As noted earlier, in The Couriers’ May 18, 2006 edition the retiring Chief Executive Officer of Team Hardin County is quoted as saying that we have one of the highest average manufacturing wage in the state, at about $20.00 per hour.
You know, sometime what one doesn’t say can cause a lot of confusion with what one does say.
The $20.00 figure cited in The Courier is actually quite accurate when one considers that the U.S. Department of Labors’ most recent data (2004) reflects a $19.45 average per hour wage for the manufacturing industry. But then again, this reflects raw data provided by the responding units, who sometime misstate reality.
Having said that, one should remember that the average per hour wage for all of the reporting privately owned industries in Hardin County was $13.03.
The U.S. Department Labor divides private industry into two primary groups, Goods-Producing, and Service-Providing. Goods-Producing, dominated by manufacturing (78%), reflects an average of $17.50 per/hour wage and Service-Providing reflects an average of $9.58 per/hour wage.
This set of data reflects that of the 7,516 average annual employment, the manufacturing industries account for 2,089 employees, or 27.79%.
The next highest employee group was in the Service-Providing, Trade, Transportation and Utilities group with 1,412 ($10.65 p/hr) followed by Local Government industry group with 1,328 (11.86 p/hr) employees.
One could argue that a better way to present the employment picture in Hardin County would have been to qualify the $20.00 per hour figure with the disclaimer that it applied to about only 28% of our workforce, while the total workforce averaged about $13.00 per hour. But than again we would have to disclose where we rank in the state. Doubtful that $13.00 would be "among the highest in the state.
Respectfully submitted for your consideration,
Ted
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