3 The Wage Gap

Hello Singlemombuzz Readers!

Depending on your source for information, the average gap in wages, between men and women, is from .23 cents/hr.  to  .28 cents/hr.

You might be thinking,  Hey!  That is not new news.  I know this.
But . . . I want you to think about what this information really means to the single mom.

Consider this... If the average of the wage gap is .25 cents, this means, that for every dollar a man makes, the woman makes .75 cents.

So...

Look at these calculations:

MALE:              Rate of pay                          $ 1.00/hr        

FEMALE:         Rate of pay                           .75 cents/hr    

(HOURLY)      Pay Difference:                    .25cents/hr                                                                  

MALE:              40 hr week,  pay check:       $40.00

FEMALE:         40 hr week,  pay check:       $30.00

(WEEKLY)      Pay Difference:                  $10.00

MALE:              Monthly Pay:                       $160.00       

FEMALE:         Monthly Pay:                       $120.00

(MONTHLY)   Pay Difference                   $  40.00

MALE:               Yearly Income                   $2,080.00

FEMALE:        Yearly Income                     $1,560.00      

(YEARLY)      Pay Difference                   $   520.00

In the above scenario, the male is pocketing $520 dollars more than the female.  He has $520  dollars more money in a year. Over ten years he will have more than $5,200 dollars!!!  Of course, this is the difference when the pay scale starts at  $1.00/hour.

But, let's get real, average entry level pay for most college graduates looks like this...the male is making $20.00 an hour, which means at 25% less,  the female would then make $15.00 an hour.  This would translate into:

                    40 Hours Work Week:

                                   Male    20.00 x 40 hours  =  $ 800.00

                              Female   15.00 x 40 hours    =  $ 600.00

                                   Weekly Pay Difference  =  $200.00

                   4 Week Month:

                                   Male:                 $800 x 4  =  $3,200.00

                               Female:                  $600 x 4  =  $2,400.00

                                 Monthly Pay Difference   =   $  800.00

                           Yearly Salary: *based on 52 weeks 

                                   Male:             800 x 52     =   $ 41,600

                               Female:             600 x 52    =    $ 31,200

                                    Yearly  Pay Difference =   $ 10,400

In ten years, the female worker is being shortchanged $104,000.00.  

Let me put this another way.  Say a male and a female both want to purchase a home.  (As you may know, the purchase of a house can be a concrete way for building wealth and creating financial security.)  The price of the house is $100,000.  Both need to save $10,000 for a 10% down payment.  Looking at the yearly figures above, you can see that (the only difference between this male and female is the wage), the person who is making more money has the potential to save the down payment sooner.  This means they have to save for a shorter period of time and, they will make their purchase sooner, and thus, will begin building equity sooner.

The reality is that the one who makes more money will have to sacrifice for a shorter period of time, and will have more needs and ultimately, more wants met, than their lesser paid counterpart.  In this scenario, the lesser paid employee (the female)  would also have to cut back on quality of life spending, more so, than the male employee.  For every paycheck that she has to cut into for the down payment savings, she has to take away from her other necessary savings, (i.e. emergency funds, 401K, or other future needs).  The quality of her life potentially suffers.  Although, it is her choice to sacrifice to save and purchase a home, shouldn't she have the same quality of life that her male counterpart has during the saving process?  Basically, what should be evident to you, is that people performing the same jobs, should be paid the same wage and have the same opportunities.

But, we live in the real world where inequality still exists and because of the many discrepancies in this life, we must adapt and move forward, regardless.  That is why SWARM was created and why this blog is in existence today.

I want to provide information to help improve the quality of your life and every single mom out there.  My goal will be to provide you with information that will enlighten you and help you; maybe help you see things in a new way.  I hope this post has given you reason to ponder...

This post is a repost from the original blogger at swarmbuzzblog.blogspot.com