Do you ever wonder if you are being paid fairly or not? The best way to find out is by comparing your salary with others in your profession. Maybe this is what a user wanted to discover when he asked on the forum, “What is your job, and how much do you get paid?”
Here are the responses he got.
TODDLER LEAD TEACHER
“Just got a raise from 9.65 (minimum wage) to 10.50, but not because I’m valued, because we’re so severely understaffed, and everyone that walks through walks right back out once they learn how low the wage is. Don’t blame them one bit.”
CARPENTER
“Carpentry income varies year to year. My dad’s been a carpenter his whole life. Good years; he’s making over 100k easy and some years making 20k. Those super-low years were from the big economic collapse in 2008 and the fallout from that. I was a teenager, and I remember he was one of the few carpenters keeping semi-steady work due to him being one of the best in our area, and even then, it was drastically less than before.
However, it’s picked back up in the last few years for him. But my parents always saved enough money from those 100k+ years that we didn’t go broke or go without like many other carpenters my dad knows.”
SUBSTITUTE TEACHER
“I was a substitute teacher for two years. A substitute teacher giving their income by the hour is misleading. First off, they are usually paid by the day. It’s a shorter workday. I got paid $180 per day. At 6 hours, yes, that’s $30 an hour. At full-time, year-round work, that would put me over $60K a year.
In actuality, if I worked a maximum of 180 days, there are in a school year, that puts me at $32,400 a year before taxes. And I worked an average of 4 days a week because some days I didn’t get jobs, so I made about $25K a year.
I had a summer job during the breaks. If this person makes $250 a day and works every school day, they gross $45K annually. That’s not a lot anywhere, but given they are on the high end for substitute teacher pay, I would guess they are in a higher cost-of-living area. This is not a good wage.”
NUCLEAR PLANT ELECTRICIAN
“As a nuclear plant electrician, I make 50 an hour, 130-150k a year depending on Ot/bonus. Moving into an operations role in the plant soon.”
STEEL MILL WORKER
“I work in a steel mill that heats steel bars to a certain hardness. I get paid 18$ an hour, and so far, we haven’t had anyone die for a year (that’s a record).”
WENDY’S CREW MEMBER
“I earn $9 normal hours, $10 when I close. If I become an ambassador, I could make $12 an hour, but that’s a lot of work. I work the grill usually, and they say I’m the best at it, not including the managers and one of the ambassadors.”
LINE COOK
“I’m a line cook/manager for a busy restaurant, and I get paid $19 an hour +tip share + profit share from two recipes of mine on the menu.”
OFFICER ON CONTAINER SHIP
“As an officer on a container ship, I work about six months out of the year and make about 120k. My job is mostly looking out a window at some waves.”
RECYCLING PLANT CHEMIST
“I work at a recycling plant as a chemist. I analyze our incoming and outgoing material for the base and precious metals content. I am one of 2 people in the lab and am effectively in charge as it’s no secret the lab manager is looking for a new job and is absent many days. I get paid $20/hr.”
UPS PACKAGE SORTER
“As a UPS package sorter at a warehouse, I am paid 22$ an hour plus time and a half pay for anything over a 5-hour shift in a single day (so, for example, one shift is 5 hours if I work two shifts in a row the second one would be 33$ an hour).”
LAB ANALYST FOR A MICROBIOLOGY LAB
“I’m a lab analyst for a microbiology lab, doing sample testing and environmental monitoring in a germ-free environment where hospital drugs are made. I make $18 an hour. Not bad, but the stress of the job combined with the fact that it’s on the low end of the wage of these sorts of jobs means I’m looking for other options.”
PARAMEDICS IN THE UK
“I make £17.50ish/hr after shift overruns and unsocial hours pay I make in the neighborhood of £43,000 per annum.”
FREELANCE VIDEO EDITOR
“I make $500-$600/day. “Bad” year I make 40-50k per year. Great years are 95k-110K.”
EMT
“You guys need to realize I’m on the high end. 15/hr is starting wage here, and that’s freaking nuts. I seriously met a guy who worked 20+ years as an advanced EMT over in Tennessee, and he was legit making 10.50 an hour. The dude was 48 on, 24 off.”
LIBRARIAN
“I’m a librarian (hence the user name), earning around $100K with full benefits.
But I’m in the Bay Area, and that’s with a Master’s Degree + 15 years of experience. So it’s not all that impressive in context.”
Anika Jindal
Anika is a CPA and founder of What Anika Says. She shares simple and actionable frugal living, money management and money-saving tips to live a debt-free financially independent life. She has been featured on popular websites like Bankrate, Forbes, Mint ,and Authority Magazine. Byline: MSN