Workers are demanding record-high salaries, but here’s what the average full-time job pays

If you’re looking to hire a new employee, you should know that what employers are offering has risen dramatically in the past year. But what employees want has also gone up. That’s according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data July 2023 Survey of Consumer Expectations (via Reuters). The report parses respondents’ thoughts and expectations on inflation, household finances, and the labor market.

Regarding the labor market, the report found that both the salary being offered to employees to switch jobs and the salary employees say they expect have risen dramatically in the past year. READ MORE

44-year-old quit his $2.3 million job without a backup—here’s why he’s never been happier

Many people might find it difficult to walk away from a million-dollar salary, no matter how miserable they are. But taking the leap to explore a different career can make you realize how much happiness money can’t buy.

That was the case for 44-year-old Khemaridh Hy, who I interviewed for my book, “Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work,” about how to navigate change and find meaning in the way we live and work. READ MORE

A Word on Salary Transparency From THE Transparency Guy: Stop Going in Blind on Compensation

Look, we all know that public accounting salaries always have been and probably always will be a major point of contention. It’s a career path of extremes when it comes to compensation, with analysts working long hours for tough pay, new staff barely scraping by, and some higher ups really raking it in. These variations and feelings about them – good or bad – make compensation a favorite topic among accounting professionals. READ MORE

Raphael Warnock Blew Past Senate's Outside Income Limit In 2022

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D., Ga.) used a sketchy accounting loophole to rake in more than four times the allowable outside income allowance for senators in 2022, a move experts say doesn’t pass legal muster. READ MORE

SVB changes executive bonuses after DOJ pushback

SVB Financial Group, the bankrupt former parent of Silicon Valley Bank, reportedly said it is changing its executive bonuses after pushback from the Department of Justice, according to a Bloomberg report.

James Bromley of Sullivan & Cromwell said Tuesday that bonus benchmarks for nine leaders of SVB Capital, the capital and investment arm of SVB Financial Group, are now more “substantive and focused,” Bloomberg reported.  READ MORE

6 Reasons You Should Always Be In Job Searching Mode

My first job out of college was as a software developer for a defense contractor. I was paid a salary of $60,000 a year. I stayed at the company for three years and only saw my salary increase 4% each year, the standard raise.

After those three years, I moved to another company and my starting salary was $90,000. It was a 36% increase in salary. READ MORE

Employers Look to Nonqualified Plans to Compete for Talent

Employers are focused on upgrading their nonqualified deferred compensation retirement plans in the ongoing tight labor market, to the benefit of key executives and higher-paid employees, according to a Willis Towers Watson survey released Wednesday.

Of 396 U.S. employers surveyed, three-quarters (75%) either made changes to their nonqualified defined contribution retirement plans in the last two years or plan to make changes in the next two years, the advisory and brokerage found. Employers with defined benefit plans clocked in a bit lower, with 55% either having made changes in the past two years or having plans to in the next two years. READ MORE

Apple's Lesser-Known Co-Founder Owned ⅓ Of The Company But Missed Out On A Potential $900 Billion Fortune

With the late Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Apple Inc.'s co-founders, dominating the tech world for decades, it’s easy to overlook the vital role played by a lesser-known figure: Mike Markkula.

While Jobs and Wozniak captured the limelight, Markkula’s contributions to Apple's success were no less significant. From angel investor to CEO and chairman, Markkula’s journey with Apple showcased his belief in the power of personal computers. READ MORE

How Do Politicians Become Millionaires Making Under $200,000 Per Year? Economist Identifies 'Suspicious Personal Profit Pattern'

Grant Cardone, a renowned sales trainer, speaker and entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $600 million, recently took to X, formerly Twitter, to raise a thought-provoking question: "Can someone explain to me how public servants (politicians) are becoming multimillionaires on $100,000 salaries?"

While the message did not specify which public servants he was referring to, it is presumed that Cardone’s remarks were primarily aimed at members of the U.S. Congress. READ MORE

Retirement millionaires just jumped

Retirement millionaires saw a jump in their numbers in the second quarter, according to a Fidelity Investments report. 

In its second-quarter retirement analysis of its accounts, the financial services company reported double-digit growth in the number of people holding seven-figures in their 401(k) accounts and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), with the former rising by 10% and the latter climbing by 13%.  READ MORE

Workers now demanding nearly $80K to start new job

The lowest wage that American workers are willing to take in order to accept a new job hit a record high this year, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey published Monday.

The average "reservation wage" – or the minimum acceptable salary offer required for workers to switch jobs – hit $78,645 during the second quarter of 2023, according to the Fed's latest survey of consumer expectations. READ MORE

Closing the Gender Pay Gap: Why Women Can’t Wait Another 50 Years

Women in the workforce are unlikely to see pay equity achieved in their working lifetime. You read that right. Efforts to close the gender pay gap have stalled.

Pew Research Center analysis found that in 2022, American women earned an average of 82 percent of what men earned. That’s up only 2 percent since 2002.  READ MORE

Illinois pay transparency law mandates pay scale, benefits in job postings

Illinois is the latest in a string of states passing new pay transparency laws, joining others like Colorado and California in expanding employers’ requirements. 

New York City’s pay transparency mandate went into effect in November, requiring companies to post a “good faith” salary range in job listings. Almost immediately, some companies listed ranges spanning more than $100,000. READ MORE

Retail sales rise, riding wage gains, strong job market

Several forces, such as an unusually low 3.5% unemployment rate and a 0.3% increase in real hourly wages last month, have fueled consumer spending despite rising borrowing costs, a decline in pandemic-period savings, the end of child tax credits and the coming end of a moratorium on student loan payments in October. READ MORE

More Organizations Are Deploying Salary Structures to Tackle Compensation

As market and workforce pressures around compensation frameworks and decision making become more imperative, more organizations are developing salary structures to better position themselves.  

This was a main finding in WorldatWork and Deloitte Consulting LLP’s “2023 Compensation Structure Policies and Practices” survey, which found that 91% of the 1,007 responding organizations have a salary structure in place. This was an 8 percentage points increase from the 2019 survey, which had about a third of the response rate, indicating an increased interest in the use of salary structures at organizations.  READ MORE

You’d have to work five lifetimes to make what your boss makes in one year

The gulf between a CEO’s paycheck and their typical employee’s has always been vast. But the advent of AI is already threatening to exacerbate that gap, enriching the C-suite at the expense of their employees, according to a new report from the AFL-CIO.

The average CEO compensation among S&P 500 companies last year was $16.7 million — the second-highest level of executive pay ever, according to the group’s annual Executive Paywatch report. (2021 was the highest at $$18.3 million) READ MORE

Recruiter Asks Applicant for Lowest Salary They'd Accept

Let's face it — salary negotiations are difficult. It's incredibly intimidating, but we encourage you to stand your ground and know your value to the company, unlike this person in the "antiwork" subreddit who fell into a trap and essentially agreed to take a company's initial (and extremely low) offer.

The original poster, who goes by the handle u/DrillingShale, revealed he feels "low-balled" because, during a phone interview, a recruiter asked for the lowest salary they'd be willing to take for a job. READ MORE

Executives and Compliance Compensation Incentives

The lack of personal consequences for senior executives responsible for corporate malfeasance is explored in this podcast episode. Executives are incentivized to take excessive risks, knowing they won’t have to pay any fines, while shareholders bear the brunt of penalties. Proposed solutions include the concept of “skin in the game,” where executives contribute a portion of their compensation to a pool of money that can be used to pay penalties. Another suggestion involves forfeiting the performance bond of senior management in the case of large fines. A third approach suggests creating a contract that would enforce a reduction in pay for failures of corporate governance. These proposals aim to hold senior executives personally accountable for compliance failures and align executive compensation with compliance objectives. HR professionals play a crucial role in designing and implementing positive incentives to foster a culture of compliance and ethical conduct within organizations. READ MORE

Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000-a-year package with a mixture of anger and admiration

The average UPS driver could get six-figure pay under a new contract, and tech workers have mixed feelings about it.

During an earnings call on Tuesday, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said that by the end of its five-year contract with the Teamsters union, the average full-time UPS driver would make about $170,000 in annual pay and benefits, such as healthcare and pension benefits. The comments were made after UPS came to a tentative agreement to head off a potential strike in July with Teamsters, the union that represents about 340,000 UPS delivery drivers and package handlers. The agreement has yet to be officially approved by union members, but the results of a vote on the issue are set to be announced later this month. READ MORE

White House gender pay gap extends despite Biden pledge to address the issue

New analysis of the White House's annual pay report revealed the executive mansion has a gender pay gap of 20%, despite past remarks from President Biden, who vowed to work on the issue and has repeatedly demanded equal pay for women.

Despite Biden's own calls for other employers to address discrepancies in pay among genders, the annual pay report submitted to Congress disclosed the names, positions and varying salaries of the more than 440 White House staff members. READ MORE