Three Stories on Whose Income Is Going Up and Whose Is Going Down

Photo credit: benjgibbs, CC BY 2.0.

Here’s today’s news roundup:

As Bloomberg reports, employers are starting to pull back on those bonuses they’ve been handing out in lieu of pay raises.

However, bonus pay decreased this year—and along with it, total spending on compensation. In 2017, companies allocated 15.7 percent of their total budgets to salary and bonuses. That number dropped to 15.5 percent this year, and employers are planning on budgeting just 15.2 percent on pay next year.

It’s also harder to make money in certain areas of the gig economy. The J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Institute released a new study titled The Online Platform Economy in 2018: Drivers, Workers, Sellers, and Lessors, and reports that, thanks to an influx of new rideshare drivers, income per driver has dropped significantly.

Between 2013 and 2017, earnings fell by 53 percent in the transportation sector and grew by 69 percent in the leasing sector. Earnings in the nontransport work and selling sectors were volatile but showed no strong trends.

In the accompanying chart, we learn that rideshare drivers were making a little over $1,500/month in 2013, and are now making a little over $750/month.

Who is making money in the current economy? According to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, it’s married men. A 40-year-old married man earns around $80K on average, compared to the ~$50K earned by a married woman or a single man, or the ~$40K earned by a single woman. You’ll want to click the link and view the Figure 2 graph for yourself, and read the analysis in full — it’s short, and here’s an excerpt:

The data in Figure 2 do not imply that being married increases a man’s wage. It might be that men with higher wages are more likely to marry; therefore, the average married man earns a higher wage than the average single man.

Meanwhile, at Marketwatch, a married man explains why couples should contribute proportionally to shared household expenses and keep the rest of their finances separate:

If I want to spend [my money] on something ridiculous, like a luxury backgammon board, there is not much she can say about it. It is my money.

If she wants to buy three dozen dresses, there is not much I can say about it. It is her money.

[…]

For example, I currently own 81% of the house and she owns 19%. So if we sold, I would get 81% of the cash and she would get 19%.

If this all seems hard, maybe it is, but guess what? We. Have. Never. Fought. About. Money.

Read and discuss, y’all!

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