Are wages that low in Billings? (Missoula, Bozeman: real estate, trip , salary)

[CTC]

Hi,
My wife has been offered a pretty nice job in Billings making a good salary (90k or so) and I have been looking a bit at jobs for myself in Billings.

I have 4 year degrees in Biology/Natural Resource Management and have quite a bit of experience in both lab and field settings.

I found a position posted at MSU-Billings for which I am well qualified and which demands a 4 year science degree. The salary for this position is around 12$ an hour-I made more than that 10 years ago working at a lab in Pullman WA..

I am kinda stunned by the low wages for technical work-is this just a University thing, or a MT thing in general??

[mthawki]

No matter what your qualifications and experience, any starting job in the education sector is going to pay jack squat in any part of the country, not just Billings. With as much as you're wife is making herself, $90K a year should be enough for you to start staying home and taking up fly-fishing!

[CTC]

Originally Posted by mthawki

No matter what your qualifications and experience, any starting job in the education sector is going to pay jack squat in any part of the country, not just Billings. With as much as you're wife is making herself, $90K a year should be enough for you to start staying home and taking up fly-fishing!

I like that idea-now lets get the wife on board

I know that higher ed jobs pay low,...but 12$/hour seemed kinda low for a degree requiring job. Like I said I was making quite a bit more in the same kinda of job 10 years ago in the non economic mecca of E. Washington. I guess some Universities pay better than others.

I think we will be taking a trip to Billings in a couple of weeks...see how we like the area-it will be hard to leave small town Colorado-but Montana should be similar in some regards.

[wow]

I moved here three years ago. I only applied to jobs that require a B.A. At one of my interviews, I was offered $6.50 to run a 60 child daycare center!!! It's incredible. Years later, I'm still job hunting. Education is not valued in Billings Montana.

[shadowwalker]

Most of the jobs in montana are notoriously low paying. When you check with national averages. Seems to be the "low" part of the national averaging. Ha, ha. Was that way 11 years ago when I lived there too.

[imbobbbb]

well at least your wife was offered a goodpaying job and billings isnt super expensive so you would i imagine have a little time to find something decent.good wages are not something easy to find in montana but some jobs do pay ok.

[jimj]

You should be able to do just fine on your wifes wages alone, heck most people do fine on 50k or a lot less a year here.

[CTC]

Thanks for the comments,,,sounds like if we do make the move we will get by just fine. We are going up next week to look around.

[NativeMontanan]

Originally Posted by CTC

Hi,
I found a position posted at MSU-Billings for which I am well qualified and which demands a 4 year science degree. The salary for this position is around 12$ an hour-I made more than that 10 years ago working at a lab in Pullman WA..

I am kinda stunned by the low wages for technical work-is this just a University thing, or a MT thing in general??

I'm shocked at your wife's wage....only could be at a refinery, hospital or nonprofit.
Anyway, I worked at MSU-B. I "worked" my up to $20/hr after 20 years. Then I retired with 25/out. The City is same retirement system. Worked there also.

MSU-Billings requires/prefers a 4 year degree for their secretaries. Go figure. Its an institution of "higher" learning.
You will be interviewing with the Dept. Head, Tasneem Khaleel I presume. Nice lady.
Good luck. The campus is nice...politics...well, its an institution of higher learning and everyone has doctorates of Philosophy.

Montana does not pay well....They used to say and maybe they still do....
"But you get to live in Montana" "That makes up for the pay difference."
I think the large cities that seem to have a higher cost of living are Bozeman and Missoula and Helena. It shows that way in real estate anyway.

You have to bring the money to Montana, you don't make it here....your wife is an exception, however.

[CTC]

Originally Posted by NativeMontanan

I'm shocked at your wife's wage....only could be at a refinery, hospital or nonprofit.
Anyway, I worked at MSU-B. I "worked" my up to $20/hr after 20 years. Then I retired with 25/out. The City is same retirement system. Worked there also.

MSU-Billings requires/prefers a 4 year degree for their secretaries. Go figure. Its an institution of "higher" learning.
You will be interviewing with the Dept. Head, Tasneem Khaleel I presume. Nice lady.
Good luck. The campus is nice...politics...well, its an institution of higher learning and everyone has doctorates of Philosophy.

Montana does not pay well....They used to say and maybe they still do....
"But you get to live in Montana" "That makes up for the pay difference."
I think the large cities that seem to have a higher cost of living are Bozeman and Missoula and Helena. It shows that way in real estate anyway.

You have to bring the money to Montana, you don't make it here....your wife is an exception, however.

Hey NativeMontanan,
Thanks for the feed back..we say the same thing "but you get to live in CO".

your guesses as to what her job area are spot on! I cannot say anymore right now!

We are visiting next week-I am curious to see how it compares to our little slice of CO..