Making sure Starke County’s wages keep up with the rest of the state is one of the challenges local officials shared with Indiana Secretary of Career Connections and Talent Blair Milo. During her visit to Knox Wednesday, Milo highlighted the thousands of new, higher-paying jobs that Indiana businesses have added in recent years.
But Starke County Commissioner Kathy Norem said they don’t seem to be coming here. She pointed out that Starke County’s average annual wage in 2016 was just over $28,000, compared to almost $43,000 for Indiana as a whole and nearly $50,000 for the United States. Based on the county’s self-sufficiency standard, Norem felt that residents aren’t making enough to sustain their families and have a good standard of living.
Milo didn’t offer a specific solution, but pointed out that those figures could serve as a good starting point in discussions with employers. “I don’t know that that’s necessarily a place for us from a policy perspective that we’re looking to weigh in,” she said, “but we do share it from a data perspective, so that then we can put some attention towards it.”
Knox Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston commented that one thing the state could do is try raising the minimum wage. Milo said that hasn’t been an area where the state’s leadership is looking to go. “I would offer the counterargument that when you raise those minimum wages, then it can limit the entry for people to be able to start into different career fields,” she responded. “So that’s where there’s some difference in opinion on that one.”
She acknowledged that there’s work to be done, but added that there’s a wide range of ideas about how to do it. “We certainly want to respect the decisions that employers need to be able to make in order to have access to the different types of jobs, overall,” Milo said.
Others in attendance Wednesday felt Starke County’s employers have begun recognizing the need for higher wages for them to remain competitive, but it may not be enough to bring the county in line with the rest of the state.
