It’s bad enough that one in 10 Atlantans can’t find work.
Yet even for those lucky enough to have a job, Atlanta wages continue to lag behind salaries across the country.
The PayScale Index, an online survey of salary data released Tuesday, shows that, overall, wages for private-sector workers in Atlanta declined 0.8 percent in 2010. Only the metropolitan areas of San Diego, Miami and San Francisco notched lower wage rates.
A bit of good news: Atlanta notched a 0.4 percent increase during the first quarter of 2011.
But add in rising gas and food prices and Atlantans -- employed and unemployed -- worry about making ends meet this summer.
“I’m having to scrape for every penny I get,” said Kennesaw’s William Fowler, 60 and jobless. “I do some volunteer work and, with gas so high, I wasn’t able to do some volunteer work at a Marietta food pantry [Monday] morning.”
Fowler, a construction manager, quit Birmingham 21/2 years ago for supposedly better job prospects in Atlanta. A series of low-wage jobs -- maintenance at an assisted-living center, church custodian, assembly line worker -- paid $10, maybe $12 an hour.
Similar jobs, with similar pay, abound across metro Atlanta. This month’s job fair listings on the Georgia Department of Labor’s website lean heavily toward low-wage work: customer service rep; mall security; debt collector; non-emergency driver; and groundskeeper.
With 10.2 percent unemployment, and enough jobless applicants, employers have little compunction to raise salaries. Meanwhile, life gets more expensive.
Consumer prices overall have risen at a 5.7 percent annual clip the past three months, fueled largely by skyrocketing gas prices. In Atlanta, the average price for a gallon of regular gas hit $3.63, 11 cents higher than a week before, according to AAA. By summer, $4-a-gallon gas seems likely.
“I’ll just have to keep doing what I can to get by,” Fowler said. “But I really have to count my blessings. My children are grown. I don’t have a mortgage or car payment. I don’t have the responsibility for anybody but me -- Bill. And it’s all about survival.”
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