American Salary Structure

Affecting the American Pay Structure

Nargis Fakhri once claimed that “To kill yourself for earning a salary is not worth it” (Fakhri). Despite this, many American citizens work hard for inadequate salaries. America’s many careers allow for an extremely diverse yet important selection of paths for workers, and it is up to them to decide where they go, even if it is into a low-paying career. As President Richard Nixon declared in his 1971 Labor Day Address, “no job is menial”; therefore, all jobs are important and should be treated as such (Peters and Woolley 27). No American citizen should be left alone to suffer through a small salary. However, as I learned from “The Myth of Sisyphus,” a philosophical essay written nearly 75 years ago by French

In a nationwide survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, only 24% of the respondents believed businessmen to contribute greatly to society. In contrast, 72% believed teachers to be highly important and 66% believed medical doctors were a significant boon (“Public Esteem”). Despite this stark difference, business executives receive the greatest benefits and nearly the highest wages of the lot while teachers receive the least. Doctors appear to be accurately compensated at first glance; however, nurses greatly help doctors and do not receive anywhere near enough. These wages do not accurately represent the importance of these jobs. This is due to the pay structures presently utilized in the United States. Currently, the general American pay structure is organized in two ways: company and job family brackets (“Pay & Salary”). In company brackets, an organization chooses how much to pay its employees, which is logical as not all companies are as profitable as other companies and cannot afford to pay their employees the same amount. In job family brackets, certain jobs are more likely to receive greater pay. These need to be adjusted since the current pay amounts granted to some jobs are wrongly delegated. Therefore, portions of the current pay structure should be

At the median pay, public high school teachers are compensated only $57,000 a year, despite their high importance (“High School Teachers”). In accordance with their high importance, teachers should receive more pay. Even with additional benefits from joining another related corporation, wages and support are still lacking in comparison to businessmen. This is made evident through Teach For America, a group which places teachers in low-income classrooms to aid the underprivileged youth and supplements their salaries to make the area more desirable and manageable (“Salary, Benefits, & Aid”). Even with a bolstered income and several additional benefits including loan forgiveness, teachers are still far worse off financially than businessmen and many other careers. Similarly, their pensions are lackluster and highly variable, ranging from an estimated $76,765 in Illinois to $150,510 in Pennsylvania (Toutkoushian). These values may seem to be particularly high, but they include social security and benefits in addition to wages, and this amount is only so great after 45 years of service. This will be inadequate during retirement for those with less time on their hands or who wish to retire early, so these plans do not properly service American teachers. Therefore, teachers should be better remunerated both during and after their time of service in order to place greater emphasis on their