On Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:24:43 -0500, dpb wrote:
On 4/15/2013 6:30 AM, J.B.Slocomb wrote:
...
Jeasus... and here I'd been reading about all those guys on the Ford
assembly line costing $65 an hour.
...
"Costing" probably about right--that includes bennies, etc.
Actual wages will be around half or maybe even under half that depending
on the actual contract benefit package...
Some data; no idea how representative but probably not terribly far off...
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/machinist-salary-SRCH_KO0,9.htm
They are volunteered so likely it's the ones that are proud of
themselves sampled more heavily than the lower-paid as a first guess...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2152619AAqHUt5
http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-8875..
From (9) years ago. Wages have almost doubled since then...
Ten most overpaid jobs in the U.S.
NewsTeam | CBS [Marke****ch] | POSTED: 11.10.03 @07:00
"Fair compensation" is a relative term, yet human-resource consultants
and executive headhunters agree some jobs command excessive
compensation that can't be explained by labor supply-and-demand
imbalances. And while it's easy to argue that chief executives,
lawyers and movie stars are overpaid, reality is not that cut and dry
Hollywood stars, making $20 million a movie or $10 million per
TV-season, qualify for many people's overpaid list. But for every one
of those actors and actresses, there are a thousand waiting tables and
taking bit movie parts or regional theater roles awaiting a big break
that never comes.
"A lot of people are overpaid because there are certain things
consumers just don't want screwed up," said Bill Coleman, senior vice
president of compensation for Salary.com. "You wouldn't want to board
a plane flown by a second-rate pilot or hire a cheap wedding
photographer to record an event you hope happens once in your
lifetime.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/765687/posts
A comment from this series of messages struck me as a perfect example
of Liberalism
"* About 9 years ago, a Russian co-worker described the peasant
mentality in Russia this way: "If your neighbor paints his house, and
it makes your house look shabby, an American would paint his own house
to keep up, a Russian would burn his neighbor's house to the ground."
"
Great sig snippage by simply changing Russian to Leftwinger.
Gunner
What follows is a list of the 10 most overpaid jobs in the U.S., in
reverse order, drafted with input from compensation experts:
10) Wedding photographers
Photographers typically charge $2,000 to $5,000 to shoot a wedding,
for what amounts to a one-day assignment plus processing time. Some
get $15,000 or more. Yet many mope through the job, bumping guests in
their way without apology, with the attitude: "I'm just doing this for
the money until Time or National Geographic calls."
They must cover equipment and film-development costs. Still, many in
major metropolitan areas who shoot two weddings each weekend in the
May-to-October marrying season pull in $100,000 for six months' work.
Yet let's face it; much of their work is mediocre. Have you ever
really been wowed flipping the pages of a wedding album handed you by
recent newlyweds? Annie Leibovitz and Richard Avedon they're not, but
some charge fees as if they're in the same league.
9) Pilots for major airlines
Captains with 12 years of experience earn up to $265 an hour at Delta,
United, American and Northwest, which translates to $250,000 a year
and more for a job that technology is making almost fully automated.
By comparison, senior pilots at low-fare carriers like Southwest and
Jet Blue make about 40 percent less. That helps explain why their
employers are profitable while several of the majors are teetering on
the brink of bankruptcy.
The pilot's union is the most powerful in the industry. It commands
premium wages as if still in the glory days of long-gone Pan Am and
TWA, rather than the cutthroat, deregulated market of under-$200
coast-to-coast roundtrips. Because we entrust our lives to them,
consumers accept the excessive sums paid them, when it's airplane
mechanics who really hold our fate in their hands.
8) West Coast longshoremen
In early 2002, West Coast ports shut down as the longshoremen's union
fought to preserve generous health-care benefits that would make most
Americans drool. The union didn't demand much in wage hikes for good
reason: Its members already were making a boatload of money.
Next year, West Coast dockworkers will earn an average of $112,000 for
handling cargo, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, their
employer. Office clerks who log shipping records into computers will
earn $136,000. And unionized foremen who oversee the rank-and-file
will pull down an average $177,000.
Unlike their East Coast union brethren who compete with non-union
ports in the South and Gulf of Mexico, the West Coast stevedores have
an ironfisted lock on Pacific ports. Given their rare monopoly, they
can disrupt U.S. commerce -- as they did during the FDR years -- and
command exorbitant wages, even though their work is more automated and
less hazardous than in the days of "On the Waterfront."
7) Airport skycaps
Many of the uniformed baggage handlers who check in luggage at
curbside pull in more than $100,000 a year -- most of it in cash.
On top of their $30,000 to $40,000 salaries, peak earners take in $300
or more a day in tips. Sound implausible? That amounts to a $2 tip
from 18 travelers an hour on average. Many tip more than that.
While most skycaps are cordial, a good many treat customers with blank
indifference, knowing harried travelers don't want to brave counter
check-ins, especially in the post 9/11 age. Their work is more
mindless than that of a McDonald's counter clerk, who at least has to
bag the order correctly.
6) Real estate agents selling high-end homes
Anyone who puts in a little effort can pass the test to get a real
estate agent's license, which makes the vast sums that luxury-home
agents earn stupefying.
While most agents hustle tail to earn $60,000 a year, those in
affluent areas can pull down $200,000-plus for half the effort,
courtesy of the fatter commissions on pricier listings.
Luxury home agents live off the economy's fat, yet many put on airs as
if they're members of the class whose homes they're selling, and eye
underdressed open-house visitors as if they're casing the joint.
5) Motivational speakers and ex-politicians on lecture circuit
Whether it's for knighted ex-Mayor Rudy Guiliani or Tom "In Search of
Excellence" Peters, corporate trade groups pay astronomical sums to
celebrity-types and political has-beens to address their convention
audiences.
Former President Reagan raised the bar back in 1989 when he took $2
million from Japanese business groups for making two speeches. Bill
Clinton earned $9.5 million on 60 speeches last year, though most of
those earnings went to charity and to fund his presidential library.
The national convention circuit's shame is that it blows trade-group
members' money on orators whose speeches often have been warmed over a
dozen times.
4) Orthodontists
For a 35-hour workweek, orthodontists earn a median $350,000 a year,
according to the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics. General dentists,
meanwhile, earn about half as much working 39 hours a week on average,
in a much dirtier job.
The difference in their training isn't like that of a heart surgeon
vs. a family-practice doctor. It's a mere two years, and a vastly
rewarding investment if you're among the chosen: U.S. dental schools
have long been criticized for keeping orthodontists in artificially
low supply to keep their income up.
This isn't brain surgery: Orthodontists simply manipulate teeth in a
growing child's mouth -- and often leave adjustment work to assistants
whose handiwork they merely sign off on. What makes their windfall
egregious is that they stick parents with most of the inflated bill,
since orthodontia insurance benefits cover nowhere near as large a
percentage as for general dentistry.
3) CEOs of poorly performing companies
Most U.S. chief executives are vastly overpaid, but if their company
is rewarding shareholders and employees, producing quality products of
good value and being a responsible corporate citizen, it's hard to
take issue with their compensation.
CEOs at chronically unprofitable companies and those forever lagging
industry peers stand as the most grossly overpaid. Most know they
should resign -- in shareholders' and employees' interest -- but they
survive because corporate boards that oversee them remain stacked with
friends and family members.
The ultimate excess comes after they're finally forced out, usually by
insiders tired of seeing their own stock holdings plummet. These
long-time losers draw multimillion-dollar severance packages as a
reward for their failed stewardship.
2) Washed-up pro athletes in long-term contracts
Pro athletes at the top of their game deserve what they earn for being
the best in their business. It's those who sign whopping, long-term
contracts after a few strong years, and then find their talents
vanish, who reap unconscionable sums of money.
NBA player Shawn Kemp, for instance, earned $10 million in a year he
averaged a pathetic 6.1 points and 3.8 rebounds a game. Colorado
Rockies pitcher Mike Hampton earned $9.5 million -- in the second year
of an eight-year, $121 million contract -- and compiled a 7-15
won-loss record with a pitiful earned-run average of 6.15.
Thank the players' unions for refusing to negotiate contracts based on
performance -- and driving up the cost of tickets to levels
unaffordable for a family of four, especially for football and
basketball. They point to owners as the culprits, yet golf star Tiger
Woods and tennis champ Serena Williams earn their keep based on their
performance in each tournament.
1) Mutual-fund managers
Everyone on Wall Street makes far too much for the backbreaking work
of moving money around, but mutual fund managers are emerging as among
the most reprehensible.
This isn't kicking 'em when they're down, given the growing
fund-industry scandal. They've been long overpaid. Stock-fund managers
can easily earn $500,000 to $1 million a year including bonuses --
even though only 3 in 10 beat the market in the last 10 years.
Now we discover an untold number enriched themselves and favored
clients with illegally timed trades of fund shares. That's a worse
betrayal of trust than the corporate scandals of recent years, since
they're supposed to be on the little person's side.
Put aside what fund managers earn and consider their bosses. Putnam's
ex-CEO Lawrence J. Lasser's income rivals the bloated pay package that
sparked New York Stock Exchange President Dick Grasso's ouster.
Lasser's take: An estimated total of $163 million over the last five
years.
If only we were all so fortunate.
Chris Pummer is personal finance editor for CBS.Marke****ch.com in San
Francisco.