Are You Really Earning Minimum Wage?

Minimum wage is described as the lowest (in this case, hourly) dollar amount that a working person can legally be paid in wages. There has been great debate over whether this dollar amount is sufficient to cover an adult's fundamental human needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. The rate, which is currently $5.85 per hour, is still considered too low to cover the average cost of living. Fortunately, many Americans earn considerably more than this amount, with a good number of them bringing home paychecks of at least triple that amount per hour. But the question remains: are those making three times the minimum wage (or more) really earning those extra hourly dollars? Lets examine further...

Mathematical Breakdown

For the sake of this article let's say that Employee "A" makes minimum wage ($5.85), while Employee "B" brings home $17 per hour. It does not really matter what type of job either of these employees has. What matters is the work ethic applied to each business day. Using Employee "B"'s salary as an example, here is a list of typical time-wasting activities that the average employee engages in on a daily basis:

Morning Coffee Break = 30 minutes
General Socializing = 1 hour
Lunch = 1 ½ hours
Miscellaneous = 45 minutes
(mailing letters, personal calls, paying bills, etc.)
Work "Padding" = 1 ½ hours

Total Non-Work-Related Time = 5.25 hours ; Actual Work Time = 2.75 hours

If you consider that the average workday is 8 hours long, then Employee "A" typically makes $46.80 in a day. However, if you paid Employee "B" based on his/her actual work time, the earnings would equal $46.75 (even less than minimum wage.)

What Is "Minimum Wage" Work?

Ironically, it seems that those who have the most difficult jobs are actually paid the least. Food franchise work, jobs utilizing physical labor, or heavy production are usually the ones which offer lower wages than other positions. Consequently, white collar professions tend to provide more flexibility in terms of how the actual jobs are performed.

In the mathematical example above, the number of hours "wasted" may seem excessive. But it is in fact quite easy to soak up time during the workday performing tasks which are not particularly relevant to a company's success.

The truth is that most employees don't really intend to spend more than 30 minutes on mundane personal tasks like getting coffee or mailing letters. But because there are many distractions in the workplace, the act of getting one cup of coffee may lead to a 20 minute conversation with a colleague. Moreover, work "padding" does not necessarily mean that an employee is actively trying to discover ways to do less work; he or she may simply lose gaps in time because of poor workflows or internal processes. If you combine all the ways that time is lost to an employee, you may be very surprised to discover how many actual hours of real work one is putting in.

Downsizing, Outsourcing, Automation, Immigration...

Before you worry that your employer is reading this and re-thinking your annual pay increase, do not fret. In fact, corporations are more than likely already hip to the game. When companies realize that they are not meeting their anticipated bottom line, they downsize (also called restructuring). To save money on internal processes in order to increase the bottom line, companies like Dell Computers outsource their customer service units. Visit your local grocery store, and you'll see that many processes (especially checkout) are now automated. And there are still huge debates going on in Congress over the circumstances surrounding immigration, and the effects it has on the economy. Whether or not employers formally address how their staff uses its time is ultimately moot. If a business is not doing well, the powers that be will find ways to ensure that it does---with or without your actual work time. So, keep up the good work!