What a $100K Salary Looks Like After Taxes in Your State

America is still in the midst of a health crisis triggered by the global coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, this has brought financial hardship to many Americans -- especially because most have insufficient emergency funds. In a recent GOBankingRates survey, nearly half of those polled claimed to have less than one month of emergency savings tucked away, and fewer than 19% have more than six months of savings. At times like these, it’s more important than ever to focus on just how much income you take home from your paycheck so you can budget appropriately going forward. READ MORE

U.S. Tech Salaries Grow, But Not For Everyone

The median income for tech professionals hit US $154,443 in 2020, up from $148,500 in 2019. Adjusted to constant 2020 dollars, that's about a 2.8 percent increase. These numbers exclude overtime, profit sharing, and side hustles. That's particularly good news for engineers this year, considering that inflation-adjusted salaries were basically flat in 2019 compared with 2018. READ MORE

Here’s what would happen if Americans could look up everyone’s salary

What would you do if you knew how much money your colleagues made?

Imagine being able to look up anyone’s salary the same way you’d search for how much your neighbor paid for their house on Zillow. A tap, a click — that’s all it would take to find out how your salary stacks up with your co-workers, how much you could be making if you’re promoted, and even what your boss’s boss makes. READ MORE

Flexible Working Now More Important Than Salary

Flexible working has overtaken salary as the top benefit for U.S.-based employees, with 65% ranking flexibility as more important than compensation, according to a new report from Jabra that analyzes employee sentiments about hybrid work. The finding is included in the Jabra Hybrid Ways of Working: 2021 Global Report, which surveyed 5,000 knowledge workers in five countries worldwide, including the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan.

In the U.S., nearly three-quarters of respondents (70%) believe that in the future, having an office space will be considered an employee benefit as opposed to a mandatory way of working. The U.S. workforce also sees the office as a social amenity (65%) and place to collaborate (63%), with independent working happening better off-site. This shift in attitude towards flexible working and office space suggests that employers need to rethink their benefits packages and ensure that they are appropriate for post-pandemic working life. READ MORE

Why Salary Transparency Matters When Attracting New Hires

Salary is the No. 1 factor workers use to determine which jobs to apply for, a recent CareerBuilder survey found. Yet despite the fact that 54% of workers said they use salary to determine whether or not to apply for a job, many job postings do not include salary information. And those that do sometimes use false numbers to lure in candidates — but this can backfire. The survey found that the top deal-breaker when interviewing for a job is learning the starting salary is lower than what is posted on the job description, with 48% citing this as a deal-breaker.

With these stats in mind, it’s clear that salary transparency is a major factor in attracting candidates, and it may be of even more importance given the current job climate. READ MORE

Enhanced Authority Could Strengthen Oversight of Executive Bonuses Awarded Before a Bankruptcy Filing

Some companies made headlines in 2020 for paying their executives large bonuses while undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. While the Bankruptcy Code restricts executive retention bonuses during bankruptcy, our review of FY 2020 data showed that some debtors may be working around the Code's restrictions by paying these bonuses prior to filing.

We recommended that Congress amend the Code to bring pre-bankruptcy bonuses under court oversight and specify factors the court should consider before approving them. READ MORE

Unvested partnership interests as compensation

This may be a good time to revisit the use of unvested partnership interests as compensation because these situations can come up and the applicable authority is perhaps not widely known. The author recently reviewed two matters of this kind. The present discussion focuses on a company's hiring of a new CEO, where the consultations with the tax adviser about the executive's compensation package addressed a number of issues concerning the use of an unvested capital interest in a limited liability company (LLC) taxed as a partnership. READ MORE

Higher salaries and signing bonuses make it a good time to be a new employee

Early last year, Nate Tharp’s boss asked him to sit in on interviews with some job candidates.  

Tharp, who is based in Los Angeles, had been the only web designer on his team for five years. The entertainment company where he was working was in the market for another him.

“They were going to report to the same person that I report to, the same manager. Same title as me, and going to be expected to perform more or less the same work,” Tharp said. READ MORE

The master’s degrees that give the biggest salary boost

In September 2020, the National Student Clearinghouse estimated that while enrollment in undergraduate programs for associate’s and bachelor’s degrees fell by 9.7% compared to 2019, enrollment in master’s programs increased 6%. Most recent tallies for the Spring 2021 term found that while undergraduate enrollment has decreased by 4.9% since 2020, graduate enrollment has increased by 4.6%. 

But even as master’s degree enrollment has boomed, borrowers, activists and journalists have called attention to the student debt crisis — and the role that master’s degrees play in the country’s $1.7 trillion student debt total. READ MORE

Planned 2022 Salary Increases for American Workers are Trending Upward

Salary.com's Annual U.S. National Salary Budget Survey reveals that 41 percent of organizations plan on having a higher salary increase budget in 2022 than they did in 2021, representing the first significant shift in merit increases in the last 10 years of survey data. For perspective, last year just under 10 percent of organizations planned a higher salary budget increase than the prior year. The survey was conducted in June of 2021 by Salary.com, the leading SaaS provider of cloud-based compensation market data, surveys and analytics. READ MORE

Workplace Benefits Could Make the Difference in Ongoing Talent War

Four million Americans voluntarily left the workforce in April 2021 alone ― one of the highest numbers ever recorded. In addition, more are planning or thinking of leaving their jobs, as Microsoft estimates that 41% of employees are contemplating leaving their current positions.

This trend ― the “Great Resignation”― is fueled by employees looking for better pay, greater flexibility and perhaps a career change post-pandemic. Although it’s understandable to worry about how this trend affects your company’s turnover and retention, HR leaders should also view it as an opportunity to attract and retain top talent by listening to their needs and supporting them effectively. READ MORE

It’s Been 12 Years Since Congress Raised The Minimum Wage

Congress will pass an embarrassing milestone on Saturday: a dozen years without so much as a penny increase to the federal minimum wage. 

The wage floor set by the federal government remains just $7.25 per hour, well below a living wage everywhere in the country. A worker earning that pay with a full-time schedule would bring home an annual salary of only $15,000, hardly enough to cover basic living expenses for a single person, let alone a family. READ MORE