- WISCONSIN IS SPENDING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO LURE
MILLENNIALS OUT OF CHICAGO AND ELSEWHERE TO COME HERE TO WORK.
IN TONIGHT'S WISCONTEXT, A LOOK AT HOW ARGUMENTS IN THE STATE'S
AD CAMPAIGN, WHICH TRADE ON COST OF LIVING COMPARISONS, STACK UP.
WE ARE JOINED BY SCOTT GORDON, WHOSE REPORTING APPEARS THIS
WEEK ON wiscontext.org.
THANKS A LOT FOR BEING HERE.
- THANKS FOR HAVING ME.
- SO YOU LOOKED AT THE WISCONSIN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION'S AD CAMPAIGN TO LURE MILLENNIALS OUT OF CHICAGO
TO LIVE IN WISCONSIN.
AND ONE OF THE FIGURES THAT WAS USED IN THE AD SAID THAT
WISCONSIN RENTS ARE 55% LESS THAN IN CHICAGO.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT THAT CLAIM?
- WELL, NO DOUBT IT'S CHEAPER TO LIVE IN JUST ABOUT ANY PLACE
IN WISCONSIN THAN IT IS IN CHICAGO.
BUT WE WANTED TO FIND OUT WHERE THE STATE WAS GETTING ITS
NUMBERS AND IF WE COULD REPLICATE SOME OF THESE
COMPARISONS ABOUT RENT.
AND THE FOLKS AT WEDC DID TELL US SOME OF THEIR SOURCES FOR
THIS DATA, AND WE HAD A HARD TIME EXACTLY REPLICATING THAT.
AND THE KIND OF CHICAGO TO WISCONSIN AS A WHOLE THING WAS
SOMETHING I WASN'T REALLY ABLE TO DIG INTO AND IS A LITTLE BIT
DIFFICULT, YOU KNOW, TO COMPARE A CITY TO A WHOLE STATE IN TERMS
OF RENT.
SO THAT JUMPS OUT AT ME.
- SO THE ADS ALSO BOAST THAT IN MILWAUKEE THE COST OF LIVING IS
22% LESS THAN CHICAGO.
DO YOU KNOW HOW WEDC DETERMINED THAT?
- THEY'VE BEEN USING SOME DIFFERENT FIGURES FROM DIFFERENT
WEBSITES AND THINGS.
THERE'S ONE THAT THEY USE FOR RENT DATA CALLED RENT CAFE.COM.
THERE'S ANOTHER SPITE CALLED SPERLING'S BEST PLACES THAT DOES
COMPARISONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT CITIES AND ECONOMICS AND
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES.
THEY WEREN'T NECESSARILY THE SOURCES I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED
THE STATE TO USE, SUCH AS GOVERNMENT SOURCES OR THE COST
OF LIVING INDEX FROM THE COUNCIL FROM COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC
RESEARCH, WHICH IS SOMETHING OF A STANDARD.
- SO THAT THERE ARE SORT OF GOLD STANDARDS, BUT MY
UNDERSTANDING FROM READING YOUR REPORTING IS THAT SOMETIMES YOU
JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS APPLES TO APPLES COMPARISON BECAUSE SOME
OF THE STANDARDS KIND OF COMPARE DIFFERENT INKS THIS.
IS THAT ACCURATE?
- RIGHT.
YEAH.
AND ONE THING I WAS REALLY TRYING TO ASK AT THE OUTSET OF
THIS, BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW, WAS IS THIS WHOLE CONCEPT OF COST OF
LIVING A REALLY HARD AND FAST MEASUREMENT IN THE, YOU KNOW,
ECONOMICS WORLD OR IS IT SOMETHING THAT'S A LITTLE MORE
NEBULOUS.
I THINK IT'S CLOSER TO THE LATTER.
YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE ORGANIZATIONS LIKE COUNCIL FOR COMMUNITY AND
ECONOMIC RESEARCH THAT THEY PUT OUT A QUARTERLY INDEX OF COST OF
LIVING, WHERE THEY'RE WEIGHING TOGETHER SORT OF HOUSING COSTS.
THAT'S ALWAYS THE BIG ONE, OF COURSE, IN ANY COST OF LIVING
CALCULATION THAT'S CREDIBLE.
AND ALSO ALL KINDS OF THINGS THAT KIND OF REPRESENTS A WHOLE
MIX OF NEEDS AND WANTS THAT A HOUSEHOLD MIGHT HAVE ANY GIVEN
PLACE.
- AND YOU SUGGEST IN YOUR REPORTING THAT OFTEN PEOPLE MOVE
FOR A NEW JOB, OBVIOUSLY BECAUSE OF POTENTIALLY A SIGNIFICANT PAY
BUMP AND THAT COST OF LIVING CALCULATIONS MAY NOT BE
SOMETHING THAT MILLENNIALS ARE LOOKING AT IF THEY'RE GOING TO
CHICAGO SAY FOR KIND OF A BIG-TIME JOB.
- RIGHT.
I MEAN, THE NUMBERS CAN'T NECESSARILY ACCOUNT FOR SORT OF
THE MORE NUANCED AND INTANGIBLE DECISIONS THAT PEOPLE ARE MAKING
ABOUT WHERE TO MOVE OR WHERE TO TAKE A NEW JOB OR WHAT THEY WANT
OUT OF LIFE AND THE PLACE THAT THEY LIVE.
PEOPLE HAVE OBVIOUSLY POINTED OUT TO ME THAT PEOPLE WILL BE
WILLING TO SHOULDER A HIGHER COST OF LIVING OFTEN IF THEY'RE
GETTING KIND OF THE AMENITIES AND FEATURES THAT THEY LIKE OR
IF THEY FEEL THAT THEY'RE IN A LABOR MARKET THAT GIVES THEM
MORE PLACES TO GO.
- THAT'S RIGHT.
WELL, SCOTT GORDON, THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR REPORTING.
IT CAN BE SEEN AGAIN ON WISCONTEXT ORG.