As much as I enjoy disagreeing with AA nay saying... he's right.
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htmA random sampling of average wages (broken by the hour, MEDIAN given):
Tulsa: 13.19 (mean is 16.55, average income of 34,420)
OKC - 13.19 (mean of 16.69, average income of 34,710)
Little Rock - 12.94
Albuquerque - 13.48
Memphis - 13.55
Wichita - 13.89
Omaha - 14.23
Dallas - 14.54
Des Moines - 15.22
Portland - 16.19
Detroit - 17.57
NYC - 18.17
As you can see, Oklahoma is a cheap state to work in. As someone who works a lot with labor issues, I can tell you it is at leas tin part because Oklahoma pays at least twice the workers comp rates of its neighbors. Heavy industry rate in:
Oklahoma: 11.4% of wages paid
Arkansas: 6%
Kansas: 5%
(only states for which I have hard quotes, situation similar for other occupations with drastically lower overall rates)
So, at the average Tulsa wage of 13.19 the employer pays in an extra 73 cents an hour over our neighbors. One can safely assume large employers consider this when moving here and/or setting compensation levels. That extra $1200 (60 cents in a 2000 hour year) in someones pocket could go a long damn way.
I hope our government is using these stats to draw employers. Certainly should be a selling point to attract business, which of course, is the only way to raise wages.