Calculating Your Real Hourly Wage

How much are you actually getting paid? How much is  your real hourly wage?

"Since Gary  works from Monday to Friday for 8 hours and his monthly salary is PHP 50,000, therefore, his hourly wage is PHP 312.50."

It's not that simple to calculate your real hourly wage. One must also factor the expenses that are directly associated with the current job such as:



Commuting


     Factor the transportation cost when calculating for a real hour wage, whether you drive or take public transportation to work. Let's say you commute by car  to work, take in consideration the parking fees, tolls for bridges, gas, wear and tear of your car. Let's say that commuting by car to work cost you PHP 4,000 per month or PHP 1,000 per week.



Costuming


     Do you need a special outfit for your job?
     This includes not just uniform but also shoes, pantyhose, suits, and neckties or any other attire that are normally worn in the office. Calculate the cost of cosmetics, haircut and grooming as well. Let's say you spend PHP 20,000 annually for all of these. That means you are spending PHP 384.62 per week.



Meals

     This include the coffee you get every morning at the store on the way to work, lunch cost , snacks and the likes. Let's say you spend PHP 1,000 per week for meals consumed while at work.



Entertainment


    Why factor this?

     Do you find yourself saying,"I need to reward myself after a long day at work"? Isn't that work-related? How about this, "It's been tiring at work this week,let's paint the town red tonight"? Isn't that work-related, too? Imagine yourself without a job that  has been pressuring you, you think you need to do all of these stuffs just to decompress? Factor the dining out with co-workers and the likes too.
    Let's say it costs you PHP 500 per week for an escape entertainment from a very tiring work.



Other Job-Related Expenses


     Examine your vacation spree. Is that because you need to decompress from work? It might be work-related so you might also consider that.

     How about  job-related illnesses?

     You also need to consider the educational programs, books, continuing education that are necessary to stay competitive in your job.


     Every job is unique so it's up to you to discover your own work-related expenses.



Now, the example above says that Gary is earning PHP 50,000 a month divide 4 (4 weeks in a month) is PHP 12,500 per week. Let's consider everything above excluding the Other Job-Related Expenses.



    12,500     - Weekly Salary
 -    1,000     - Weekly Commuting Expenses
 -    1,000     - Weekly Meal Expenses
 -       384.62- Weekly Costuming Expenses
_________________________________________
=  10, 115. 38 - Real Weekly Salary
/                   5 - (divided by Days of the week spent in the office)
________________________________________
= 2,023.07   - Real pay per day
/               8  - ( divided by Hours spent in the office)
_________________________________
 = PHP 252.88 --  Gary's Real Hourly Wage 


     I think it is important to calculate and know your Real Hourly Wage. It helps you determine if your job-related expenses is in accordance with your Real Hourly Wage, and it also help you know how much hours you need to work to be able to buy a certain want. 

Example: "Thanks, but no thanks, I don't want to work another 80 hours to be able to buy that new phone."