Entry level pay on the rise and more than a third of local job ads offer more than $80K a year

Local jobs experts say the difficulty some Dayton region employers have finding workers is driving up pay, particularly in entry-level jobs.

“Pay has gone up considerably,” said Joanie Krein, vice president-market manager for Manpower in Dayton.

Since the pandemic she said entry level jobs can pay as much as $15 to $16 an hour. Doug Barry, owner of BarryStaff in Dayton said he is seeing the same thing.

“Wages are going through the ceiling right now,” Barry said. “We’re seeing $15 and up just for entry level.”

Credit: Contributed

“I don’t think we’ll continue to see great increases in entry level pay,” said Krein. “But I know that employers will not be able to decrease pay because people are used to being able to earn that market wage.”

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High paying jobs account for more than a third of the online job listings for the 12-county Dayton region, according to data compiled from the state’s OhioMeansJobs.com website.

Credit: Alexis Larsen

Six figure jobs made up almost 25 percent of the jobs posted online. Jobs paying $80,000 to $99,000 annually accounted for just more than 11 percent of the nearly 25,000 listings for the region between Dec. 14 and Jan. 13, the most recent data available.

Nearly 19 percent of the jobs were entry level ones paying less than $30,000 annually.

Middle income jobs paying $30,000 to $49,000 accounted for nearly 22 percent of the jobs . Those paying $50,000 to $79,000 made up more than 23 percent of the ads.

The data is for the JobsOhio West region, which includes Auglaize, Champaign, Clark, Clinton, Darke, Fayette, Greene, Mercer, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Shelby counties.

Not all employers post on the state’s jobs website and some postings are duplicates, according to the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.

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