ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 30, 1996 TAG: 9604010083
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON
Salary got you down? Maybe it would help knowing that where you work has a lot to do with the size of your paycheck. A new report from William M. Mercer Inc., a Richmond area employment services firm, puts the blame on "geographic differentials."
That refers to the practice of companies such as banks, retail chains and insurance companies with branches in different parts of the country to set pay according to each area's living costs and job market.
"How much you earn depends on where you live," the company said this past week in announcing the availability of its 1995-96 Geographic Differentials Report.
Assume, the Mercer people said, that a hypothetical manager earns $50,000 in Yakima, Wash., where salaries mirror national averages. If that manager were transferred to Roanoke, she could expect pay of about 5 percent less, or $47,500, said Laura Clements, a Mercer compensation consultant.
The regional differences are based on unemployment rates and living costs. In the Roanoke area, living costs were 91.7 percent of the national average in the third quarter of 1995.
Information for other cities, including the percentage by which salaries are estimated to fall above or low the national norm, is as follows: Norfolk, -4.9 percent; Charlotte, N.C., -1.2 percent; Richmond, -0.8 percent, and Washington, D.C., +6.5 percent.
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB