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March 2, 2018 • Local News

El Paso Inc: Report shows exactly how much lower El Paso paychecks are.

It’s no secret wages in El Paso are among the lowest of any major U.S. city. But for the first time, a new report shows just how much lower they are for the jobs most in demand.

The report also shows exactly how much El Paso employers would need to raise wages in almost 40 jobs to be competitive with other cities.

“Anecdotally, we have talked about wages, but now we have the data and can measure it,” said Leila Melendez, Workforce Solutions chief operating officer. “If employers want to know what they should be paying for a certain occupation, we can compare it.”

The good news is the report, released last week by Workforce Solutions Borderplex, shows El Paso wages have increased as the unemployment rate has fallen to record low levels.

Workforce Solutions, the state’s privatized employment and training agency, emphasized the report is not meant to shame local businesses. Officials said it is a call to action for businesses to raise wages to make El Paso more competitive in retaining and attracting talent.

“We’re training a lot of people who are leaving,” Workforce Solutions CEO Joyce Wilson said.

She added, “In some areas, it would not take much for some positions to be more competitive. As the economy continues to grow and unemployment lowers, that’ll put pressure on wages.”

El Paso’s unemployment rate stands at a historic low of 3.8 percent, and average weekly wages have increased from about $670 in 2015 to $725 in 2017 – an 8 percent increase.

The concern is whether wages are rising fast enough to keep up with other cities so El Paso doesn’t continue to lose talent.

Nurses, for example, are paid a median hourly wage of $39.52 in El Paso. That’s less than nurses are paid in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Phoenix, Denver and Albuquerque but higher than Las Cruces and Lubbock.

El Paso truck drivers are paid a median hourly wage of $17.26, which is lower than Lubbock, Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Tucson.

Melendez presented the wage report last Wednesday at the agency’s Downtown office. It compares El Paso’s wages to major metro areas, regional cities and border cities.

The report factored in educational attainment, cost of living, median wages, migration, population and gender.

The numbers were not surprising. El Paso wages were lowest in 23 occupations out of a list of 39 major metro areas. Those occupations included registered nurses, medical and clinical laboratory technologists, social workers, insurance agents and computer user support specialists.

The report also compares El Paso wages to regional cities, including Lubbock, Midland, Odessa, Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Tucson. El Paso wages were lowest among those cities in 10 occupations out of 58. Some of those occupations were in trucking, behavioral disorder counselors and operating engineers.

El Paso wages were closest to those of other border cities such as Nogales, Douglas, Columbus, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville.

“We are not necessarily going to be able to beat all metro areas; there are certain dynamics in those larger metroplexes,” Melendez said. “But we are close enough to some of those that they are a competitor and they draw from El Paso.”

Wilson said El Paso has an opportunity to be competitive in life sciences, business administration and in health care.

The report shows El Paso wages are within five percent of competing major metro areas in those sectors. That means a small increase in wages could draw talent from those cities to El Paso.

The cost of living is lower in El Paso than other similar cities but not by much, according to the report.

The cost of living in Tucson, Las Cruces, San Antonio and Albuquerque was less than 6 percent higher than El Paso. Those numbers raised some eyebrows at the board meeting, with some questioning why El Paso’s cost of living isn’t lower.

“We just need to continue to push the point that you can’t say ‘it’s not expensive to live here,’” Wilson said. “That’s not true. It may be a little less expensive, but if your wages are substantially lower, there’s a net deficit.”

Workforce Solutions Borderplex plans to post the report online at BorderplexJobs.com.

Source: http://www.elpasoinc.com/news/local_news/what-is-going-on-with-wages/article_7d1bd20a-1a59-11e8-ab78-3f151517ed52.html