Baker County, an $871 average pay increase, which is good in a year when people were losing jobs and some people were taking pay cuts or furlough days with no pay,” Yohannan said.

Statewide, the average annual wage rose by 0.6 percent in 2009.

Although Baker County still lags well behind the statewide average annual pay of $40,740, Yohannan said last year’s increase narrowed that gap.

While wage increases are generally good news, Yohannan said some of Baker County’s rising trend in 2009 could be due to the old adage “last hired first fired.”

“The increase is partly the result of part-time workers and folks at the

lower end of the pay scale getting laid off first,” which Yohannan said causes the average rate of pay to rise.

However, despite the lingering recession, Yohannan said total payroll did increase in Baker County, which means workers countywide on average actually earned slightly more in 2009 than they did in 2008.

“When people’s paychecks increase, that is normally a good thing,” Yohannan said.

The report also identified the most lucrative jobs in Baker County, with pharmacists at the top with a average annual income of $112,501, followed by medical and health service managers at $86,750, general and operations managers at $83,905, computer and information systems managers at $83,685, supervisors and managers of police and detectives at $80,977, industrial production managers at $79,641, physical therapists at $79,472, financial managers at $73,237, civil engineers at $72,062, supervisors and managers of mechanics, installers and repairers at $71,981 and elementary and secondary school administrators at $71,307.

Yohannan said people might expect to see physicians at the top of the list, but he said the report is limited to the highest-paying occupations with reported salaries, so it doesn’t include those who are self employed such as most doctors and other business owners.

“We looked at 141 occupations in Northeastern Oregon and came up with a list of the top 40 highest-paid occupations,” Yohannan said.

Some of the other higher paying jobs included lawyers with an average salary of $65,630, public relations specialists at $65,563, registered nurses at $64,451, soil and plant scientists at $63,851 and occupational health and safety specialists at $62,437.

The average wage for conservation scientists was reported at $60,175, foresters came in at $58,968, urban and regional planners was $57,43, computer programmers earned $53,764, and postmasters and mail superintendents earned an average wage of $53,245.

Yohannan said some high-paying positions didn’t make it into the top 40 because the work is seasonal, such as construction trades like plumbers, carpenters, electricians and loggers.

Contrary to some reports that the state and nation might be heading into a double-dip recession, Yohannan said the data he sees on employment and wage trends don’t show that happening at this point.

“The data shows we are slowly recovering from a very harsh recession. If we continue on a path of slow recovery, it is going to take a very long time,” Yohannan said. “Recovery is still there, but we are still looking at an employment rate that is very high.”

County unemployment figures for June won’t released until the third week in July, but Yohannan said Baker County’s May unemployment rate of 8.8 percent was down from 10 percent in April.

May was the fist month since November that the county’s rate was below 10 percent.

Yohannan attributed the May improvement in part to seasonal jobs in tourism, agriculture and forestry, as well as 47 people employed collecting information for the U.S. Census Bureau.

Yohannan said those 47 Census taker jobs accounted for all but three of the 50 jobs added in federal government employment in Baker County in May.

“Even without the Census workers, Baker County would have added jobs from April to May,” Yohannan said. “In the private sector, the leisure and hospitality industry provided the biggest employment boost, an estimated 30 jobs over the month.”