Some people are loathe to say how much they make.
But as a public servant for 10 years with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Michael Crawford had no such apprehensions last year when he responded to a pop-up ad on Parade Magazine’s Web site for the annual “What People Earn” survey.
“I just gave it a shot,” he explained Thursday. “I thought it would be neat to throw that in there and see what would happen.”
What happened is that Crawford’s face graces the magazine’s cover today, along with the faces of 17 other Americans (OK, one of them is Leona Helmsley’s dog) and what they earn for a living.
Crawford, who makes $35,000 a year as a purchasing agent and property director with the sheriff’s office, said Parade contacted him on Wednesday to remind him he would be in the issue. The call also reminded him he hadn’t mentioned his impending celebrity to his wife.
Crawford said he planned to stay mum a few more days and pick up a couple extra copies of the issue and leave them around the house to see what happens.
Also in the issue inserted in today’s Advocate are a New Jersey casino dealer, making $45,000; a Michigan janitor, $10,700; and Maine loan officer, $65,000.
In Louisiana, the median wage is $14,890 for a casino dealer, $16,960 for a janitor and $43,300 for a loan officer. Median means half the people in each of those professions make less than that amount and half make more, so many could indeed match up to their Parade publication counterparts.
Compare those and other wages in Louisiana to our Southern neighbors (Chart Page 4F), and, in general terms, the state is holding its own, said Baton Rouge economist Loren Scott.
Scott cautioned, though, that states’ varied economies make comparisons difficult. But manufacturing provides a good measuring stick, since that sector cuts across all states, he said.

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