Many regular readers of this column don’t like numbers. They don’t mind data, as long as they don’t have to see the numbers. Data are information, numbers are nothing more than confusion.

An example: It will be awfully hot today. Now that is readily understood. But what is 97? And who is Fahrenheit? What team does s/he play for?

I don’t know how your newspaper might treat this, but I’m printing a chart that shows how each Indiana county did in the past ten years in terms of both job growth and wage increases (unadjusted for inflation). This chart divides that growth and increases into four groups of 23 counties each. Why 23? Because Indiana has 92 counties and that nicely makes four groups of 23 counties.

There’s the High group of 23 counties, the High Mid-Range group, the Low Mid-Range, and the Low group. Because I’m being arbitrary and insisting on four groups, it’s unfair at times. For instance, Rush County ends up in the High Mid-Range for Job Growth while Harrison County is Low Mid-Range. Yet the two counties are just 0.1% apart. (The counties are listed in alphabetical, not numeric order because two scales are involved.)

“So what?” is the response of an aide to State Senator Billie Bilbous. She wants specific talking points about her counties.

OK. If the Senator represents any of the eight counties in the Low/Low corner of the chart, she has to emphasize more jobs and better wages for her constituents because “it’s only fair to help those being left behind.”. However, if her counties are among the eight in the High wage increase and High job growth corner, her claim to economic development resources is “Put money where the market has told us it is best used.”

This chart only deals with the changes of the past ten years, not with the level of wages and number of jobs An enterprising staffer can do that with the data on the accompanying spreadsheets. Those folks need to earn their “generous” pay.
Morton J. Marcus is an economist formerly with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His column appears in Indiana newspapers, and his views can be followed his podcast.

© 2025 Morton J. Marcus

-30-