One thing I thought was interesting about this article was the fact that union jobs pay way more than non-union jobs. So, my questionfor you is, was right to work a good idea? All right to work does is weaken unions. Without unions our average pay in the state just goes down. Face it, unions are the only thing representing workers. Without unions, employers pay you what they want to pay you. They don't have to answer to anyone. It's like going into a court case without a professional lawyer to represent you.

By the way, average yearly salary for employers in the OKC area are around $28,900. In Tulsa average salary is around $30,600. These are approximations, drawn from a few sources.

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"Metro worker pay averages $16.06 an hour


7/7/2005

Average pay for workers in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area totaled $16.06 per hour during January 2005, according to a new survey released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The average was $17.52 per hour for white-collar employees, which accounted for 62 percent of the total area work force.

Blue-collar employees averaged $15.73 per hour and represented 22 percent of the work force. The remaining 16 percent worked in service occupations and earned $10.33 per hour, according to the National Compensation Survey.

The report included straight-time earnings for occupations in establishments with 50 or more workers in private industry and state and local governments. The survey excludes agricultural establishments, private households, the self-employed, and the federal government. This survey covered 203 firms representing 204,600 workers in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, which includes Canadian, Cleveland, Logan, McClain, Oklahoma, and Pottawatomie counties in Oklahoma.

In the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, average hourly wages were published for 35 occupations.

Among white-collar workers, registered nurses averaged $22.73 per hour; secretaries, $13; and cashiers, $7.42. Blue-collar occupations included industrial truck and tractor equipment operators at $12.76 per hour. In the service occupations, public service police and detectives averaged $20.53 per hour and nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants, $9.22.

Union workers in blue-collar jobs averaged $22.07 per hour, while their nonunion counterparts made $13.35, according to the survey. Private industry workers in the Oklahoma City area at establishments employing 50-99 workers averaged $12.90 per hour and those in establishments with 500 or more employees earned $18.71."

Unions also protect your rights. Many employers will fire you for no reason or treat you like a criminal (no respect), take away your dignity, and railroad you. Unions can help stop this... Plus, yes. They DO pay higher wages.

I just wonder where that aprox. 17.00 per hour I am suppose to be earning is.

Unions are the only way to go. The Right to Work state has kept the wages so low only protecting business owners and companies. We worked in Unions all of our lives, full medical and dental benefits for the entire family, high pay - more than double here, paid vacations, pensions and job security. Here in OK you get none of the above while the business owners get filthy rich and earn incredible profits. I think it's horrible that the pay is so low here. Of course, housing is low too so that's why people stay so maybe it's all relative.

But, I hate to see the owner's taking advantage of people working like dogs for hardly anything - and they themselves reap all of the benefits.

Among white-collar workers, registered nurses averaged $22.73 per hour; secretaries, $13; and cashiers, $7.42. Blue-collar occupations included industrial truck and tractor equipment operators at $12.76 per hour. In the service occupations, public service police and detectives averaged $20.53 per hour and nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants, $9.22.

Wow. I think I want to become a nurse.... I actually hear that traveling nurses make a killing. Too bad I don't like people.

Wow. I think I want to become a nurse.... I actually hear that traveling nurses make a killing. Too bad I don't like people.

:LolLolLol

tee hee, Nurse Ratched aka Nurse Travich

The main purpose of Right To Work was to lure companies to Oklahoma who want their employees to have the luxury of not being required to join a union as a condition of employment. Oklahoma being a non-Right To Work state put it at a competitive disadvantage with Arkansas, Kansas and Texas when manufacturing companies were looking at expansion locations in Right To Work states. Those three states have Right To Work legislation, and was luring away manufacturing jobs that required Right To Work. Such legislation put us on a more even par with other states. Workers comp reform will give us even more leverage in potential companies looking at our state AND other states.

Unions do, however, yield results of better wages. Whether Right To Work or Unions helped push our state's per capita income ranking into the 30's, a rank not seen in Oklahoma since 1990, remains to be seen. But at least we've given potential companies one less reason to look elsewhere.

I wonder if this is part of the reason our home prices in all four of these states are so depressed and low compared to the rest of the nation? When you see prices rising so high in almost every other state except these states.... it makes you wonder. I know we have excess land here, and I know that our builder restrictions are not as stringent but I'm wondering if there is a correlation between right to work states and home prices?

Does someone know the answer to this question?

I wouldn't come to that conclusion, Karried. There is no correlation between right to work states and home prices, unless you found that similar trend in all of the following right to work states:

* Alabama
* Arizona
* Arkansas
* Florida
* Georgia
* Idaho
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Louisiana
* Mississippi
* Nebraska
* Nevada
* North Carolina
* North Dakota
* Oklahoma
* South Carolina
* South Dakota
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Utah
* Virginia
* Wyoming

I think home prices have much to do with low scarcity in rural areas. Home prices, especially in this region, will not rebound to the national average because of the economic devastation Oklahoma and Texas suffered during to oil bust, although Texas did not have to sustain as hard of a hit as Oklahoma. Population loss during the 1980's, followed by over-building in the same period, caused a bounce in real estate, even in the commercial market, as Oklahoma City has not seen the construction of an office building taller than 300 feet since 1984. I doubt our economy today would cause sudden rise in home values, unless there was a big population explosion of high income residents.

I don't know about right to work, but is this average adjusted to the local cost of living? OKC and St. Louis (I believe) are the two lowest cost of living cities in the country. What you can buy here for 17.50 probably costs 22.50 in Dallas...