The real cost of employment

Many years ago when I starting working, I was so excited to earn a paycheck so I can buy what I wanted when I wanted and not have to depend on anyone. What I did not realize is how quickly my paycheck seemed to disappear even though I did not make any major changes to my life style. I remember my mom giving me $10 a week to pay for lunch when I was in high school and I could make that last the entire week without a problem. So why was it that when I started to earn money, it seemed like I had less money? Here was a lesson I learned about the real cost of employment.

This is not to say that it is better to be unemployed. I know too many people who are looking for work and not finding it. What I am saying is to evaluate how much it costs to go to work and then use that infomation to make sure the job you have or looking at is right for you. What is the cost of actually working. Sure, you get paid for you employment, but do you realize that you pay to be employed? Let's start at the begining of the day. Most employers require some form of dress code. Whether it is a required uniform or just a dress code, you as the employee are required to purchase the clothing and shoes. Of course, you have to keep your clothing clean and if you work in an office, your clothing may require dry cleaning. How much do you think you spend on work related clothing in a year? Women will on average spend more per year then men. So let's say that the average work clothing purchases are $700 per year and another $300 in cleaning those clothes. ( I am sure some of you can think about just one day's spending at the mall being more that this)

Next is your overall appearance. Most people bathe and groom before going into work. This is not to imply that you do not do those things on other days. This is just to get an idea of the cost of the "little" extras you do for work. So let's say $200 per year to just the work cause.

Now how do you get to work. Assuming you drive to work, that means you own a car and put gas in that car and provide insurance and maintance. If the average commute is 30 miles round trip per day and the average gas right now is $2.50 and the average MPG on cars is 19 mpg which means that you spend $3.75 a day or $975 a year in gas getting to and from work. What about insurance and maintance? Let's say $1,000 a year to cover insurance and maintance of which 24% of that is allocated for the working time during a year so $240 a year.

Where are we at so far:

$700
$300
$200
$975
$240
_____
$2,415

Now food. Of course you have to eat regardless of working or not, but if you are working away from your home, you are more likely to eat out for lunch on occasion. Let's say you eat out twice in a week for a meal (this could also include the starbucks you got in the morning or happy hour). If you spend $10 per outing that is $20 per week or $1,040 per year in meals. This puts our total to $3,455. For people without kids, you can stop right her and determine that it cost you $1.66 per hour to be employed and for some that may not seem a lot.

Now consider if you had children who are not of school age. The cost of day care per year is about $8,150. That puts the cost of working to $11,605 or $5.58 per hour.

This is not taking in consideration your morgage/rent, car payment, utilities, personal debt, general living expenses or taxes.

I am lucky enough to have a job that I absolutely love. For those who are not as fortunate as I am, just make sure you are getting paid to work and not paying to work.