New York SBDC Research Network

Excerpt from an article by Amy Newcomb To read more, visit  Census.gov "Women continue to earn less than men in nearly all occupations, but this is more pronounced in fields that predominantly employ men and in professions with a comparable mix of men and women. The largest pay gap is within the finance and sales professions. Overall, women are also more likely to be employed in lower-paying jobs. “The pay gap has narrowed over the last 50 years,” said Lynda Laughlin, chief of the Industry and Occupation Statistics Branch at the U.S. Census Bureau. `However, the gender pay gap continues across the board in almost all occupations. In 2016, median earnings for women was $40,675, compared with $50,741 for men.'"

Most of us aren't that engaged at work, as it turns out. Even a few years ago, we were wasting tens of billions in wasted meetings and unnecessary distractions at work. Today, some survey takers admit to wasting up to half the day on non-work-related distractions. If that's you, you may just be a bad employee — and admitting that is the first step. For the rest of us, those that are wasting a paltry 30 minutes or so, who feel generally disengaged, the solution may seem a lot more superficial: you're underpaid. This is a major shift from the sentiments of yesteryear, when boomers could pride in barely having two nickels to rub together but still work their way up to a leadership role. Today's reality is that while the economy has made strides toward recovery, wage growth over the last generation has taken a prolonged coffee break. More from Payscale

Median weekly earnings of the nation’s 106.9 million full-time wage and salary workers were $797 (seasonally adjusted) in the third quarter of 2014. Women who usually worked full time had median weekly earnings of $722, or 82 percent of the $880 median for men. After adjusting for inflation in consumer prices, women's earnings have changed little over the past decade and men's earnings have declined slightly. More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Perceived pay fairness for employees is just as important as the reality of it. Employees need to feel that the hard work they put into their job matches what they get back from it—and pay is an important part of this evaluation. The importance of pay fairness to employees is obvious in its relationship to employee engagement, turnover intentions, work stress, psychological and physical health, and life satisfaction. But fair pay isn’t just important to employees—it’s also in your company’s best interest. Go HERE to download your complimentary WorkTrends Report, “Perception is Reality: The Importance of Pay Fairness to Employees and Organizations. *** To that end: New York Sushi Restaurant Eliminates Tipping Because It Pays Waiters A Salary With Benefits : Most restaurants use tips as an excuse to pay their servers less, even though surveys find employers often duck the federal requirement that only allows them to pay below minimum wage if tips make up the difference. As a resu...

According to New York State law , employees paid on an hourly basis generally do not have to be paid for time not worked, assuming the employer has informed the workers in advance that the office will be closed. Under state law, employers are required to pay a minimum level of ‘call-in pay’ if the employee shows up for work but the employer is closed and has no work for the employee to perform, unless the employer has attempted to notify the employee of the closure in advance. For most industries, the call-in pay rate equals four hours at the New York minimum wage rate. Salaried employees usually must be paid for the entire week, without any deductions, if they worked a portion of the work week but then were unable to work the remainder of the week because of a company’s closure, the premise being that salaried workers may have performed duties, such as calling clients or prospects, from home. One of our business counselors was told by the Department of Labor that businesses can ha...

From  HERE - If you’re a sole proprietor with no employees and very little business overhead, what you pay yourself is pretty much what you earn in sales minus your costs and taxes. But what happens when your business grows, or you enter a partnership, or take on employees – how do you determine what your salary should be? As a business owner, setting your own salary can be a tricky task, especially in markets that see highs and lows. Here are a few tips to help you determine the best way to "pay the boss.” No Magic Formula There is no magic formula for setting your salary because so much depends on the development stage of your business and how it’s doing.

While most of the research we provide here at the Research Network centers around industry data and information, sometimes we are asked to provide research regarding a certain occupation. One of the common requests we recieve when asked about a specific occupation is the average salary. A website that I use to find salary data based on location, experience and education is Salary Expert . For more salary information, I also use the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook .

From Hispanic Business : "Are there industry guidelines for how much officers of small companies [less than 10 employees] should pay themselves? Would it be 1% of sales? 10%?"