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The Pay Gap Behind OKC Rent · The 405 Payroll

• 0:13
  Welcome to The 405 Payroll, your lunch break guide to a bigger paycheck and an
• 0:18
  easier month in Oklahoma City.
• 0:20
  I'm Claire Brooks, and today's headline comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• 0:25
  Its newest wage report for the Oklahoma City metro, which covers Oklahoma,
• 0:29
  Cleveland, Canadian, Grady, Lincoln, Logan, and McClain counties,
• 0:34
  puts the average hourly wage across all jobs at $29.00.
• 0:39
  Nationally, that number is $33.54.
• 0:43
  And I'm Miles.
• 0:44
  Okay, but nobody I know lives at the average.
• 0:48
  An average is like a weather forecast for the whole state.
• 0:52
  What does the report say about the jobs people actually work?
• 0:55
  Fair question.
• 0:56
  Food preparation and serving jobs in our metro average $14.38 an hour.
• 1:01
  Fast food and counter workers average $12.17, and restaurant cooks average $17.52.
• 1:07
  Building and grounds cleaning averages $16.87, and personal care averages $16.03.
• 1:13
  Now look at the other side.
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  Transportation and material moving averages $21.56.
• 1:19
  Production averages $23.25.
• 1:22
  Construction averages $27.27, and installation, maintenance,
• 1:27
  and repair averages $28.42.
• 1:30
  So same city, same highways, same Saturday traffic, and the pay shifts by seven or
• 1:35
  eight dollars an hour depending on which door you walk through.
• 1:39
  That isn't about effort.
• 1:41
  Everybody in food service is working hard.
• 1:43
  It's about which doors are open.
• 1:45
  Exactly, and here's why it matters for rent.
• 1:48
  Take a typical metro rent of $950 to $1,200 a month.
• 1:54
  At $14.00 to $14.50 an hour, you're bringing in roughly $2,426 to $2,513 a month
• 2:01
  before taxes.
• 2:03
  That puts rent at about 38 to 50 percent of your income.
• 2:07
  That's the kind of month where the electric bill feels personal.
• 2:11
  Walk me through the other side.
• 2:12
  At $21.00 to $22.00 an hour, gross pay is about $3,640 to $3,813 a month.
• 2:20
  Same rent, but now it's roughly 25 to 31 percent of income.
• 2:25
  That's more than a thousand dollars of breathing room every month.
• 2:29
  A thousand dollars.
• 2:30
  That's a car repair, or a full month of groceries, or finally having something left
• 2:36
  on the fifteenth.
• 2:37
  And let me say it plainly, nobody listening is behind.
• 2:41
  You're already working.
• 2:43
  The map just has a few shortcuts nobody handed out.
• 2:46
  That's the whole show today.
• 2:48
  We'll look at three employers with real openings, a training path toward $22 to $28
• 2:53
  an hour, some extra money you can start this week, and a free local resource that
• 2:59
  helps a raise stick.
• 3:01
  Plus a short story from northwest OKC, and one thing to do before dinner.
• 3:06
  Let's go.