Chamber Releases 2009 Countywide Wage & Benefit Survey

The Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce is pleased to release the results of the 2009 Reno County Wage & Benefit Survey. Produced by the Chamber as a business resource during January and February 2009, the Wage & Benefit Survey provides a prevailing wage guide for employers and job seekers, and presents data on the benefit packages offered by area businesses.

“We added several questions to this year’s survey,” said Dana Regehr, Director of Economic Development for the Chamber. “The 2007 survey revealed a significant number of companies with paid time off policies rather than traditional vacation and leave policies, so we added an entire section to the survey. We also added more user-friendly features such as a table of contents, number of respondents to each question, and a comparison of the 2007 and 2009 surveys.”

The study includes data from 179 Reno County businesses representing all sectors and over 9,000 employees. Of the participating companies 126 were small businesses (0-25 employees), 23 were medium-sized businesses (26-75 employees), and 21 were from large businesses (76+ employees).

• Compensation – The average wage increase in 2009 from the prior year was 3.4%. This average does not delineate between cost of living raises and salary increases.
• Job Forecast
• Of responding companies, 67.3% state they will add jobs in the coming year. Of those, 81.1% report they will add 1-5 jobs in the coming year.
• 94.4% of respondents report they do not anticipate future lay-offs.

• Health Insurance – More than 70 percent (73.7%) of responding companies offer health insurance to full-time employees, and 2.9% offer Health Savings Accounts. Of those that offer health insurance, 51.6% state that they pay 80% or more of employees’ health insurance premiums. An additional 37.5% report that they pay 40-79% of employees’ health insurance premiums.

The survey was initiated by the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce. Chamber staff tabulated and analyzed the data results. The report is available at no charge to Chamber members on the Members Only section of hutchchamber.com. Non-chamber members who participated may contact the Chamber for a complimentary copy of the report. Cost of the report is $30 for all others. Contact the Chamber with questions at 620.662.3391.

RELEASED BY:

Jade Piros
Communications/Special Events Coordinator

jadep@hutchchamber.com