Average Pay for O.C. Office Workers Drops 2.6% in ’92 : Survey: Wages for L.A. employees rose 1.4%. Labor analysts are surprised, as O.C. workers usually make more.

One consolation for Orange County during these tough economic times has been that things are usually worse in Los Angeles County. However, that may be changing.

A survey of average wages for secretaries, clerks and typists indicates that pay in Orange County fell behind that of its neighbor to the north, reversing a trend of higher pay rates for office workers here.

Wages dropped 2.6% in Orange County and increased a modest 1.4% in Los Angeles County, according to the survey of 1,335 business executives taken in November. In Orange County, starting office workers were paid an average of $1,625 per month, contrasted with $1,660 in L.A. County.

The figures were somewhat surprising to labor analysts, given that Los Angeles County’s average unemployment rate was 9.6% for 1992 and Orange County’s was 6.1% .

“The job losses are more drastic in L.A. County,” said Esmael Adibi, director of the Center for Economic Research at Chapman University in Orange. “It surprises me somewhat.”

Thomas Temporaries in Irvine, which commissioned the study, last month released the results of a separate survey showing that business executives were more optimistic about hiring in Orange County in 1993 than employers elsewhere. Both polls were conducted by Strategic Consulting & Research in Irvine.

“These factors may cause employers to feel they can still attract quality office workers without offering the region’s highest salaries,” Gene C. Wilson, president of Thomas Temporaries, said in a statement.

Orange County also has a heavier concentration of service companies, rather than manufacturers, and those employers are more optimistic about hiring over the next year, said Myra Malburg , director of marketing for Thomas Temporaries.

Overall, pay scales for office workers in Southern California increased just 1% during the year, reflecting high unemployment and a reduction of white-collar support jobs. Entry-level office workers were paid an average of $1,491 per month, and those with three years’ experience were paid $1,773 per month.

Pay rates in Riverside County climbed 4.7%, and wages in San Bernardino County were up an average of 2.4%. Although these were the highest gains in the region, office workers in the Inland Empire overall still have wages about 15% lower than their counterparts in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Office wages in San Diego and Kern counties rose less than 1/2%.

“Many companies were just trying to stay afloat and avoid laying off workers,” Wilson said. “The idea of handing out historical salary increases, even if they were tied to cost-of-living adjustments, was a decision most executives couldn’t afford to make.”

Salaries were highest for administrative assistants and executive secretaries in all counties, with starting pay for those jobs averaging $1,940 and rising to $2,298 after three years. Top pay in that category could be found in Los Angeles County, where executive secretaries started at an average of $2,205 per month. Those with three years’ experience averaged $2,563 per month.

General clerks were the lowest-paid office employees. Starting clerks averaged $1,232 per month, and those with three years’ experience were paid $1,475 per month. The lowest-paid workers in the category were found in Riverside County, where the starting average was $1,114 per month, rising to $1,381 after three years.

In Orange County, only the wages of accounting clerks and administrative assistants/executive secretaries increased. The starting salary for an accounting clerk rose 0.3% to $1,626 per month, and pay for those with three years’ experience increased 3.3% to $1,985. Wages for entry-level administrative assistants rose 0.4% to $2,009 per month, and for workers with three years’ experience, it climbed 1.4% to $2,495 per month.

Word-processing typists in Orange County took the greatest hit. Their average starting salary fell 5.7%, to $1,753 per month, and pay for workers with three years’ experience fell 6.9%, to $2,102 per month.

Recent trends, however, show that companies are looking for office workers who can be versatile.

“Companies want workers to be generalists--not just a typist or a file clerk, but word-processing and other computer skills,” said Eleanor Jordan, a labor market analyst for the Employment Development Department in Santa Ana. “They want people who can do all things.”