Image provided by: SEIU Local 503; Salem, OR
About The Oregon state employee. (Salem, Oregon.) 1944-195? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1948)
7 academic staff of the schools of higher education. Sal. per Mo. ■ Num ber Per'Qerit 100-199 63.48 5017 2450 200-299 31.00 ¿300-399 ,382 4.83? )400-499 ■ 42 | .53 500-599 10 .13 600-699 , 2 ' .03 The average salary for these em- loyees is $191.50 per month. The above does not include 1214 hourly paid employees of the highway department who are paid an average of $1.07 per hour or about $ 18 V per m onth based on' the 40-hour week. Comparison with Private Industry g As of September 30, 1947, the fol lowing average salaries were being paid in | private industry. The figures are taken from the February Statistical Bulletin of th e , State Unemployment Compensation Commision; Construction j ^ H |$258.34 per mo. aper Manufacture _ 279.11 per mo. I Printing & Publ. „ 2,50.42 per mo. Transportation 3 2 per mo. Finance & Ins. ____ 209.73 per mo. | Utilities ________ 246.56 per mo, Retailers — 4 - —- ? 193 .11 per mo. Service ___________ 183.87 per mo. i Comparison with Other States W hat are the neighboring states do ing? Here are some typical examples. In Oregon the highway department’s beginning salary for chainmen is $165 per month, in Washington $220 and California' $200. In Oregon, a resident engineer is offered a beginning salary of $280 per month, in Washington $3 50 and California $395. The glar ing difference is comparable in all classifications. State Is Losing Valuable Employees ■ Day by day the cost of living con- Wnues to rise. Day by day more state workers are forced to find employment where returns fpr their labor is more commensurate w ith living costs.’ The Civil Service Commission furnished these figures: in October 545 people left the state service, in November 344, in December 350 and in January 486, approximately a 20 per cent turnover. Some Typical Cases T h e c ity engineer of Salem is mow augmenting his force of trained and skilled engineers by recruitm ent from the highway department. The state can not hold its skilled draftsmen against such competition, as the city will pay $20 per month more (as a starting salary) than the highway department will pay an engineering-draftsman after years of experience and faithful service^ The city of Corvallis has recently taken a skilled bridge designer from the highway department under similar circumstances. A state, employee w ith many years experience and specially skilled in struc tural research and design has recently left state, service to take an im portant position, in federal service at a starting salary of $4900 a year, just $630 more per year than the state will pay. There is no one available w ith the special skill’ and training to replace this es sential | employee! Applicants for positions, by the score, come looking for jobs, but when told of the salary offered (always the m in imum) they do hot come back to take the job. . A t present, a, supervisory engineer in charge of a dozen skilled engineers,: is7 working over a .drafting board in an effort to help carry the burden forced on this department by recent resigna tions of men who have left to take better jobs. These are illustrative of hundreds of cases. More than a thousand in the last fpur months! Some Typical Effects i „In the highway department, there is a ‘ ¡serious shortage of engineering help. Many contractors wait many months before receiving final pay for work performed. This is.. because the engi neers are overworked, there is a short age of skilled helpers and consequently, the field engineering, inspection and computations of work performed do not get done. The tax commission is endeavoring
