Here’s some very good economic news:

Houston-based Phillips 66 paid its median worker $196,407, the highest of any company in the sector. Phillips was followed by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. APC +12.06% at $183,445. Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which has roughly 72,600 employees, according to its latest proxy, had the third-highest median worker pay with $171,375. Phillips 66 and Anadarko both boosted their 2018 median pay by about 15% in 2018 compared with 2017. Exxon raised its median pay about 6%. Oil-and-gas companies typically pay their workers better than many other sectors because they have fewer low-paid retail jobs and must compete in a tight labor market driven in part by the shale-oil boom.

Supply and demand do amazing things, when you let them.

My grandfather worked for Phillips in the company town of Phillips, Texas. I doubt he ever thought about seeing $200,000 all at once, much less earning that in a year, even adjusted for inflation. For some reason, we still think of that time as a kind of golden age.