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Face_your_fear_79
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:18 am
Posts: 492
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 3:27 am 
 

Misc. Agricultural workers-28,704 per year
Bakers-28,548 per year
Hairdressers-28,340 per year
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment-27,976 per year
Packaging machine operators-27,508 per year
Refuse and recyclable material collectors-27,248 per year
Personal appearance workers-27,196 per year
Entertainment attendants-27,196 per year
Hotel, motel resort clerks-27,040
Nursing aides-26,832
Personal care aids-26,000
Child care workers-26,000
Sewing machine operators-25,896
Waiters-25,792
Hand packers-25,740
Cooks-25,272
Food servers, non restaurant-25,168
Restaurant host-24,492
Housekeeping cleaners, (my job) 24,284
Cashiers-24,180
Food preparation workers-24,076
Dining room and bar helpers-23,244
Dishwashers-22,932
Fast food and other food workers-22,672
Laundry and dry cleaning workers-22,464

What about you? Are you on this list somewhere?

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~Guest 21181
The Great Fearmonger

Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 3:44 am
Posts: 3987
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 6:47 am 
 

I'm curious about your source, seeing as I've had at least two jobs that a) paid less than most of that list and b) are not on that list. Possibly three jobs, now that I think about it.

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~Guest 58624
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 4:33 am
Posts: 649
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 8:05 am 
 

I figured that might've come from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which I'd perused in the past. But it doesn't seem to specify median annual income except by range, of which the lowest is $30,000 or below.

It's a helpful resource in other ways, if you're trying to get a feel for how things are in the work world: You can explore jobs (or job-types) in terms of income, education, and the size and projected growth of the field. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any way to narrow it down geographically; where I live, $30,000 would make for a modest but still quite comfortable life for a single adult, but you wouldn't have to travel far to find the cost of living double.

Myself, I've done some minimum wage retail work ($6.75/hour at the time) and comparably low-paying college teaching. Other jobs I've held (data entry, and currently personal care) had low pay but significantly more than minimum wage at $11/hour.

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Twisted_Psychology
Metal freak

Joined: Sat May 16, 2009 8:22 pm
Posts: 6260
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 8:45 am 
 

I'm not seeing call center work on there unless it's under a different name. Most of the ones I worked were in a range of $11-14 hourly, which is obviously better than minimum wage but still mentally taxing as hell. I'm forever thankful to not be in that line of work anymore; I do data entry and auditing in the mortgage industry just above the $30K bracket, but it's infinitely less stressful in comparison.
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GTog
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:35 pm
Posts: 1196
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 3:56 pm 
 

Looks similar to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Wages are averaged out nationally, so regionally the actual amount could be far less or far more. For some reason they do not report the median salary, but the mean. Also, hourly wage jobs get reported as an annualized salary using the Federal standard of 2,080 work hours per year. So they would say your $14/hr call center gig had a salary of $29,120 per year.
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Face_your_fear_79
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:18 am
Posts: 492
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 7:35 pm 
 

I was working housekeeping and making much less then 24 grand a year. More like 16000 at full time 40 hours a week. And I wasn't working 40 hours per week.

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Oxenkiller
Veteran

Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:42 am
Posts: 3613
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 8:13 pm 
 

I think a lot of it depends on what part of the country you live in. Jobs pay more in bigger cities (especially San Francisco and New York for example) because it costs more to live there. The same job can pay as much as 50 percent less if it is offered in, say, Tuscaloosa Alabama or Jackson Missisippi (much smaller cities where the wage scale is far lower), or a relatively economically depressed area such as Detroit. You earn less money but it's cheaper to live there (assuming you'd want to live in some of these areas. There are many areas of the U.S. I am grateful I don't live in.)

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Face_your_fear_79
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:18 am
Posts: 492
Location: United States
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:12 pm 
 

So a person in Alabama could make 30,000 per year and the same job in California could be up to 60,000 per year for the same job?

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Unorthodox
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 8:08 pm
Posts: 2347
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:13 am 
 

I'm skeptical on the pay posted for waiters and waitresses, simply because a lot of their money is under the table and not reflected in their paycheck. I feel like that would be incredibly difficult to accurately quantify.
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gasmask_colostomy
Metalhead

Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 5:38 am
Posts: 1640
Location: China
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:41 am 
 

Unorthodox wrote:
I'm skeptical on the pay posted for waiters and waitresses, simply because a lot of their money is under the table and not reflected in their paycheck. I feel like that would be incredibly difficult to accurately quantify.

When you say under the table, you literally mean on the table.

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Unorthodox
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 8:08 pm
Posts: 2347
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:47 am 
 

gasmask_colostomy wrote:
Unorthodox wrote:
I'm skeptical on the pay posted for waiters and waitresses, simply because a lot of their money is under the table and not reflected in their paycheck. I feel like that would be incredibly difficult to accurately quantify.

When you say under the table, you literally mean on the table.


:lol: Totally didn't think about it that way, you got me bud.
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gasmask_colostomy
Metalhead

Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 5:38 am
Posts: 1640
Location: China
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:51 am 
 

Unorthodox wrote:
gasmask_colostomy wrote:
Unorthodox wrote:
I'm skeptical on the pay posted for waiters and waitresses, simply because a lot of their money is under the table and not reflected in their paycheck. I feel like that would be incredibly difficult to accurately quantify.

When you say under the table, you literally mean on the table.


:lol: Totally didn't think about it that way, you got me bud.

Haha, sometimes life is just too literal. But I know what you mean, it's become increasingly difficult to calculate the actual earnings of a service worker like a waiter, mostly because their salary isn't the whole picture. I think that's more extreme in the US because of the massive tipping culture.

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Face_your_fear_79
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:18 am
Posts: 492
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 5:04 am 
 

I doubt they make 5 to 10 grand on tips. More like 3 to 5 grand maybe. I am just guessing but still.

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Resident_Hazard
Possessed by Starscream's Ghost

Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:33 pm
Posts: 2905
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 9:03 am 
 

Face_your_fear_79 wrote:
I doubt they make 5 to 10 grand on tips. More like 3 to 5 grand maybe. I am just guessing but still.


There's a huge unknown there, because a lot of those people work part time and different jobs tip differently, and some are popping up in the States now where they state not to leave tips because they charge enough to pay fair wages.

Tips, annoyingly, also have to be reported for tax purposes. I worked pizza delivery.... damn, 20 years ago. We had to report our tips on every night for taxes, which was almost never honest. I was one of the more extreme reporters. I'd say "a quarter" or "a dollar" and leave it at that. Nobody reported what they actually made. We were the last people who would be audited by the feds anyway.

If we do something like 4 nights a week (part time), 52 weeks a year, and just throw a loose average of $60 a night, that's $12,480 annually. For reference, I live in a metro area of 3.2 million. Given how much we (me and those around me) tip wait and delivery staff these days, I think $60 a night is completely fair. Granted, back when I was delivering in a town of 8-10,000 people, $60 was my best day. It was December 26th.
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Oxenkiller
Veteran

Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:42 am
Posts: 3613
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:02 pm 
 

Face_your_fear_79 wrote:
So a person in Alabama could make 30,000 per year and the same job in California could be up to 60,000 per year for the same job?


Depending on the job... yes. I will have to look up specific facts, but I do know that pay for teachers, for example, is significally higher, nearly double, in California vs Alabama. The main reason being cost of living allowances.

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UtUmNo1
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2007 6:14 pm
Posts: 180
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:28 am 
 

Sad being part of the 2% I guess.

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Face_your_fear_79
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:18 am
Posts: 492
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 5:06 am 
 

Well one thing is for sure. Housekeeper is not really paying the bills. Maybe pizza driver isn't such a bad idea after all.

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Resident_Hazard
Possessed by Starscream's Ghost

Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 2:33 pm
Posts: 2905
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:53 am 
 

Face_your_fear_79 wrote:
Well one thing is for sure. Housekeeper is not really paying the bills. Maybe pizza driver isn't such a bad idea after all.


Looking back, it really was one of my favorite jobs. I spent most of the night in my Blazer, drinking Mountain Dew and listening to music. I always had cash in my pocket, and the extra change filled a massive container for emergencies. They still made Family Size cans of Planters Cheez Balls back then, and I would have one filled with change from tips. I always had something to eat, too.

But the hours weren't great and the pay wasn't exactly great either. At the end of the day, it was minimum wage and if I had a bad day with tips, I didn't have much money.
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Jonpo
Hyperc6l6mb6wler

Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2007 10:05 am
Posts: 7735
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:58 am 
 

I'm scraping by making just under $18 in a call center, here in Louisville Kentucky. Still have to regularly ask for help from my parents, and I'm 33 years old. My dad is currently paying my car insurance in exchange for me keeping his bird alive while he works in California.

I had big plans to come to this call center, establish myself as a bad ass, and become a supervisor. Part 1 was no problem, it's a very easy job. Become a supervisor...well I encountered a snag. Turns out my manager is a piece of human garbage who keeps hiring her personal friends from the outside world as supervisors. When I called HR to tell them about this they said "Most managers hire people they're close with. Try to become friends with her." and then they told her I called even though it was supposed to be anonymous. Can't make this shit up.
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~Guest 58624
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2006 4:33 am
Posts: 649
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:48 am 
 

Jonpo wrote:
Still have to regularly ask for help from my parents, and I'm 33 years old.


Ditto. It can feel demeaning, but you're not alone.

I vaguely hope to become financially independent someday, but it's less about comfort and more about self-respect (and not feeling inadequate around peers, whether real or imagined). Some days that's motivating, but other days it's "whatever." (Yay for mild depression.)

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iamntbatman
Chaos Breed

Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:55 am
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Location: Tyrn Gorthad
PostPosted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:01 pm 
 

Yeah, that shit is grim. I was slowly digging my way into more and more debt working a ~$30k/year job in the DC suburbs and if I'd stayed there I dunno where I'd be right now. Taking a lower paying job in a place with a much, MUCH lower effective cost of living was my only realistic path to financial independence.
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Face_your_fear_79
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:18 am
Posts: 492
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Oct 27, 2019 7:56 am 
 

I came across an article about were you can make 4 to 5 thousand dollars a week working in a oil town with massive oil rigs. But it's 16 hours per day of I would imagine very labor intensive work.

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schizoid
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jul 19, 2004 8:35 am
Posts: 1602
Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 4:11 am 
 

Face_your_fear_79 wrote:
I came across an article about were you can make 4 to 5 thousand dollars a week working in a oil town with massive oil rigs. But it's 16 hours per day of I would imagine very labor intensive work.


It would also probably be somewhat dangerous, and probably require a degree or certification, unlike most of the jobs listed in the OP.
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Face_your_fear_79
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:18 am
Posts: 492
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 6:33 am 
 

None of the jobs listed on the OP require a degree. A few might require certification. I'm not sure. Besides I just found out a janitor medium pay rate is about 26,000 but it's not listed in my original post. Wonder why they didn't include it.

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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
Posts: 10812
Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 7:49 am 
 

Face_your_fear_79 wrote:
None of the jobs listed on the OP require a degree. A few might require certification. I'm not sure. Besides I just found out a janitor medium pay rate is about 26,000 but it's not listed in my original post. Wonder why they didn't include it.

Not the only thing, I don't see any mention of warehouse workers. I'm not American but I figure the numbers are not that dissimilar, and if I compare it seems it should be in there. As a tariff-bound direct employee I am well above that list, but many people at my job work there through temp agencies and they would be on the lower end of the list. And come to think of it, since they work for minimum wage which is a few cents above nine euros per hour, everyone else working for minimum wage would be on the lower end of that list as well. 9 euros x 163 full time monthly hours = 1.467 euros, x 12 = 17.604 euros, run through onlineconversion = 19,576 dollars.
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acid_bukkake
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Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:45 am
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 12:53 pm 
 

Warehouse worker here, been running forklifts and docks for 15 years. I haven't made below $35,000/year since my early 20s, but I'm also an outlier since cost of living in Mass is higher than the majority of the country.
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Face_your_fear_79
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:18 am
Posts: 492
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 1:01 pm 
 

Yeah, the costs of living in mass are totally big.

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droneriot
cisgender

Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:17 pm
Posts: 10812
Location: Spahn Ranch
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 1:10 pm 
 

acid_bukkake wrote:
Warehouse worker here, been running forklifts and docks for 15 years. I haven't made below $35,000/year since my early 20s, but I'm also an outlier since cost of living in Mass is higher than the majority of the country.

See that's already way above what I was referring to. In my company, forklift drivers are paid around 16 euros an hour because a forklift license counts as a qualification, almost twice of what the temp workers get, and working docks it's even higher pay because of the erratic hours, lots of bonuses.
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acid_bukkake
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Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:45 am
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 5:09 pm 
 

Most of it comes from choosing what company you work for. It's been my experience that smaller businesses will pay better but will also have greater workloads while offering more immediate control over your position. I've been in my current position for only half a year and been allowed to completely reorganize the warehouse several times over, for example, and spent over a decade elsewhere as part of a 2-man team where I, essentially, had final say in the shipping. Comparatively, larger companies (Amazon especially, but also ones in more specialized fields) will have more people on a team and less pay between them, along with greater focus on specialization.

So if you ever look for a warehouse gig in the States? Find a company with a full-time staff of less than 20 people. You're probably going to get paid better just from percentage of company income alone.
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Face_your_fear_79
Metalhead

Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:18 am
Posts: 492
Location: United States
PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 9:39 pm 
 

Thanks for the advice and yes I am interested in the warehousing business.

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