Half of UK working women are skint

[Eldorado]

"Almost half of women in work would struggle to pay an unexpected bill of £100 compared to 30% of working men, a new survey has revealed.

"The report, which investigates the role of women in the economy and society, also found 38% of female workers felt their job didn’t pay enough to offer a decent standard of living. The same figure for male workers was just 24%..

Full monty at the Huff Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/43-of-working-women-struggle-to-pay-unexpected-ps100-bill-study-reveals_uk_5d5bd04fe4b0d1e11367cc4f?

And at the UK Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/women-finances-economic-problems-uk-a9073036.html

[aztek]

funny, they do not say what line of work those 38% are in.    and what their expectation of  decent standards are.  if they work at McDonald,  and expect their salary to be enough to afford 3 rooms flat and a Bentley, maybe it has little to do with wage gap

 

[Duke Wellington]

26 minutes ago, Eldorado said:

"Almost half of women in work would struggle to pay an unexpected bill of £100 compared to 30% of working men, a new survey has revealed.

"The report, which investigates the role of women in the economy and society, also found 38% of female workers felt their job didn’t pay enough to offer a decent standard of living. The same figure for male workers was just 24%..

Full monty at the Huff Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/43-of-working-women-struggle-to-pay-unexpected-ps100-bill-study-reveals_uk_5d5bd04fe4b0d1e11367cc4f?

And at the UK Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/women-finances-economic-problems-uk-a9073036.html

This is not meant to sound sexist.

What used to happen is that the man did the work and from his wages he could feed, clothe, and house his family. He would also have some spare for luxuries and savings.

The current state of society is bad. How did we end up in a situation where both parents have to work and then they still struggle to get by financially? What is that craziness. Putting aside the numbers on our paycheques our wages/salaries today dont buy as much as what a wage/salaries would 50 years ago (adjusted for inflation).

The only thing I can see which might have caused it is there being significantly more low income jobs today than there was in the past. Most of the manufacturing drifting to China, etc.

[Cloud7]

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-things-women-pay-more-for-than-men-2014-01-17

6 times it’s more expensive to be a woman

Women pay more than men for nearly identical products

[RAyMO]

19 minutes ago, aztek said:

funny, they do not say what line of work those 38% are in.    and what their expectation of  decent standards are.  if they work at McDonald,  and expect their salary to be enough to afford 3 rooms flat and a Bentley, maybe it has little to do with wage gap

 

Fair point in so far as the article doesn't specify whether women and men have different expectations as to what constitutes a decent standard of living. It requires us to assume the expectations of the two groups are the same. The rest of the article is predicated on that assumption, or an alternative assumption that the groups, for valid reasons require different standards of living. 

However, I would think that the overall premise that women are employed, disproportionately, in  less well paid jobs would probably hold.

[aztek]

21 minutes ago, RAyMO said:

 

However, I would think that the overall premise that women are employed, disproportionately, in  less well paid jobs would probably hold.

based on what i see in corporate environment, for over 2 decades, i strongly disagree

[aztek]

32 minutes ago, Cloud7 said:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-things-women-pay-more-for-than-men-2014-01-17

6 times it’s more expensive to be a woman

Women pay more than men for nearly identical products

wait till they come to a repair shop to fix a strange noise in their cars,  the'll pay much more for halogen fluid than a man, lol  

[Duke Wellington]

1 hour ago, aztek said:

funny, they do not say what line of work those 38% are in.    and what their expectation of  decent standards are.  if they work at McDonald,  and expect their salary to be enough to afford 3 rooms flat and a Bentley, maybe it has little to do with wage gap

 

McDonalds go against peoples perceptions of fast food work.

They actually pay decent wages here (a lot more than someone would get in retail).

[aztek]

7 minutes ago, RabidMongoose said:

McDonalds go against peoples perceptions of fast food work.

They actually pay decent wages here (a lot more than someone would get in retail).

they get about 8 -10 pounds an hour . according to internet,  it is a decent wage for a kid as far as pocket money,  can you pay rent, and the rest of your living expenses on 8-10 pounds an hour? prbly not.

how much is a 1room flat a month?  not in the center of London.  

Edited August 21, 2019 by aztek

[Duke Wellington]

3 minutes ago, aztek said:

they get about 8 -10 pounds an hour . according to internet,  it is a decent wage for a kid as far as pocket money,  can you pay rent, and the rest of your living expenses on 8-10 pounds an hour? prbly not.

You can indeed live off £10 per hour, that is above the living wage.

Those are also entry positions at McDonalds. They are big on training and development, and pay more the more skills the workers gain. Working in a fast food chain is seen as a demeaning job, but McDonalds looks after its staff quite well.

[aztek]

3 minutes ago, RabidMongoose said:

You can indeed live off £10 per hour, that is above the living wage.

 

that is 10 before taxes,  so if you get 2k a month before taxes how much would it be after? in usa it would be about 1200-1300, that is before any deductions.  where i live a tiny apartment,  a studio (1 room) runs about 1200 a month. you will be lucky if you get basement appt for 1000 or less, but it will have less space than a shipping container, . what are your rents on average? 

[Duke Wellington]

1 minute ago, aztek said:

that is 10 before taxes,  so if you get 2k a month before taxes how much would it be after? in usa it would be about 1200-1300, that is before any deductions.  where i live a tiny apartment,  a studio (1 room) runs about 1200 a month. you will be lucky if you get basement appt for 1000 or less, but it will have less space than a shipping container, . what are your rents on average? 

For a full-time position £10 p/h its £19500 per year which is a good wage for a low-skilled position. The living wage is about £18000. 

[aztek]

according to internet living wage for a family of four in USA is around 15 bucks an hour based on 40 hour week,   i do not know much about the rest of the country, but in nyc 15 bucks is about 1\3 of what real living expenses would require for such family, that is why i asked the actual rent price, not gvmnt calculated living wage

[Duke Wellington]

2 minutes ago, aztek said:

according to internet living wage for a family of four in USA is around 15 bucks an hour based on 40 hour week,   i do not know much about the rest of the country, but in nyc 15 bucks is about 1\3 of what real living expenses would require for such family, that is why i asked the actual rent price, not gvmnt calculated living wage

So thats currently the same as £12 p/h?

I assume in New York City the costs of living are high too with it being a major city?

[aztek]

7 minutes ago, RabidMongoose said:

So thats currently the same as £12 p/h?

I assume in New York City the costs of living are high too with it being a major city?

yea about the same, 11-12.

things are higher in nyc but not by much, you get rent cheaper away from nyc but do not expect anything lower than 30% at best.  in nyc you can get away without a car, same for other major cities, in nyc a metro card for a month, good for train and buses, cost about 120.  but outside you need a car, to get around public transport isn't available everywhere, so that makes it necessary expense just like rent and food, 

of course rent in Manhattan is much much higher,  a small appt in good area runs about 5-6k

Edited August 21, 2019 by aztek

[Duke Wellington]

26 minutes ago, aztek said:

yea about the same, 11-12.

things are higher in nyc but not by much, you get rent cheaper away from nyc but do not expect anything lower than 30% at best.  in nyc you can get away without a car, same for other major cities, in nyc a metro card for a month, good for train and buses, cost about 120.  but outside you need a car, to get around public transport isn't available everywhere, so that makes it necessary expense just like rent and food, 

of course rent in Manhattan is much much higher,  a small appt in good area runs about 5-6k

In the UK £19500 from McDonalds is £1625 per month of which every month:

1. £170 goes to the state in the form of Income Tax and NICs (the first £12000 is free from income tax here which I took into account when arriving at this figure).

2. Rent is £400 for a typical 2 bedroom flat or £500 for a typical 3 bedroom house.

3. £300 for a months worth off food for two people and £80 electricity.

4. Council tax varies widely, where I live its about £1200 per year so thats £120 per month.

5. A typical cable, internet, and tv package is about £60 per month.

6. A typical mobile phone contract is £25 per month.

That leaves £460 per month for running a car or travel, clothes, entertainment, savings, and holidays. All of the above is for a typical city. If it was London rent would be significantly higher. Obviously a young couple might also have a baby but from all the above figures they can indeed live well on £19500 per year. Its about £1500 above what the national living wage is.

To have a decent house or flat, a decent car, and two decent holidays a year, then I`d say the person needs to be earning about £24,000. Thats a wage for a senior skilled worker or a first degree position.

To have a part-time cleaning lady, a sports car, two holidays per year at 5-star hotels, to have your home kitted out in fancy stuff, its about £40,000 per year and above. The kind of wage going to an experienced senior graduate position.

Something Americans dont realise about the UK (and it usually comes as a shock if they try driving over here) is petrol is expensive. Really expensive. If you use public transport instead, its cheaper to get about in most areas of the UK.

For a full time cleaning lady, a nanny, a cook, with all the above other stuff, you are looking at about £80,000 per annum. Thats experienced doctors, lawyers, accountants, or business owners.

Edited August 21, 2019 by RabidMongoose

[aztek]

30 minutes ago, RabidMongoose said:

In the UK £19500 from McDonalds is £1625 per month of which every month:

1. £170 goes to the state in the form of Income Tax and NICs (the first £12000 is free from income tax here which I took into account when arriving at this figure).

2. Rent is £400 for a typical 2 bedroom flat or £500 for a typical 3 bedroom house.

3. £300 for a months worth off food for two people and £80 electricity.

4. Council tax varies widely, where I live its about £1200 per year so thats £120 per month.

5. A typical cable, internet, and tv package is about £60 per month.

6. A typical mobile phone contract is £25 per month.

That leaves £460 per month for running a car or travel, clothes, entertainment, savings, and holidays. All of the above is for a typical city. If it was London rent would be significantly higher. Obviously a young couple might also have a baby but from all the above figures they can indeed live well on £19500 per year. Its about £1500 above what the national living wage is.

To have a decent house or flat, a decent car, and two decent holidays a year, then I`d say the person needs to be earning about £24,000. Thats a wage for a senior skilled worker or a first degree position.

To have a cleaning lady, a sports car, two holidays per year at 5-star hotels, to have your home kitted out in fancy stuff, its about £40,000 per year and above. The kind of wage going to an experienced senior graduate position.

Something Americans dont realise about the UK (and it usually comes as a shock if they try driving over here) is petrol is expensive. Really expensive. If you use public transport instead, its cheaper to get about in most areas of the UK.

wow, rent is like 2 to 3 times less than in usa,  that explains a lot, the rest of the prices seem to be similar to usa,  when you have to pay 1\3 of your pay for rent instead of 3\4 you have a lot more left

we do know your gas is more expensive,  about 2x as much, i pay 3 bucks for a gallon, you'd pay about 6 for a gallon, but it is sold per liter, we have somewhat similar prices in Alaska

Edited August 21, 2019 by aztek