To the editor:

Thursday’s Journal-World prominently featured new data showing that earnings in Lawrence are substantially lower than in Johnson County. If true, this would be important for local leaders. But should we believe the numbers? And if so, what do they mean?

First, remember that these figures refer to earnings by residents, NOT place of employment. Second, the source of the data, the American Communities Survey, is based on fewer than 10,000 households in the entire state of Kansas.

Other data sources suggest that pay in Lawrence is much closer to pay in other areas of the state. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Survey is based on a survey of about 1.2 million employers. The OES lets us compare annual earnings of employees in well-defined occupational categories in their place of work. It is thus a much better guide to what employers in different communities pay.

OES data for about 20 major occupation groups show that, in some occupations, employers in Lawrence pay higher wages than employers in the greater Kansas City area, Topeka or Wichita. In other occupations they pay less. Overall, pay in most occupation categories is about the same in Topeka, Wichita and Lawrence. Employers in Kansas City typically pay about 10 percent more than those in Lawrence for any given occupation.

The differences that the Journal-World reported reflect residential sorting, not a penalty for living or working in Lawrence.

Joshua Rosenbloom,

Lawrence