Geography often accounts for significant differences in pay rates for the same job. When employees evaluate where to work, they take into consideration where they can earn the highest value for their services. Likewise, employers often attempt to locate facilities in areas with lower prevailing wages to keep their labor costs down.
You will research the following benchmark jobs in the health care industry. These jobs are found in most major metropolitan areas and most require education beyond high school.
Dentist
Dental hygienist
Pharmacist
Physician’s assistant
Physical therapist
Registered nurse
Using online resources, determine the pay rate for each job and compare the wage rates for those jobs in Cleveland, Ohio, and Omaha, Nebraska. Obtain information from at least two different sources. Be sure to read the job descriptions to ensure that you are comparing the “same” job. Suggested pay rate resources include (but are not limited to):
Salary.com
Salary.nytimes.com
Payscale.com
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Professional organizations for each profession
Your assignment:
Identify your sources of information.
Create a table showing the average pay rate for each job. State what information you used in the table. Were any data sources judged to be of higher or lower quality? How did you make that determination?
Does one geographic area generally pay more than the other? Explain why you think that might be. (You may need to do additional research on the cost of living in each area.)
Which jobs pay the highest and the lowest? Is this what you expected? What factors might explain the difference in pay rates?
What is the occupational outlook for each occupation in Cleveland and Omaha? (Check multiple sources such as CareerOneStop and the Occupational Outlook Handbook.) How might this affect the differences in pay rates between the two cities?
If you were to make a recommendation to an employer that was deciding where to locate a facility, what would you recommend based on your research? What other factors (outside of compensation) might you consider?