More Money, No Problems?

 

Over Spring break I asked four people questions about their jobs and the distribution of housework in their homes. I wasn’t quite sure in what direction my line of questioning was going to go, but when all was done, the connections discovered were not exactly surprising. The results of the interviews turned out to be a measure of overall employment satisfaction.

Male one (M1) is 30 years old and is currently in a relationship and has 3 children. His highest level of education is high school, along with some vocational studies. He works a full 40 hour week as a Field Inspector at the Mayor’s Office of the City of New York, and conducts inspections of certain buildings and areas of the city. He enjoys the aspect of the field work and being out and about but dislikes his coworkers. He declined to mention his actual salary but expresses that it was not enough, and wasn’t so because those in his line of work are required to offer relief support during emergencies such as hurricanes Sandy and Irene. 

Upon researching the average salary of this position, I discovered that it pays about $32,824 a year; an amount that he claims is not adequate enough to support a family. He would like to make $8 – $9,000 more, but even with that increase he would, individually, still fall well beneath the median income level for the city. However, his living in a two income household would seem to put him at an advantage but, he says that it does not. M1 says that the cost of combining families with his girlfriend makes him feel like it is two separate households operating under one roof. There is an unequal allocation of resources and he’s paying for the bulk of the expenses. Also, at home, M1 performs 80% of household chores while his girlfriend performs the remainder. M1 prefers cleaning the kitchen over other tasks and cleans his kids’ pet hamster’s cage the most often.

Female one (F1) is 36 years old, has one child and her highest level of education is a Bachelor’s degree. She currently works for a New York City mid-sized advertising firm as a Project Manager of Infrastructure. She’s scheduled to work a 40 hour week, but actually puts in a total of 6 hours of work each day. F1 likes her job because of the people she works with she feels her boss actually listens to her suggestions and respects her. However, she resents the lack of process and organization at the company. She makes $80,000 a year and is not happy with this amount of pay because she feels she was lowballed and would like to be paid 6-figures or in the high 90’s, at the very least. F1 feels that she deserves this amount of income because that’s what the position actually pays. This salary is also traditionally low for her as she made the same amount 10 years ago and, more recently, has made nearly double this amount. 

As with many women, F1 did not negotiate the terms of her salary because she was so happy to be hired.  However, at this income level, she makes well above the median household income level for the city. She supports a family of 3 and shares the responsibility of housework with her mom, who does the most because she works during the day. Her favorite housework tasks to do are cleaning and organizing and her least favorite is taking out the garbage. She has to sweep and wash dishes the most. 

Female two, (F2) is 40 years of age and works for the New York City Department of Education as an Office Manager/Safety Transfer Coordinator/Special Projects Liaison. She is single, but in a committed relationship without children, and her highest level of education is an Associate’s degree. She declined to provide her salary, but since she works as a civil servant of the city, her salary must be released to the public. F2 is on record as making approximately $45, 978, and she is not happy about it. She feels that she should make $12-$15,000 more because of the differences in her workplace responsibilities and that of others. She’s employed for a 40 hour week and works every minute of it.     

What F2 likes about her job the most is that she is able to have some autonomy and is considered as "the glue that holds the office together." What she dislikes the most is having to deal with overly aggressive parents. F2 has been working with the Department of Education for 15 years and has been with her particular office for 12 years. She is currently looking for other job opportunities because she would like to be better compensated for her work. At home, she performs all of the housework and prefers dusting over other chores and likes washing windows the least. She spends the most time cleaning the bathroom. 

Male two, (M2) is 37 years of age, does not consider himself single, but is unmarried without children. His highest level of education is high school. He works part-time as an usher and ticket-taker for the Barclay’s Center and makes $12.85/hr. He works 80% of the time while he is there and enjoys interacting with the patrons the most, but dislikes when there isn’t anything for him to do. M2 is not satisfied with his salary and feels he should be making a lot more, about $18/hr., he says, due to his “knowledge and skill set.” It isn’t clear what those particular skills are, but he expressed that any task he’s given is “mastered in minutes.” These statements made me very curious because the capabilities he’s claimed to have, and his current work status are quite bipolar. 

M2 got defensive when asked if he's held a salaried position before. After he said no, he then claims he did not want to be salaried at his last job. I began to explain some different types of jobs as a premise to my next question, but I was rudely interrupted and cut off while he sarcastically mentioned about how "of course there are different types of jobs! Who doesn't know that?"  After being the brunt of his defensive behavior, he finally mentioned that he was offered a salaried management position at his last job. M2 says he declined this job because the amount of hours required of managers (60-70 a week). Their offer to him, of $65,000 yearly, he says, turned out to be about the same pay rate he was making as an hourly employee. This was odd to me because even if $65,000 is broken down to 80/hrs. a week, it is still more than working less than part time at $12.85/hr., without benefits or access to retirement savings options. At home M2 does the housework and others help as needed. He prefers washing the dishes over sweeping and performs the former the most. 

                During my line of questioning, I began to see a few things worth noting. To state the obvious, everyone would like to be paid more money. In 3 of 4 cases, there was a mutual feeling of being compensated for less than their self-assessed worth. I found it interesting that not one person accepted their rate of pay despite choosing to work for these employers on an at-will basis. F2 has worked 15 years in the same industry under the same employer but remains despite open dissatisfaction regarding her salary, M2 passed up a more stable position and now works a random part time schedule, M1 does not like his pay or coworkers and F1 accepted a job where the pay was unsuitable to her needs. However, given the economy, this may be a testament of many who are unhappy and underpaid on the job but have to take what they can get because they have obligations and responsibilities. 

Upon further analysis, it seems as if the women have more on the job satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment than the men. Although M2 didn’t have anything particularly negative about his job aside from desiring more money, his reaction to what he enjoyed the most, and the least, didn’t entail very much depth. Further, if we take a look at the type of job held by each person and divide them into sectors, private, public, blue collar and service, the individuals who hold the first two types of jobs appear to have the highest level of job satisfaction. From the assessments made, one cannot attribute this satisfaction to higher income either, because it’s clear that even the two participants who make the most money of the group are still unhappy with their rate of pay.

                I also noticed that the two people who were candid with their salaries were the person who made the most out of the group and the person who made the least. Since the sample is so small, I can’t possibly make any strong argument for a correlation, but I have suspicions. The individual with the highest amount of income most likely has enough to pay expenses and have money left over and in general may not be living paycheck to paycheck. The person with the least amount of income is more likely to qualify for public programs and other subsidies. The individuals with the middling income do not fit into any category, and are most likely, the working poor. For the amount of household expenses and responsibilities had by someone like M1, this type of salary is seriously inadequate, and in his eyes, not worth sharing. 

                It’s also clearly noticeable that people like to feel useful and be acknowledged for the work they actually provide and the work they feel they provide. Salary satisfaction seems to be a measure of the latter, but overall job satisfaction seems to be linked to the former. F2 feels a sense of pride in being “the glue that holds the office together” despite her financial gripes and F1 likes being appreciated by her boss. M2 does not like when there isn’t anything for him to do at work. Chances are he doesn’t feel productive or useful at those times. M1 may dislike his coworkers, but maybe if that dynamic changed, he would feel better about his job. He didn’t make one mention of receiving any recognition or accolades of any manner at work despite being responsible for providing assistance during natural disasters.

In terms of gender roles, any of the typical stereotypes associated with what roles each gender typically plays within society cannot be applied here. The women in my sample are more gainfully employed than the men and, the distribution of housework doesn’t come off one-sided among the women because they do not live with men. F2 lives alone and F1 has the help of her mother. Interesting is the case of M1, who takes care of the bulk of the housework while covering the majority of the household expenses. In a society where men are often expected to be the breadwinner and are portrayed as clueless about housework, M1 has a handle on this. 

Possibly, the most glaring observation is the correlation between level of education and employability/income level. Of course there are many cases where individuals do receive higher incomes despite little or no education but statistically that is not the norm. Here, there is a clear case of the higher the education, the higher the income. Individuals who have a 4 year degree earn 700K – 1 million dollars more over their lifetime than those who have on high school diplomas. Every participant in the study is dissatisfied with their level of income, and so my only advice is for them to pursue more education, but to not stray from the desire to feel appreciated and valuable within the workplace.