I've just come back from a Relief Society activity where the first counselor of our bishopric gave a little presentation on money. You know, the standard, don't spend more than you make, put some away in savings, and for. the. love. get out of debt.
It was a good presentation, even if I have heard all of this before. Which only proved Brother Christensen's first point, that spending habits are a behavioral problem, and not an ignorance/knowledge problem. (Unless you're a Democrat? Just kidding. That's behavioral too. Ha. I'm kidding.)
Anyway, the above chart happened to be in his presentation and the data was from 2007, so I decided to look up more recent figures -- you know, ones that include recession numbers and such -- and I found that they are fairly comparable.
The thing not comparable? My own salary.
Not that I didn't know that, of course. I'd like to see....(pause while I Google this...) what the national average vs. state numbers are because I really believe that one of the reasons Utah's economy works so well, is because we don't pay our educated masses all that much. It's like outsourcing, only, with qualified people. (Two things: I didn't find a chart when I Googled. Maybe I should have Binged. But that doesn't have the same ring to it. And also, if you want to see what I'm talking about, just look at some of the job ads that they stuff like "Master's Degree preferred, but are only offering $30,000/year wages.)
Anyway, I'm making -- and this is before taxes -- the same as what this chart says someone with a high school diploma makes. Not even what a person with "some college" makes. Which is sort of depressing. But maybe they aren't taking into account the people that may have graduated but aren't working in their field. Or something.
Either way, it's pretty clear that I'm not working in a field where my education has paid. So... I know what that means I need to do. But I also don't know how to go about doing it. My first thought was that I should probably email this chart to my boss. Or, all the bosses in Utah.
I always wonder where statistics come from. I did a really quick Google search and found this (I have no idea how valid or invalid it is):
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Historical_median_personal_income_by_education_attainment_in_the_US.png
Which indicates that someone with a Bachelor's, on average, makes about $46,000. The stats you were given state that someone with a Bachelor's makes about $55,000.
That's a huge discrepancy. I wonder what the truth is?
So I looked up the Median household income (which is combined, not individual) in the US straight from the US Census Bureau: $51,914 with an average of 2.59 people per household (of course some of those will be children who can't earn).
The Census Bureau also says the Median income per capita is $27,334, which is FAR lower than these other places.
In conclusion: I don't know what to believe! But that chart your bishop gave you is super high compared to the government's. And, yes, I realize my middle stat was average and not median, but the government's is median.
WOW that was ridiculously long and silly of me, but I got to being curious and thought I'd share.
Is it possible that the Census Bureau is including all ranges of education in their really low number? (Which, by the way, is still higher than my salary...)
ReplyDeleteThe chart that I put on my blog is a government number, it came straight from the Bureau of Labor website.
But, you are right. I think it is interesting.
It is interesting. I think there are what seem to be 'discrepancies' in how much people make because it differs by state, region you're in and the cost of living there. The only place I've been able to find a decent comparison is http://www.payscale.com/mypayscale.aspx. It shows the salaries based on where you live, experience, skills you have, schooling, etc. It also compares them to others in the area you're in. Once you know, then you can maybe put together a case to your boss to pay you more if it shows you should be getting paid more.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn :)