~courtesy of The Scranton Journal
After reading the hourly wages and the median wages released by Midwest Partnership EDC last month, the question was raised why there was a discrepancy in the amounts listed. In particular, the statement: The median wage in Greene County is $16.80 an hour, which adds up to $52,000 a year, according to a laborshed employment study recently completed by Midwest Partnership Economic Development.
Katie Lippold from Iowa Workforce Development explained how the information was compiled: “As part of the household telephone survey portion of the Laborshed Study we ask respondents if they are paid an hourly wage or an annual salary. Then we ask what amount they earn per hour (if they said they were an hourly wage earner) or the amount they earn per year (if they state they are paid on an annual salary basis).
“We do not do any calculation on our end to change an hourly rate into an annual salary or vice versa. In this way, we avoid making assumptions about how many hours are worked per year by respondents in order to make this calculation.
“Since this is our collection and reporting process, the median hourly wage and annual salary will not equate; as only those earning an hourly wage are taken into consideration to determine the median hourly wage rate and only those reporting an annual salary are taken into consideration when determining the median annual salary.”
