The truth about Idaho wages... (Boise, Pocatello: income, quality of life, living)

[Hp1167]

It's interesting that I get accused of being a doom and gloomer about the Boise economy... yet the facts continue to support the reality of the Boise economy:

Bottom Rung: The Workforce Shift That’s Costing Idaho Good-Paying Jobs | StateImpact Idaho

But retired University of Idaho economist Stephen Cooke says the trouble in Idaho’s workforce runs deeper than the loss of construction jobs.

“That’s a cyclical problem,” Cooke says. “In addition to the cyclical problem, Idaho has a structural problem.”

..."The structural problem is that the nature of the economy is changing,” Cooke explains. “It looked as if Idaho was about to make a very nice transition to a high-skilled manufacturing sector, and then it fell apart.”

Cooke says this is the important story, and it’s one that has unfolded gradually, obscured by the noise of Idaho’s rapid growth and deep recession. In the 1990s, Idaho looked poised to stake its claim to a sizable number of skilled manufacturing jobs. That stalled. Over 10 years, computer and electronic manufacturing employment in Idaho fell by 40 percent.

This entire series (bottom rung) explores the Idaho economy. It's fascinating.

[rangerider45]

If you check you will see that Idaho has had low wages since the 1950s. In the 1950s I earned $0.25 per hour. In fact, Paul Harvey did a report about low wages, but great quality of life in Idaho about 1960. At the time it was unusual to hear anything about Idaho on the news and especially Paul Harvey who was so respected. Anyway, because of that I remember Harvey's report and he compared us to the coal-mining regions of the then poverty stricken Appalachians.

[AK76]

I have been following this thread with interest since I am considering a move to the Boise are, here the latest data from the Bureua of Labor Statistics:Employment and Wages by State in the United States, Third Quarter 2012- Bureau of Labor Statistics . It certainly supports the argument that Idaho has low wages.

[DontLookPhoto]

Originally Posted by Huck L. Berry

Exactly! If everyone "created" one job, unemployment would be zero.
Can't find a job? Make your own.

"Boy Howdy" that is so true, I've been saying that for years. I've punched a few time-clocks through the years but we have always ran small side businesses on the side.
Whenever I got tired of a job (I've never ever been fired), I just ramped up our handcrafting and other self employment endeavors for a while until another job came along that I thought I would enjoy.
I like working, be it for myself or as an employee.

I would love to move to northern Idaho but my wife wants to stay in Montana closer to her friends.
Any so called bad economy In Idaho in my not so humble opinion makes Idaho a great place that is heaven to hardy self reliant people.

The whiners who expect to be handed a good job can just go somewhere else, but don't come to Montana, we are very much a "Bring Your Own Job" state also.
Crikey I made nine to ten bucks per hour mowing lawns when I was nine years old as a self employed child.

[TohobitPeak]

Originally Posted by rangerider45

If you check you will see that Idaho has had low wages since the 1950s. In the 1950s I earned $0.25 per hour. In fact, Paul Harvey did a report about low wages, but great quality of life in Idaho about 1960. At the time it was unusual to hear anything about Idaho on the news and especially Paul Harvey who was so respected. Anyway, because of that I remember Harvey's report and he compared us to the coal-mining regions of the then poverty stricken Appalachians.

He was probably referring to the lumber and mining jobs in Idaho and back then the population of the state was tiny.

Boise is much different from the rest of the state when it comes to jobs, pay, etc. The Boise metro area is really picking up steam again, almost seems like another boom is edging itself and the economy is getting better although there are a lot of lower earning jobs opening up in the market and there are higher paying jobs, but we are coming out of a nasty recession.

I am one of those that believe if you don't make as much money as your friend, but you still get by, have a good quality of life and can pay your bills and enjoy life then who cares how much you make. If the world goes to hell in coming years and jobs and money don't matter anymore then who cares right?

I have a good job and make more then a livable wage and there are friends of mine who make less and are just as happy and enjoy Boise and Idaho. They still contribute to the local economy too and they don't sit around and grumble and throw about bad energy.


Idaho is still in a much better state of being then most other states and our quality of life kicks the ass of most other states. We are growing and with that change comes about.

[Wardendresden]

Businesses continue to desire more open borders to allow them the freedom to hire lower and lower paid workers. It is now beginning to have an impact on STEM (science, technology, engineering, & mathematics) native American employees. It used to be a degree in one of those assured one of a good paying job. No longer.

For every two students that U.S. colleges graduate with STEM degrees, only one is hired into a STEM job.
In computer and information science and in engineering, U.S. colleges graduate 50 percent more students than are hired into those fields each year; of the computer science graduates not entering the IT workforce, 32 percent say it is because IT jobs are unavailable, and 53 percent say they found better job opportunities outside of IT occupations. These responses suggest that the supply of graduates is substantially larger than the demand for them in industry. ----
Wages have remained flat, with real wages hovering around their late 1990s levels. ----
The annual inflows of guestworkers amount to one-third to one-half the number of all new IT job holders.

April 24, 2013
Guestworkers in the high-skill U.S. labor market: An analysis of supply, employment, and wage trends | Economic Policy Institute

“The buildings of State Farm Insurance in Bloomington are filled with Indian engineers because it continues to be the most expedient and cost-effective way for them to get work done,” Neeraj Gupta, CEO of Systems In Motion, testified in a recent Senate hearing. “If the H1/L1 visas did not exist, these organizations would have innovated with local partners and figured out alternate options.”

Do we need more skilled foreign workers?
I think I need no data to support how low income workers affect the U.S. market. And the low income market is actually much harder to break into for native Americans. Ethnic groups have much better social networks to obtain positions:

---informal networks are, indeed, one of the most widely used methods of job placement, accounting for between 25 and 60 percent of hires. Such informal networks are particularly important for entry level hires, jobs that do not require college education, blue collar jobs, and jobs with small employers. The earnings potential of a job appears very dependent on the characteristics of its referral networks, which is not simply a method for exchanging information, but a means for employers to screen applicants. Such networks tend to be tightly knit and ethnically homogeneous---

The Low-Wage Labor Market:* Introduction and Overview

Low pay, lack of health insurance for an astounding number of people in Idaho, 18% one of the highest in the nation, all mean that phsyicians have no incentive to come to Idaho to work, and indeed Idaho has one of the top ten worst physician to patient ratios in the nation. Why would a physician work in Idaho when even the people who have jobs don't have the money to pay him/her?

Virtually everyone in Idaho is impacted by low wages for many. The impact of low wages goes beyond just what "low" pay individuals receive.

My wife, who only has a non-medical field bachelor's degree, works as a hospital administrator here in Texas. Her income is significantly higher than the average pay of workers holding an MD or PhD in Idaho:

The average wage of someone holding a doctorate or medical degree is in excess of $45.65 per hour in 2010, according to Idaho Bureau of Labor.

Idaho ranked 48th in the nation for income per capita, in 2009. The two states with that fell behind Idaho were Utah ($30,875) and Mississippi ($30,103) in 2009.

What Is the Average Income Per Person in Idaho? | eHow

Idaho is a beautiful and friendly state, with diverse landscape from what little I've experienced of it. It is a terrific place to retire (other than for health care) and indeed the wife and I hope to be there next year. But if I were young with a recent college degree and looking for a job, I would beat foot it out of there in heart beat.

Idaho needs to figure out how to pay folks more at every pay scale if they want to enjoy more economic advantages.

[boisefan88]

More economic advantages simply brings more people, which in turn degrades the quality of life. So I'm fine with the wage and job situation here.

[pw72]

Yes, Idaho has had traditionally low wages. A lot of this is a result of many studies that show the COL is lower in ID than average. Perhaps still true, but not in Boise.

I agree, ID needs to be competitive with wages to gain skillfull workers. Otherwise, it becomes weak, and while I won't mention specific States, I think we know most of them exist in the southeastern quandrant of our country. Not sure what the business community can do about this, if anything. Our system is based on providing jobs and economic growth, with the lowest cost possible. Kind of sad, but again, I don't know how we change that without a tremendous amount of government intervention, which is not popular.

[Wardendresden]

I'm no economist and don't have any answers. But I am quite concerned that politicians are generally trying to figure out a way to provide more corporate welfare in the belief that that is what makes more jobs, when all it's proven over the past two decades is that income distribution is going straight to the top 1%-5% in the nation.

Some may feel that they can enjoy the privileges of their better income more fully when others are fighting to put bologna on the table for supper. That's just not in my heart.

I kinda think, and history has proven during our nation's best economic periods, that we all do better when we ALL do better.

[Hp1167]

Apparently now we're last in the nation in wages.

Legislative leaders concerned over state's low wage rankings - Eye On Boise - Spokesman.com - Jan. 2, 2014

"The Famous Potatoes state ranks 50th for average annual wage, per-capita income, and for wage increases since 2007. It also has the greatest percentage of minimum-wage workers in America."