Come with me now to those exciting days of yesteryear, in 2012, when the average weekly wage in the United States was $1,000. It was thrilling as we emerged slowly from the financial bubble of 2008.
Our national rate of increase in wages was 4.7% compared to a year earlier and it didn’t bother us that only 14 of the 50 states enjoyed that stratospheric level above $1,000. Only three states were $200 above $1,000, and nine states $200 under $1,000.
Income disparity, we are told, is a condition of nature. Mississippi, Idaho and South Dakota just didn’t have the natural resources of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The bottom three are physically separated and very different from each other. The top three are close both geographically and in character. Perhaps, low wages suit the lifestyles of the people who earn them. Is it Chardonnay versus Kool-Aid?
Where was Indiana back in that golden year of 2012? Our average weekly wage was $816, 39th in the nation. That figure was the lowest in the Great Lakes region, but, by the grace of a benevolent Heaven, $15 above that of Kentucky.
Let us now fast forward to 2022, last year for those who have forgotten where we are in Pope Gregory’s calendar.
Without adjusting for inflation, all 50 states, except Mississippi, are now above $1,000 in average weekly wages. Connecticut has been replaced by California in the top three states. Indiana still ranks 39th.
Where average weekly wages for Hoosiers were 18.4% below the national level in 2012, we were — wait for it — 18.4% below the national level in 2022.
Sadly, the other four Great Lake states — Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin — remain at a higher level than Indiana. But we are redeemed by the persistence of Kentucky below us.
That’s been the Hoosier way: Keep the engine running, but make no progress in the race.
However, after compiling this record of stability, Indiana is stepping out on the track with a new concept to gain ground. The much-vaunted Indiana Economic Development Corporation, lovingly known as the IEDC, has revealed a new strategy. As they did in Boone County, so will they do elsewhere.
Unkindly identified as the Boone Boondoggle, IEDC secretly bought farm property north of Lebanon along I-65 for the benefit of Eli Lilly and Purdue University. This was a brave break from tradition. Previously, the private sector identified where to locate and the state happily accommodated with infrastructure, training grants, and tax forgiveness.
Or was it new? Who sat in the meetings that chose Boone County? Who was there when it was decided to move huge quantities of water from the Wabash River to this less soggy site?
The IEDC is unconstrained by the rules of transparency. And now two of its former leaders may be vying for the governorship.
Ain’t the Deity good to INdianny?
Morton Marcus is an economist. Follow his views and those of John Guy on “Who Gets What?” wherever podcasts are available or at mortonjohn.libsyn.com. Send comments to [email protected].
