Sunday: Stagnant economy reflected in Tulsa earnings
BY MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer
Saturday, April 14, 2012
When economists go out to dinner, they see the menu a little differently. The prices become just another domino in a long, long chain reaction.
Gas prices go up, for example, so the delivery company charges an extra fee to bring food to the restaurant.
The restaurant makes up for it by increasing its own prices. Then customers can’t afford to eat out quite so often. And the waiters collect fewer tips.
Now, the waiters can’t afford so many groceries. So the stores order less produce. And the stockers have to work a shorter shift. So they can’t afford to go to the movies.
On and on, the dominoes fall.
“When gas prices go up, everything that comes on a truck is going to cost more,” explained Steve Greene, dean of the College of Business at Oral Roberts University.
“And everything comes on a truck.”
It wouldn’t seem so bad if paychecks were going up, too. But they aren’t.
Included with Sunday’s Tulsa World, Parade Magazine looks at what various jobs earn these days across the United States, while the World takes a closer look at some Oklahomans.
Between the 2000 Census and the 2010 Census, median household income in Tulsa County grew roughly 2.6 percent a year, staying just ahead of inflation at 2.4 percent.
The typical family’s income went from $35,316 to $45,613 in Tulsa. But adjusted for inflation, spending power increased only $902.94.
Read the complete story in Sunday's World.
