#employers #employees #jobs #work #wages #salaries
You have a full-time job making, to use a number, $7 per hour.
Multiply that by 40 hours, and your weekly pay is $280.
If you live, to use a number, five miles from your job, you will travel 10 miles per day, back and forth to work.
If gasoline, to use a round number, costs $3 a gallon, you will spend $150 a week in gasoline to get back and forth to work. Subtracting that from your $280 salary, that leaves you with $130.
Multiply $130 by four weeks (a month), you’ll have $520 left for food, rent etc.
If your rent is $1,000 a month, you won’t make it.
We’ve not even figured in wear and tear on your car from commuting, any medical needs you may have – much less discretionary spending. If you have children who must be cared for while you work, you can’t afford that.
Politicians of many stripes make a big deal about people sitting home collecting government benefits while not working. Most everyone who is able would like to work – if not merely for the money, but to get out and about, meet people etc. But, most workers do not want to be taken advantage of by an employer.
The good news in today’s labor market is that hourly wages are going up because people are “choosing” – that’s the term many politicians use – not to work, and companies are trying to entice them back, or keep the workers they have.
The point of this discussion is that people, by and large, are not lazy. They want to work. But they also want that job to cover their necessities. When that doesn’t happen, people are less likely to want to work.
Chances are, if your job pays $7 an hour, you do not have the option to work from home. You have to go someplace to work.
Even in professions like teaching, salaries in some places make it difficult to work and otherwise take care of yourself and your family.
Regarding teaching, we won’t even discuss the harassment, political hassles etc., that add stress to an already undercompensated job.
In short, the economics of going to work are not cut and dried. Everything depends on what you make, where you live and whether you can meet your expenses with what you make.
Employers who long for the days when workers were plentiful, and would work for whatever they would pay them, keep dreaming. Those days are gone, particularly as the U.S. cracks down on immigrants.
Work is desirable for most people, and most employers like to have hiring options. But the math has to work not only for the employer, but also the employee.
It’s difficult to find the sweet spot, in which employees are paid appropriately to live, employers are making money and all is well with the world.
Today’s world is not that simple. For those who believe it is (some politicians believe that people will come back to work those menial jobs when their savings run out), you are living in a fantasy world.
Remember, if you are working at a $7 an hour job, you probably don’t have savings to rely on anyway.
Again, the good news is the job market is getting wise to the situation. More employers are offering more enticements to get workers back. Some assurance that paychecks won’t dry up if another pandemic, or some other disaster, hits, would also be helpful.
People want to work. Employers want workers. The numbers have to jibe on both ends to keep everyone happy.
Peter
Tag Archives: salaries
KIDS MOVING TO THE CITY FINDING EDUCATION IMPORTANT
#salaries #CollegeDegrees #urban #rural #coronavirus #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve
Workers in Georgia with a four-year degree earn 66 percent more on average than those with associate degrees, and 101 percent more than those with only a high school diploma.
Maureen Downey, education columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, pulled that statistic from a study titled “College Earning Across States and Metropolitan Areas.” She discussed the topic in a June 16, 2020, column.
“I don’t want to say everyone should go to college, but the returns to higher education are pretty considerable in Georgia,” Downey quotes John Winters, an Iowa State University economist who authored the study.
“One takeaway from the study is that job market opportunities for those without a lot of education are not very robust in Georgia,” Downey quotes Winters.
In Winters’ study, those with a bachelor’s degree strongly out-earn workers with associate degrees, with more than 25 percent earnings advantage in all but three states: North Dakota, Alaska and Vermont, Downey writes.
If a young person wants to live in the metro area, it’s clear from the study that getting some higher education would be a really good idea,” Downey quotes Winters.
“Whether to go to college always has to be the kid’s decision,” Downey quotes Amber Northern, senior vice president for research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which sponsored Winters’ study.
There are two things at play here. First, kids who go to high school in a small town or county, and want to move to a city, where they believe the action is, are advised to get a college degree.
The second thing is that the kids have to make the decision whether college is right for them.
Suppose a kid has a rough home life in rural America, and has planned to move out of Mom and Dad’s house as soon as possible after graduation.
What if that kid learns that college is either unaffordable, or doesn’t believe college would be a great move for him or her – at least not worth going into debt to make happen?
Such a child should know that there are many options out there that can allow him or her to earn a good income, regardless of education, background or experience.
Here’s the rub: the child has to be open to looking at the many alternatives to college, or even a traditional “job.” Here’s the bonus: if the child IS open, and likes what he or she sees, he or she can live anywhere he or she wants. It not only requires openness to looking, but also the ambition to pursue, even if he or she needs to take a traditional job at the beginning to earn a living.
To learn about one of the best such vehicles, message me.
A college degree is certainly desirable to have. Some degrees can be parlayed into a decent career. Others give you knowledge that has a narrow focus in the overall job market, and may not convert to a lucrative income.
Also, who knows how the college experience is going to change in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic?
Regardless, no education is wasted. But, the practical consideration to going to college may supersede the desire for a degree.
As Northern says, it’s the kid’s decision.
But, a child’s ambition to get a degree may not be enough. He or she could be saddled with a huge debt for many years after graduation. If he or she doesn’t get a job from which he or she can live, AND pay down the debt promptly, AND save for the future, the decision is easier.
If he or she believes a good job is ahead with a degree, the decision is harder. That’s where an open mind and a lot of ambition could synergize into something really special.
Peter