OCTOBER 2008: AROUND THE STATE
URBAN-RURAL WAGE GAP IS
STEADY
STATEWIDE The
often-cited widening gap between urban and rural wages actually
has remained unchanged over the past decade, while both urban
and rural wages are slipping compared to their counterparts
nationwide.
“This is not such good news for rural areas, and
it’s not good news for urban areas,” says state
employment economist Art Ayre, who did the analysis.
After adjusting for inflation, the urban-rural wage gap has
been fairly stable since 1997, says Ayre. “In the
unadjusted data, what you were seeing was increasing inflation
more than a widening of the gap,” he says. In 1997,
average annual earnings for a metro-county worker were $26,944,
and for a rural county worker they were $22,051. In 2007, that
was $37,236 for a metro worker and $30,191 for a rural worker.
After adjustment to 2007 dollars, the wage difference was
$7,046 in 1997 and $7,045 in 2007. Counties classified as metro
are Benton, Clackamas, Columbia, Deschutes, Jackson, Lane,
Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Washington and Yamhill. Rural counties
are all other.
Additionally, for the first time in eight years, the average
earnings of workers in rural Oregon have fallen below their
counterparts nationwide. Until 2006, the latest year for
available data, rural wages in the state were at 97% of U.S.
rural wages. The wage gap for metro workers in Oregon vs. the
nation is even bigger, with those wages at 86% of average U.S.
metro wages.
“Oregon just does not have the really large metro areas
that the U.S. on average has, and large population centers
drive higher wages,” says Ayre.
Being close to a large population center also affects
prosperity of rural communities. A recent report by Oregon
State University economists says remoteness is the main cause
of disparities between communities that flourish and those that
do not. The greater the distance between a community and its
closest urban neighbor the less likely it is to prosper. That
holds true nationwide, the study says, where the communities
with the lowest wages are those in the most remote
areas.
ROBIN DOUSSARD
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