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Heartodixie	Post subject: Embarrassing wages in perspective Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:04 pm
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:15 am Posts: 1432 Location: Alabamer	Starting wage at my first copyediting job in California's Central Valley in 2004 $11/hr. Final wage after promotion: $15/hr. Starting wage at my second copyediting job in Central Alabama in 2005: $16/hr Final salary (based on a 40-hour week) after promotion in 2007: $18/hr. plus bonus and minus overtime Starting wage at a no-questions-asked day-labor agency in Central Alabama In 2008: $9.50/hr. Final day-labor wage in 2008: $8/hr for easy, longterm assignment with guaranteed daily and weekly overtime. Probationary wage for work as a productionperson at a construction materials factory about a mile from my house: $12/hr. Starting wage: $14/hour Max wage for job code: $18/hr. (I hope I don't jinx myself by bragging on that last job. They're waiting to see how I do on tests for reading, math and drugs before they offer it to me. Better go study. ...)
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Phillip Blanchard	Post subject: Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:18 pm
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 8342 Location: Bethesda, Md.	Hm. In 1986, I was hired as a copy editor for the first time (albeit with several years of experience as a reporter and line editor) for $16 an hour. That works out to about $30 an hour in 2007 dollars.
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Heartodixie	Post subject: Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:58 pm
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:15 am Posts: 1432 Location: Alabamer	A different world, the bush leagues are. I started working in newspapers at the nation's premier business weekly chain (that's sarcasm there) as a reporter with zero experience and no college degree. I believe the wage was $7.50 an hour. In 1997.
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majorbabs	Post subject: Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:58 pm
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2002 12:01 am Posts: 744 Location: HuskerLand	In 1986, I got a job as editor of a small weekly at $12,000 a year, with health benefits. I thought I was well-paid. Last edited by majorbabs on Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Heartodixie	Post subject: Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:23 pm
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:15 am Posts: 1432 Location: Alabamer	I've always been satisfied with my wages, though making $35,000 a year at fairly recent reporting jobs in San Francisco and Silicon Valley was a little rough (a main reason I ended up down in Alabama).
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paulwiggins	Post subject: Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:21 pm
Joined: Wed Oct 08, 2003 12:01 am Posts: 3137 Location: Homebush NSW Australia	majorbabs wrote: In 1986, I got a job as editor of a small weekly at $12,000 a year, with health benefits. I though I was well-paid. Applying a US inflation caculator about $24,000.
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Bumfketeer	Post subject: Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 5:44 pm
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 3557 Location: Cusp of retirement, grave or both	Stringing, 1972-74, in between Dead tours: $10-$15 a story (briefly supplemented by Army Reserve stipend). Reporting, 1975-1977: $90/week Reporting, 1978-1980, some desk responsibilities: $175/week (supporting stay-at-home mom and three kids). 1980: Career "takes off" at $310/week. 1986: $660 a week, metro editor, 100,000 daily. 1987: Relocate due to divorce and remarriage, copy editor, 200,000 daily, $530/wk. That's enough for now.
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"This is like group therapy with prisoners in the Poynter Institute's dungeon." ... "You take a vocation that the simple-minded consider to be mere drudgery, and you exploit every bit of fascinating and humorous nuance imaginable." ... "Delicious" ... "Ask your professors? The only professors whose opinions matter are named Walsh, Blanchard and McIntyre." ... "What I come here for, I can find ONLY here. Phillip, you've built a great place." ... "Nothing gets us hotter than reading bitchy discussion threads from over-exhausted copy editors endlessly debating the merits of "theater" versus "theatre." ... "I love this site. It's better than the Kool-Aid acid tests." ..."I'm awed at the efficiency with which matters of opinion get hashed out in this forum." ... "Phil is the bomb!" ... "I'd wager that it's exactly your sort of hidebound thinking that contributes to the problems newspapers are having attracting readers." ... "I'm totally obsessed with this site. It's like porn--if you get off on Scrabble." ... "It reveals the backstage carping and vindictive emotions that roil the souls of those trapped at the copy desks." "When they say "testy," they certainly mean it. Whether it's reporters, editors, or the general public, no one is above their savage snark." ... "An apparent crack in the thin grey line." ..."Testy Copy Editors is a bitchboard for journalism's underclass." ... "My desire to read 'Testy Copy Editors' is only rivalled by my desire to pop "Constipated Call Girls" in the DVD player." ... "Phillip Blanchard is not just a testy copy editor, but a prophet scorned in his own time, and those of us who defend wordplay will be punished for it come the Judgment Day." ... "Phil Blanchard is as dashing in person as he is at the TCE board." ... "As far as writing and editing go: Read this board, read Bill Walsh, memorize the style book, read William Zinsser, and read the New York Times. That's a good start." ... "You should let go of your bitterness. You were not the oppressed talent you thought yourself to be. You were a miserable, brooding, silent, joyless grind, lucky to have a job at the Sun-Times, and we're lucky now that you've moved on to afflict others."

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