Kenya--

According to my calculations, $22.9K figures to be $11.50 per hour for a
40-hour work week. (The federal poverty level for a family of four is ca.
$17,000 per annum). When was the last time you lived on such a wage? Though
every persons's debt situation, familial obligations, lifestyle situations
and choices differ, and costs-of-living differ radically from place to
place, I would argue that $23K is difficult to live on in an urban area
these days, especially if one wants to make headway towards continuing
education or (gasp!) buying a new car, raising kids, or purchasing a home.

Why don't you compare what other fields are paying to gauge what you are
paying your (presumably qualified) museum professional? Gather some data.
Speaking from personal experience during graduate school and as a Post-Doc
here at the Field Museum, I have worked over the last decade as a caterer,
which is essentially an unskilled position, in both Tucson and Chicago for
at least $10.00 per hour. People at Border's and Starbuck's have great
benefits; Though I will admit I don't know how much they actually make per
hour, it is probably not so from your Museum Educator's salary as you might
expect. Finally, there is a huge number of jobs out there, from construction
to warehouse work to entry-level corporate positions, and lets not forget
the dot.coms, that pay substantially more than your Museum Educator
position. The grass is especially greener these days . . .

With all due respect to Alan Greenspan and his fears of wage inflation, I
think that in this era of multimillion dollar compensation packages for
CEOs, this country can certainly afford to pay museum professionals a
livable and decent wage. If we value having competent individuals in
critical museum positions, and we want to retain them, we had better start
working towards increasing the salaries of all museum professionals,
especially at the lower end of the salary spectrum.

Cheers,

STeve

At 06:59 PM 08/03/2000 EDT, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>After all of the early discussion about museum educators, nobody saw fit to
>break with what seems like an unspoken rule of the list serve:  Do not put a
>number with a position.
>
>Well, Let me be the first to break the rule.
>
>Museum educator for small history museum with annual visitation of about
>10,000 people. Position includes many aspects not related to educator job.
>
>We pay her $22,900 a year and great benefits including very comprehensive
>medical, dental and vision, as well as 16 vacation days,10 sick days and
>every holiday.
>
>She is looking for more cash, claims she cannot live in the Mid-Atlantic
>urban area (not DC) for that amount.
>
>Do you think she is right, and if so, what is the right wage?
>
>Kenya
>
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Dr. Stephen E. Nash
Head of Collections
Department of Anthropology
Field Museum of Natural History
1400 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago IL 60605
312-665-7826

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