All Articles Tagged "salary"
You Make How Much?! More And More Workers Are Talking Dollars And Cents With One Another
There are just some things you don’t talk about with other people at work: gastrointestinal issues, that strange cousin who’s only allowed to enter and leave your house through the back door, that mysterious tattoo that manages to see daylight every once in a while, and, most importantly how much money you make.
But that last taboo might be falling by the wayside. We just came across this recent Wall Street Journal piece that indicates the newbies to the workforce — the Millennial generation — are chatting about how much money they’re making with their colleagues. And using the information to their advantage.
“Accustomed to documenting their lives in real time on social-media forums like Facebook and Twitter, they are bringing their embrace of self-disclosure into the office with them,” the article says. “And they’re using this information to negotiate raises at their current employer or higher salaries when moving to a new job.”
Of course, employers would prefer if everyone kept their wages on the hush-hush so they can negotiate down and keep salaries in check. But as with most everything in this day and age, the Internet is passing along information, through sites like GlassDoor.com, making once unknown salary stats public knowledge.
A labor law expert tells the WSJ that barring people from talking or tweeting about their pay is against the law. So the article recommends even more transparency from employers. Some companies, like the tech business Digg, are already taking that idea and running with it, for instance, offering “salary bands” that clearly outline how much people get paid. The article also outlines a couple of suggestions for talking about your salary at work so you can get a leg up. Among them:
Know your motivation—don’t bring up the topic if you just want to brag. That never goes over well.
It’s acceptable to ask a manager about the company’s pay philosophy and pay practices. Leaders should be able to explain why they pay the way they do.
Would you — or have you — ever talked about your salary with colleagues?
Nine Reasons You Are Probably Making Less Than You Should
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No one wants to ever find out they are not realizing their full potential in their profession. It’s actually a bit heart-wrenching as the average person would like to achieve success and feel appreciated. One area not to mess with is one’s salary.
There will always be things a person can’t help like the economy and how it affects employees. In the same breath, if everyone is earning more than you, you might want to take a look at your situation. There is definitely a gender wage gap that we’re still working to close. But we have to put in some of the legwork ourselves. Here are nine reasons why you are probably making less than you should.
9 Degrees That Make The Most Of Your Tuition Money
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At the beginning of the year, USA Today asked if college degrees were still worth it in this economy. The sight of fresh graduates moving back in with mommy and daddy or settling into service industry gigs makes it easy to question whether higher education is the smart route to take. Even a law degree isn’t a guarantee of a job these days.
But studies show that a college degree still makes a difference in your career. Jobless rates and wage drops are still higher for workers with only a high school diploma. “Degree inflation,” a trend where employers change minimum job requirements to include degrees for positions that once upon at time only needed a diploma plays a part in this.
A college degree doesn’t get you as much as it once did, but it still gives you an advantage over your less credentialed competition.
So, what degrees give you the highest return on your investment? US News & World Report cross-referenced degree programs with starting salaries to find out. We picked out the common specialty areas from the list and added a few from Forbes’ research here.
America’s Bottom 90 Percent Has Seen Income Growth Of $59 — So Basically Nothing
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Please say it ain’t so! As if us short (way short) of the top 10 percent of Americans don’t have enough on our plates, the harsh reality of our true income growth is here to give us a very rude awakening.
What’s one of the main dreams our parents and grandparents have for us, and future generations? To achieve new heights and accomplish more than they were able to do. It kinda makes sense when you think about it because we have modern technologies on our side and a society (though nowhere near perfect) that allows all of us to attend the same colleges and drink from one water fountain. You would think that in 2013, we’d have a bit more to show for ourselves than former generations. According to economics and tax specialist David Cay Johnson we don’t because we’ve achieved an average income growth of $59.
In 2011 the average AGI [average gross income] of the vast majority fell to $30,437 per taxpayer, its lowest level since 1966 when measured in 2011 dollars. The vast majority averaged a mere $59 more in 2011 than in 1966. For the top 10 percent, by the same measures, average income rose by $116,071 to $254,864, an increase of 84 percent over 1966.
Ouch.
We pretty much knew there was a disparity between the haves and the have nots, but this is a hard pill to swallow. Even though income and tax revenues have increased over the years, only the top 10% of society has seen an income rise worth paying attention to — 149% to be exact.
Johnson doesn’t agree with balancing the budget by raising taxes on the top elite alone so what do you think is the solution? How much longer do you think our society will survive with such a large gap?
Man Out Of Work? How To Cope When You’re The Breadwinner… and Why Women Need To Learn How
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For two years women have made up the majority of the country’s workforce. Women also hold most managerial positions. Chaka Khan’s girl power lyrics may be in need of an update. We are every woman (and man); it’s all in us. But where does all this empowerment leave our men? What happens to relationships when men are underperforming women in the prized role of breadwinner?
We’re not talking about deadbeat dads, or lazy mama’s boys who refuse to get a job (we don’t want them anyway). We’re talking about good men who are trying their best, but can’t catch a break in this economy. In 2012, men’s workforce participation rate – working age men who are either working or looking for work – fell to its lowest point on record (since 1948).
The Value of Work In Relationships
Relationship consultant and author Robert E. Hall writes for The Huffington Post:
Relationships are often the first major casualty for the unemployed or even the underemployed. We underestimate the value of work when we view it just in economic terms. Work is much more than the value customers receive or the pay workers collect for producing products and services…Work contributes to essential relationships that yield crucial psychic income. And as the structure of work changes, so do our relationships and our society.
While women’s place in society has progressed, many hold on to traditional views of men and relationships. Picking up the check is liberating at first, but the privilege wears off after a couple of months. Coming home from work to find your man sitting on the couch can elicit resentful feelings, regardless of how many jobs he applied for while you were out. We demand that men change how they view us, but women also need to change how they view men including the value his paycheck adds to his worth.
Beyonce Was Right…
Kathryn Edin, a sociologist who spent five years talking with low-income mothers in Philadelphia, believes the family dynamics of low-income neighborhoods ruled by matriarchies will spread to the whole country. Men, unable to provide steady income or meet women’s expectations, are at risk of becoming obsolete in the lives of women who make all the decisions for their family.
The future of business with its emphasis on relationships and transformative coaching managerial style seems geared toward women. In 2010, for every two men who got a college degree, three women did the same.
Men who are having trouble finding employment, or an income that matches their partner’s are a symptom of a quickly approaching future. It’s a relationship dynamic women will need to learn to deal with as well. Couples counselors, as well as couples who have successfully weathered unemployment, offer these tips:
Keep an open mind. Your partner securing a 9-to-5 position with a salary that matches your own may not be the answer to your relationship woes, or even feasible for your partner. Encourage (and celebrate) them finding temporary and alternative sources of employment, or looking for a position in another area.
Know where you stand financially and adjust your lifestyle accordingly. Once your partner is out of work, there’s no use in wishing for that two-income relationship life or pressuring your significant other to keep up with that lifestyle. Deal with reality. Identify what expenses can be cut and make boosting your savings and paying off debt a priority.
Communicate, but don’t interrogate. Talking is the best way to deal with any issue in your relationship. Be cognizant of the right time and type of communication your partner prefers. Instead of forcing your mate to give a daily recount of every job they apply to, set aside regular meetings where your partner can share their progress and you can brainstorm ideas together.
Don’t forget to have fun and count your blessings. Put the focus on what is right in your relationship. Keep the romance alive with low and no-cost date nights. Boost your partner’s morale by reminding them what their strengths and accomplishments are. Research shows a spouse’s attitude towards job hunting strongly influences the mental state of the unemployed mate.
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C. Cleveland covers professional development topics and entrepreneurial rebels who blaze their own career paths. She explores these stories and more on The Red Read, Twitter (@CleveInTheCity) and Facebook (/MyReadIsRed).
Earn Top Dollar (But Still Less Than Men): Here Are The Top-Paying Cities For Women
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Where you live can affect your pocketbook in more ways than one. As we recently reported, where you live can affect your job opportunities. This is especially true for women, who on average earn only 77 percent as much as men in the U.S. but are the majority of breadwinners for their families. Forbes has put together a list of the best-paying cities for women in 2014. The magazine examined the 2011 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census (the latest data available), supplied by financial literacy website NerdWallet.
Here are the top five cities where women can earn the most:
1) Our nation’s capital. “In the Washington, D.C. metro area women working full-time earn a median income of $57,128. That’s nearly triple the salary in the worst-paying city for women. In Opelousas, L.A., women earn just $21,658 a year,” reports Forbes. D.C. attracts highly educated professionals who work in high-paying fields, such as politics and law. Still, even here, women earn only 81 percent as much men, who earn a median salary of $70,758.
2) Do you know the way to San Jose? The second top-paying city for women is San Jose, CA. Women living here earn a median salary of $56,499. In fact, seven metro areas in California made the top 20 list. “California cities like San Jose and San Francisco have become hotbeds of innovation and recruit talent with backgrounds in engineering and computer science, among the best-paying fields,” writes the magazine.
3) New England calls: The Bridgeport, CT woman’s median salary is $54,844, which is good, but still just 73 percent of what men make in the city. Urban centers in the East feature a high concentration of top-rated universities and highly-skilled, professional jobs, which pushes up earnings, according to Forbes.
4) Golden Gate perks: The median salary in San Francisco is $54,376 for female workers. Women take home 84 percent of what men earn.
5) Jersey Girl: In the Trenton, NJ metro area, a woman’s median salary is $52,319, which is 81 percent of a man’s.
The bottom of the list included cities in Texas, Florida and Missouri, where median salaries for women is less than $28,000.
The data also further highlighted the gender wage gap. “In fact, out of all the cities tracked, there are only four in which women earn equal to or more than men: Key West, Fla; Madera, Calif.; Fort Payne, Ala.; and Sebring, Fla, ” reports Forbes. All the more reason many women’s organizations are backing the Fairness Pay Act.
Would you relocate for better pay?
Need A Raise? Move To One of These Top Cities For Wage Increases
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Are you finding the cost of living keeps going up, but your salary remains the same? Well, in some U.S. cities that’s just not the case. A new study conducted by a think tank in Canada revealed which American cities had the biggest wage increases between 2010 and 2011.
According to the University of Toronto’s Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI), which looked at wage data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most lucrative salary increase occurred in the remote Alaskan city of Fairbanks. It seems workers in Fairbanks received an average annual wage increase of $2,700. The average salary in that city was $53,050.
MPI broke down the findings into two categories: the cities with the largest overall increases and the largest U.S. metros (cities with more than one million people) that saw the biggest wage increases.
Following Fairbanks on the overall list were: Bloomington, IN ($2,460 increase, average salary $38,110) and Iowa City, IA ($2,330 increase; $44,170 average).
In the largest metros, the top three includes: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($2,030 increase; $69,880 average salary); Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA ($1,680 increase; $56,390 average); and Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA ($1,540 increase; $57,900 average).
The Yahoo News story also notes the report from the National Employment Law Project that we reported on, showing the growing number of low wage jobs that have come in to replace the middle-wage positions that have disappeared in the recession. According to MPI, the places with greater concentrations of college graduates — thus a more skilled workforce — and professionals in the science, tech, business and management professions are the ones who ranked higher on the lists.
Show Me The Money: New Study Finds Blacks More Concerned With Wages Than Jobs
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Unemployment is a hot button issues for the current Presidential election. So BET News decided to poll a group of African Americans in various swing states to see just what the black community thinks about (the lack of) jobs. The results were somewhat surprising.
Despite the fact that the unemployment rate for African Americans remains high, blacks are more concerned about wages than job opportunities. People were polled in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. Thirty-eight percent of blacks are more worried about their salary and wages keeping up with the cost of living than finding employment and being laid off, which ranked as the third most significant concern. The second biggest concern after wages was healthcare; 24 percent said they needed affordable healthcare.
The poll also found that 77 percent think the economy is stabilizing and getting better and 61 percent said that their personal finances have improved. Only seven percent say their financial situation has gotten worse.
The economic background of the African Americans polled varied, from college graduates living in integrated neighborhoods (13 percent) to seniors (27 percent) and families (31 percent), who were most concerned about college education cost and value issues. Two percent of those polled voiced support for Republican candidate, Mitt Romney. The poll found too that 92 percent said they plan to vote in November; only four percent claimed to be less interested in this election than in 2008.
The poll was conducted by Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies for BET News. What are you most concerned with?
Do Threats Improve Worker Performance?
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A group of academics, trying to tackle the country’s education problem, have suggested that the merit pay system we have in place for teachers needs to be changed.
The study, led by Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt, proposes that teachers get paid a lump-sum bonus amount with the threat that if they don’t reach certain goals, they’ll have to pay the money back. “Rather than tap into teachers’ ambition, they’d tap into their anxiety,” writes The Atlantic. The tactic is called “loss aversion.”
The academics conducted a study with kindergarten through eighth grade teachers in a low-income Chicago community participating. They found that those teachers who were at risk of paying back their bonuses if the students didn’t excel actually “over performed.”
Of course, this doesn’t definitively prove anything. But The Atlantic recommends that education reformers keep an eye on this sort of practice. And if it happens in one job field, it could happen in others.
Do you think this is the best way to motivate teachers specifically, and workers in general?
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Obesity Pay Gap Doesn’t Affect Black Men and Women
When we talk about the cost of obesity, it’s usually related to the burden weight-related issues can have on the healthcare system but obesity may be hitting overweight men and women’s wallets in another way—lower pay, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Unsurprisingly, overweight women are hit the hardest. According to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, in 2004, average annual incomes for obese women were $8,666 less than workers with a normal weight. For overweight men, the salary was $4,772 less. In 2008, the researchers found that obese women made an average of $5,826 (15%) less than normal-weight females.
What’s odd is that this pay gap only seems to effect obese individuals who are Hispanic or white. In both 2004 and 2008, black men who were obese earned more than normal-weight black men, and wages were similar for obese and normal-weight black women.
Perhaps this is part of the reason why overweight black women have a higher quality of life than white women, or it may prove that black women’s weight doesn’t mentally and emotionally hinder them from being able to perform on the job and earn the appropriate salary.
What do you think accounts for the fact that overweight black women don’t earn less? What about the fact that overweight black men earn more than normal-weight black men?
Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.
