Rhode Island Policy Reporter

RIPR is a (paper) newsletter that looks at local, state and federal policy issues that affect life here in the Ocean State. Each issue focuses on particular policy areas of interest. Future issues will examine controversial aspects of environmental policy, health care, state tax reform, and education spending. The intention is to look at action rather than talk.

RIPR also issues a weekly column about public policy, carried by ten of Rhode Island's finer newspapers. See here for an archive of recent columns.

If you'd like to help, please contribute an item, suggest an issue topic, or buy a subscription. If you can, buy two or three (subscribe here).

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whole site RIPR back issues

Available Back Issues:

  • Feb 08 (30) - IRS migration data, and what it says about RI, a close look at "entitlements", historic credit taxonomy, an investment banking sub-primer.
  • Dec 07 (29) - A look at the state's underinsured, economic geography with IRS data.
  • Oct 07 (28) - Choosing the most expensive ways to fight crime, bait and switch tax cuts, review of Against Prediction, about the perils of using statistics to fight crime.
  • Aug 07 (27) - Sub-prime mortgages fall heaviest on some neighborhoods, biotech patents in decline, no photo IDs for voting, review of Al Gore's Against Reason
  • Jun 07 (26) - Education funding, budget secrecy, book review of Boomsday and the Social Security Trustees' Report
  • May 07 (25) - Municipal finance: could citizen mobility cause high property taxes? What some Depression-era economists had to say on investment, and why it's relevant today, again.
  • Mar 07 (24) - The state budget disaster and how we got here. Structural deficit, health care, borrowing, unfunded liabilities, the works.
  • Jan 07 (23) - The impact of real estate speculation on housing prices, reshaping the electoral college. Book review of Blocking the Courthouse Door on tort "reform."
  • Dec 06 (22) - State deficit: What's so responsible about this? DOT bonding madness, Quonset, again, Massachusetts budget comparison.
  • Oct 06 (21) - Book review: Out of Iraq by Geo. McGovern and William Polk, New rules about supervisors undercut unions, New Hampshire comparisons, and November referenda guide.
  • Aug 06 (20) - Measuring teacher quality, anti-planning referenda and the conspiracy to promote them, affordable housing in the suburbs, union elections v. card checks.
  • Jun 06 (19) - Education report, Do tax cut really shrink government?, Casinos and constitutions, State historic tax credit: who uses it.
  • May 06 (18) - Distribution analysis of property taxes by town, critique of RIEDC statistics, how to reform health care, and how not to.
  • Mar 06 (17) - Critique of commonly used statistics: RI/MA rich people disparity, median income, etc. Our economic dependence on high health care spending. Review of Crashing the Gate
  • Feb 06 (16) - Unnecessary accounting changes mean disaster ahead for state and towns, reforming property tax assessment, random state budget notes.
  • Jan 06 (15) - Educational equity, estimating the amount of real estate speculation in Rhode Island, interview with Thom Deller, Providence's chief planner.
  • Nov 05 (14) - The distribution of affordable houses and people who need them, a look at RI's affordable housing laws.
  • Sep 05 (13) - A solution to pension strife, review of J.K. Galbraith biography and why we should care.
  • Jul 05 (12) - Kelo v. New London: Eminent Domain, and what's between the lines in New London.
  • Jun 05 (11) - Teacher salaries, Veterinarian salaries and the minimum wage. Book review: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
  • Apr 05 (10) - Choosing a crisis: Tax fairness and school funding, suggestions for reform. Book review: business location and tax incentives.
  • Feb 05 (9) - State and teacher pension costs kept artificially high. Miscellaneous tax suggestions for balancing the state budget.
  • Dec 04 (8) - Welfare applications and the iconography of welfare department logos. The reality of the Social Security trust fund.
  • Oct 04 (7) - RIPTA and DOT, who's really in crisis?
  • Aug 04 (6) - MTBE and well pollution, Mathematical problems with property taxes
  • May 04 (5) - A look at food-safety issues: mad cows, genetic engineering, disappearing farmland.
  • Mar 04 (4) - FY05 RI State Budget Critique.
  • Feb 04 (3) - A close look at the Blue Cross of RI annual statement.
  • Oct 03 (2) - Taxing matters, a historical overview of tax burdens in Rhode Island
  • Oct 03 Appendix - Methodology notes and sources for October issue
  • Apr 03 (1) - FY04 RI State Budget critique
Issues are issued in paper. They are archived irregularly here.

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    Rhode Island Policy Reporter
    Box 23011
    Providence, RI 02903

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2007 print columns 2008 print columns Deep archive

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RIPR is primarily a print publication (yikes! how 20th century!), and the work it represents is supported by its subscribers. Feel free to use this link to an RSS feed for the blog, but the real meat is in the newsletter, so come back and subscribe when you have a chance.

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Creative Commons License Tom Sgouros

Tue, 24 Jul 2007

Salaries in RI

An article in the Projo reports that EDC wants to establish a new tax credit, in order to raise the average salary in Rhode Island. This, of course, is crazy, for reasons outined in issue 11.

That issue was written in 2005, and the data have changed somewhat since then. You can find an updated rankings table below.


The numbers are annual salaries for a fairly random assortment of skilled and unskilled jobs. There is nothing rigorous here, though the findings are consistent enough in my opinion to warrant further study. But I haven't done it yet, and I don't know who else has.

RankStateSkilledStateUnskilled
1NJ66200DC27434
2CA64299MA26475
3DC63071AK25960
4MD61555NJ24288
5VA61495WA24169
6MA61206CT23928
7AK61063NY23712
8RI60760MN23453
9CO60650MI23419
10NY60509HI22984
11CT60326DE22926
12TX59191IL22822
13WA58820CA22763
14IL58150NV22744
15NV57977MD22735
16DE57403WI22655
17HI56988CO22510
18OH56727VT22385
19GA56678OH22221
20PA56371RI22200
21OR55801NH21830
22MI55698PA21791
23MN54521VA21626
24UT54422OR21583
25NC53904IA21341
26FL53199KS21245
27KY53178IN21162
28LA52997MO21023
29NH52917WY20970
30WI52704NE20760
31AL52699ME20692
32TN52652GA20647
33MO52504WV20419
34AZ52041AZ20319
35IN51913NC20118
36NM51767FL20095
37NE51702UT20072
38VT51174SD19641
39ME50932SC19619
40IA50512TN19545
41ID50168KY19535
42SC49534OK19410
43KS49294TX19392
44AR47989MT19218
45OK47905ND19180
46MS47711AR19072
47WV47140NM18941
48ND46870AL18769
49WY46303ID18701
50SD45471MS18677
51MT44787LA18373

For the record, the skilled jobs in the table, include Economist, Registered Nurse, Architect, Accountant, a couple of varieties of Psychologist, Dental Hygienist, Computer programmer, Civil Engineer, Consulting Engineer, Research Scientist, Voice Pathologist, and a few others. The Unskilled jobs are Butcher, Baker, Cleaner, Electronics Assembler, Hair Stylist, House painter, and Fish packer. The data are from SalaryExpert.com, but they are ultimately BLS data.

21:07 - 24 Jul 2007 [/y7/jy] link

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