FARGO - With a boost from higher oil prices, North Dakota's average wage rose 4.9 percent from 2003 to 2004, topping the 4.4 percent increase nationally, the State Data Center says.
Data Center Director Richard Rathge said higher oil prices created high-paying jobs in western North Dakota to help pull up the statewide average wage.
These, of course, would be the oil prices North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan is trying to combat with his "wind fall profits" tax aimed at punishing the oil industry. Why our Senator is fighting against something that is so good for our state is beyond me.
This from the article is also interesting.
Still, even with the wage increase, North Dakota's average wage of $28,741 stood 25.9 percent below the national average of $38,798.
Only three states Mississippi, South Dakota and Montana had an average wage lower than North Dakota.
What always amazes me is that nobody adjusts ND's average wage for cost of living. Comparing North Dakota's average wage with a national average is a little misleading. After all, it doesn't cost nearly as much to live in North Dakota as it does to live in places like Pennsylvania, New York or Florida. Wanting to raise ND's average wage to be more in keeping with the national average is a little foolish in that it doesn't recognize the fact that $28,000/year goes a whole lot further here in ND than it would in NY.
It is also foolish in that one of the reasons North Dakota has been attracting new businesses, and thus new jobs, is that our work force is relatively cheap when compared to the rest of the country. If we work to increase wages just fo the sake of meeting a national average we risk raising the cost of living here through inflation, which would end up losing us the competitive edge our low-cost labor force wins us in the national job market.
Which isn't to say that I'm in favor of keeping wages low, just that there are other factors to consider on this issue besides what ND's average wage is and what the national wage is.
(via Taking Back ND)