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Wage news welcome, but we can do better

By ROBERT TRIGAUX
Published July 18, 2005

By the hour, Tampa Bay area folks in white-collar occupations earn $21.43 on average, while blue-collar workers receive $13.04 and service workers get $9.55.

Combined, the average Tampa Bay area worker is paid $16.67 an hour.

That's more than what the average worker earns in Orlando or Ocala. But it's about a dollar less than the U.S. average, notably less than the average paid in Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta - and an astonishing 23 percent less than the average worker earns in Raleigh-Durham.

How are we doing?

That's the eternal question posed by aspiring regional economies, all with different costs of living and wages. The Tampa Bay area is no exception. Looking at who gets paid how much for various jobs in different metro areas can shed new light on competitive pay and the regional mix and concentration of jobs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks U.S. metro areas for job pay and type, surveyed 380 firms with 483,600 workers in a four-county (Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando) look at the Tampa Bay market. This month, the BLS released the survey results on this region and other metro areas in Florida and the Southeast.

BLS spokesman Michael Wald says the content of the compensation surveys varies from one metro area to another because the surveys focus on the most numerous kinds of jobs found in each region.

"The occupations in each survey are not pre-set," Wald says. "And that can say something unique about each metro area."

Consider the compensation survey results of the Tampa Bay, Orlando, Ocala, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham metro areas. I was struck by five findings:

1. In the Tampa Bay market, white-collar jobs average $44,574 annually and make up 53 percent of the work force. The remaining jobs are split rather evenly between blue-collar jobs averaging $27,123 a year and service work at $19,864. The gap in hourly pay between white-collar and service workers averages a hefty $11.88. That adds up to an annual difference of nearly $25,000. It should serve as a glaring reminder to think twice before deciding school or job training is not worth your time.

2. Tampa Bay's average pay of $16.67 an hour is based on businesses with 50 or more employees paying an average of $15.65, and state and local government paying $21.07. The good news is the region's average pay is rising. The BLS found that Tampa Bay's average pay in 2002 was $15.72 an hour, $14.25 in 1999 and $13.71 in 1997. BLS' Wald cautions that the year-to-year comparisons are not apple-to-apple comparisons, but agrees the trend line for average pay here is clearly up. That's not the case in some other metro areas, he says.

3. The Tampa Bay job market has a higher percentage of white-collar work than Orlando and Ocala, but a lower percentage of white-collar jobs than Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta. The big standout? Raleigh-Durham. The North Carolina metro area is home to multiple major universities, biotech centers, the famous Research Triangle technology park and pharmaceutical companies and, yes, serves as the headquarters town for Progress Energy, whose Florida subsidiary is this area's dominant electricity provider.

The Raleigh-Durham area enjoys what may be the Southeast's highest percentage of white-collar jobs: 69 percent. Consider this gap. If Tampa Bay white-collar workers average $44,574 annually, those in Raleigh-Durham average nearly $8,000 more at $52,458.

A prediction. Raleigh-Durham is sure to gain more attention as a Southeast regional role model for Tampa Bay and other metro areas that seek to upgrade the quality and pay of future jobs.

4. The pay for the same jobs varies by region. College and university teachers that average nearly $42,000 here are paid about $33,000 in Orlando but a whopping $62,000 in Raleigh-Durham. Truck drivers averaging $15.10 here receive $13.54 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale and $14.55 in Atlanta.

Secretaries earning an average $15.04 here are paid $13.78 in Orlando, $11.54 in Ocala and $17.05 in Raleigh-Durham. And baggers paid $9.04 here are paid as little as $7.72 in Ocala but as much as $10.44 in Raleigh-Durham.

5. Large companies in the Tampa Bay area pay workers considerably more than smaller businesses. At firms employing between 50 and 99, workers average $11.64 an hour. Companies with 500 or more employees pay workers considerably more, averaging $17.54, the survey says.

For all the earnest talk and hype about attracting new jobs with higher pay, progress remains slow. The Tampa Bay area's sheer size, and its heavy dependence on smaller and generally lower-paying businesses, makes it difficult to raise average pay quickly.

Still, there are signs of improvement.

This month, financial services conglomerate HSBC said that by 2007 it will add up to 500 jobs to its mortgage services operation here offering pay that is at least 115 percent of Florida's average wages, or at least $37,800.

Last month, CIBER Inc. of Denver, an outsourcing firm, said it will hire at least 200 area tech workers for a new software development center in Tampa. CIBER promised the jobs will also pay at least 115 percent of the average state wage.

A year ago, Orlando mortgage lender Pinnacle Financial Corp. said it would expand its Tampa call center and create 160 jobs. Average pay pledged: a surprisingly rich $64,000 a year.

Undoubtedly the biggest coup was the opening in Tampa of an operations center this year by New York's Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. The settler of financial transactions created 400 jobs in Tampa with an average salary of $72,000.

All well and good. We'll take those 1,200-plus better jobs and beg for more. But it's still a drop in the pond populated with hundreds of thousands of Tampa Bay jobs.

Here's a simple goal. Let's try to finally reach national pay parity by raising this metro area's average pay of $16.67 an hour by one dollar.

One simoleon. Just a buck. Just do it.

Robert Trigaux can be reached at 727 893-8405 or trigaux@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 15, 2005, 21:08:02]