I
interviewed a 47-year-old woman named Beth. She is the mother of three and has
been a nurse in Portland for the past 20 years. Beth grew up with her parents and siblings in Orange
County, Southern California until she was 18, when she moved to Santa Clara,
California for college. After this she moved to the Seattle area for one year,
eventually moving to Portland in 1993. Since 1993 she has spent one year in
Omaha and one year in Massachusetts, but has remained based in Portland. From
college until she was 25, Beth rented, but bought a home when she was 25. For
the past three years though, her family has rented their home.
At University of Santa Clara Beth received her
bachelor’s degree in political science, and for a year after college she worked
with Jesuit Volunteer corp. at a nursing home in Seattle. It was here, working
as a social worker in a nursing home, that she decided to pursue nursing,
eventually getting her bachelors in nursing.
Beth makes $50 an hour working as a nurse in
a Portland hospital, which she thinks is much too little, especially after
working in the same job for over 20 years. According to The Bureau of Labor
Statistics, in 2015, 90% of nurses make less than $48.86 an hour, placing Beth
in the top paid 10% of nurses in the United States. Despite this, she says that
without her husband’s income it would be nearly impossible to support her three
children with her current salary. Taking into account her husband’s and her
combined incomes, Beth says that they would fall into the upper-middle class category.
Beth thinks that she is doing about the same financially as her parents, but considers
herself to be happier overall.
Her economic wellbeing has been dramatically
affected by her choice to pursue a career in nursing which has provided a
steady income for her family over the years. Additionally, her family was hit
hard by the recession in 2008 when they lost everything and had to start over
financially. She says that the recession forced her to get smarter with her
money.
When asked whether the government has helped
or hurt her and her family economically, Beth said, “They have certainly not
helped.” The government takes about a third of her wages, leaving her with about
$33 an hour. That being said, she acknowledges that the government hasn’t necessarily
hurt her family either, and provides useful services.
Beth feels optimistic for the future and
secure in her job right now. She has saved for retirement, and sees her biggest
risk as real estate, being something that can come and go.
Her advice to younger people is to start
saving as soon as possible, even if it’s just $50 a month, just for the practice
of saving. She also recommends making sure you always have at least $1000 in
savings because “you never know what might happen!” Lastly, Beth stressed the
importance of getting a job, even if it’s not a great job, just to realize the
power of one hour of your life. She values the awareness of knowing how much
you make and how this affects how much you can spend.
Economic Analysis:
Beth’s
hourly wage of $50 per hour struck me as pretty high at first, but according to
Beth, who has more insight into the field, it is actually pretty low,
especially for someone who has worked as a nurse for more than 20 years. According
to the Medscape Salary Report, which evaluates salaries in the medical fields,
Beth isn’t the only one who feels this way. Only 53% of RNs (Registered Nurses)
are satisfied with their compensation. I find this statistic shocking considering
nurses are some of the most integral workers in our healthcare system. We often
hear about doctors, especially specialists, making some of the highest salaries
in the United States. It saddens me that nurses, who are often the ones working
the long hours and caring for patients are compensated so little. Many would
argue that specialists, take anesthesiologists for example, go through extensive
educations, while nursing only requires a bachelors or associates degree. Still,
I find it somewhat unfair that after 20 years of hard work as a hospice nurse,
Beth still makes considerably less than most doctors.
I found it very surprising that Beth still
faces economic uncertainty despite her career as a nurse. With her hourly
income of $50 she can work just 40 hours per week and make around $100,000 (before
tax) per year, which is double the average US income. Even though Beth and her
family are very well off compared to the average American, it would be hard for
her to make ends meet for herself and her three children if she wasn’t in a dual-income
family. The fact that someone with a steady, and relatively lucrative job still
relies on her husband’s income to make ends meet puts wages in perspective. If
Beth sees her $50 per hour too little to provide for herself and three kids, it
would seem impossible for someone to provide for themselves and kids on just
minimum wage, which in Oregon is $9.25 per hour before tax.
According to this report, the average hourly
salary in the private sector is around $27. Beth, who makes more than this, doesn’t
see her wages as comfortably livable for her family.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES0500000003
Beth and her family faced economic hardship during
the recession of 2008 and ended up losing their home and much of their savings.
During this time, it helped that she could provide a reliable income, but she
couldn’t prevent the hardships of the recession. The graph below shows total
nonfarm payrolls in the US, and a steep decline is visible during 2008.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAYEMS
From my conversation with Beth I found it
most surprising that someone who is successful, has a respected career, and
makes more money than the average American still faces economic uncertainty. I
also found it interesting that from Beth’s point of view, even her $50 an hour
would not be enough to comfortable provide herself and her for her family,
which raises the question of whether or not our state minimum wage is high
enough.
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