Marcus
Young Norman Neumann sits opposite me.
“I’m Norman,” he says. “I know I’m not supposed to be talking to you, but I thought…”
“First,” I say, “no names. Second, I’m not talking to you. You’re listening to me. Got it?”
Norman nods. I continue, “Considering both full- and part-time employees, what was the annual rate of growth in the average wages and salaries of Hoosier workers from 2009 to 2020?”
“It was 2.8% compared with 3.0% nationally,” Norman looks at his notes. “But the U.S. average annual compound rate of inflation was 1.7%.”
“TMI! Too Much Information!” I tell him. “You don’t give nobody in the Statehouse an average annual compound anything. You tell them Hoosier workers got 35% higher pay per job in 2020 than they did in 2009.
“Then you say, the poor slobs who work in the rest of the country only got 39% more than in 2009 and they didn’t have the benefit of living in Indiana where the cost of living is lower than places like the East and West Coasts.”
I proceed, “That cost-of-living line gets them every time. They don’t and won’t believe income determines what folks pay for housing and housing is the biggest part of the cost of living.
“On top of that, don’t confuse them with inflation,” I insist.
“But, sir,” he tries that ‘sir’ stuff on me, “that 1.7% inflation becomes 20.6% when taken over the 11-year period. That’s inflation taking more than half of the increases seen both in Indiana and for the whole country.”
Norman goes on, “In 2009, the average of all Hoosier jobs (full-and part-time) paid $38,870 per year, or $7,229 (16%) less than the average job nationally. By 2020, that deficit was $11,383 (18%).
“I could add detail,” Norman says.
There’s no stopping him now.
“In 2020, those who provided ambulatory health care in Indiana, averaged $69,107, which was just $582 (0.85%) over the national figure.
“By contrast, those in Indiana who traded securities or gave advice on investments averaged $128,346. That handsome sum, however, was 48% below the national average of $248.998. In all, Hoosiers averaged less than workers nationally in 84 of 87 detailed sectors in both 2009 and 2020.
“Aren’t all these figures suspect?” I ask.
“No,” Norman says. “Both 2009 and 2020 were the troughs of their respective recessions. Yet, the numbers give us good indications of the gains made over that span. Nationally, of 87 detailed sectors, only 7 failed to see gains over the rate of inflation in average earnings per job; for Indiana, the figure was 11 sectors.”
You have to admit, Norman’s right on top of the data. How long can such a lad last in state government where facts are ignored?
