Seriously. What the fuck? Is it our ugly, mean people? Is it the wage tax? I know, I know. Small businesses are hit hard. By-the-books startups get slaughtered. It may be the stupidest idea local government has ever devised.
As noted before, the code I've recently be releasing has been an offshoot of trying to land a local job doing Something Hard. I thought doing data visualization at the Inquirer would be a pretty good fit. As you can see from the previous link, the graphic design department has seven employees. Data visualization, I'm guessing, is probably one person -- two max.
I've been lucky enough to know some amazingly smart people around here. Not just smart, but smart and talented. Some truly stunning minds. Let me provide you with a brief outline of their lives:
- Have some pay-the-bills job in or around Philly.
- Move.
Seriously. What the fuck (again)? I mean...The Teeth and Dr. Dog are here. What else do you tyrants want?
So, instead of bitching about the wage tax, let's do the math. We have ourselves a startup in Philadelphia. We have, let's say, five people we're paying $50,000. You can surely pick this apart, but let's lay down the following ground rules:
- The most expensive part of running a business is payroll. By a long shot.
- The hardest thing about running a business is finding good people. We need to pay those people what they're worth, regardless of location.
If you disagree with any of the above, your opinion isn't very applicable to this conversation. So, let's look at that. Five people compensated $50,000 per year (or, $250,000), adjusted for cost of living:
| City | Salary Expense | Emp. Wage Tax | Payroll Expense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | $297,500 | 4.26% | $310,174 |
| Chicago | $321,500 | - | $321,500 |
| THE MOTHER-FUCKING VALLEY | $442,500 | - | $442,500 |
| New York City | $530,250 | - | $530,250 |
So, what do you say? Let's all agree to cut it out. Though, I'll be the first to admit: The cost of living would skyrocket if good jobs actually existed around here.
I'm not entirely sure where I was going with this. It's just frustrating being happy location-wise, and realizing you can't be happy job-wise.
So. Philadelphia. Jobs? I'm giving it about another month before I start packing up the bags. It'll make me sad, but I'm running short on options.
To reiterate. So. Philadelphia. Jobs?