Wow, Virgil made only a little under $2.32 an hour!

He probably worked overtime. 10 hours a day, 7 days a week does not sound like something you would find in a contract. However, if he did work overtime, he was at least paid well. On my last job, I had to work overtime for nothing. Officially, I was employed part-time, 4 hours a day…but in fact I got to work 6 hours a day…or until the boss told you you could leave.

Better than "not bad." He made close to 60K a year adjusted for inflation. You also have to take into account that the cost of living was much lower back then even in adjusted dollars.

PA always has been one of the worst paying states period.
Back in 1999 I temped at an Insurance Co. here in NYC (computers)the main frame was in Philly, there the workers were very jealous of how we made much more money then they did.

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About the time of the movie, living in NW PA, and junior high, I made .75 an hour as an usher in a movie theator, in high school I moveed up to 1.50 as a store clerk in a grocery store



In a world where a carpenter can be resurrected, anything is possible.

No, actually he did not. By 1963, the minimum wage was $1.25/hour. The last time it was less than $1/hour was 1955.

I remember men older than me saying that their goal in the mid 1960s was to make $10,000/yr. That put you in the middle class. Tibbs would have been making over $8,000/yr.

Police officer jobs however did not pay that well, especially back then. The draw was the job security and eventual pension. Cops often moonlighted (and still do in some places like New Orleans) and some were on the take to support their families. But yes, Tibbs as a Philadelphia detective was making more than the local Mississippi cops and that rankled Gillespie.

Even today I'm sure police officers in small Mississippi delta towns are poorly paid, especially compared to large northeast metro police officers.