Money — That's What We Want

By Alicia Dorr in News on Jan 2, 2007 8:00PM

When we heard that the average Chicagoan's salary is 6 to 8 percent more than the national average, we pulled out our pay stubs in dismay. Really? Our own — and maybe your — disbelief aside, the results of the Economic Research Institute in Redmond, Washington, salary survey was full of interesting tidbits to spout off at parties.

For example, the highest-paid jobs are most likely set to see a 5 percent increase over the next year, while the lowest-paid ones are probably only looking at an increase of 2 percent. The survey also found that while the lowest-paid workers are generally waiters, dishwashers, bartenders and cashiers, in Chicago these people in the food service industry tend to make 12 to 13 percent more than the national average. But that doesn't really matter because the cost of living in Chicago is 27 percent higher.

The information provided by the report really is interesting, explaining the average wages of a wide range of jobs that doesn't include the very highest paid people, like CEOs, as well as cost of living comparisons across the nation. It also provides a grading system on the prospects of moving up financially in all the fields, which gives plenty of good explanations for why desk clerks at hotels can be snooty and your claims examiner is glaring at you with burning hatred of 1,000 suns.

Really, though, we're going to study the information so we can wrap it neatly into our relevant stories, not really to better understand the plight of our fellow countrymen. What the hell, we're not making that much money, we have to be good at something.

Image via qsample.com.