Well, I got my W2s today and found out I made almost $3000 less than in 2005. I made less than $15K last year. So I need to look for something else. I'd like to know what some of you homeowners have as a career and what the starting pay is for that career. Keep in mind I am NOT asking what your income is , as that is none of my buisiness, but rather the starting pay and how often a raise is given. Please respond, I really need ideas. I need to make changes in my life fast.

What are your interests and passions?
What kind of education do you have already?
How much education are you willing to invest in?

Well, I'll tell ya. My dad is a CNC machinist and makes about 60k a year. But remember that he'* a more advanced machinist.

Typically in the corporate world, if you stay in the same company, standard raises are in line with inflation rates for that year. Raises in my office are calculated based on the Cost of Living index, which changes with inflation. It works out to about 3% a year. This year, my raise was 3x the cost of living index, which was 2.1 IIRC. Worked out to about an 8-9% raise for me.

Jumping company to company will usually yield bigger increases. At the end of a career, it all ends up the same.

I dont know what its like in the general labour and manufacturing/trade sectors.

As a comparision, I started my full time job in August 2001, at a rate of $14 an hr, I'm now up at $25 an hr, its almost doubled in 6 years.

Looks like I'm doing slightly better then inflation.

I'm a front Counter parts person, been here for 1.5 Years
Started at
25,000 with normal overtime included per year
Now at my current wage
38,500
Realistically at this rate its going now with overtime I will hit 40,000 in one year.
I wont see too much in return from the Government.
And the cost of living in Alberta is INSANE

Insurance has been good to me over the years. I also get monthly bonus' that is based on my production. My W2 was almost 5000 more than the year before and that didn't include my bonus'

At my engineering firm I work at, $45k is the typical starting salary. Raises are fairly generous, and there are good opportunities for good bonuses and 1 to 1 overtime, which a lot of salaried people won't get at all.

I'm not trying to be a jerk here, but if you are just finding out now that you made less than last year, it'* an indication that you might not be keeping a good handle on your finances. So your first order of business should be to do a budget for yourself to make sure you are getting the most out of what you are making right now.

Assuming you work a 40 hour week, your income is equivalent to minimum wage. So just about anything out there would increase your earnings if you had some sort of degree or experience with something that would help you land a better job. Anything involving working in an office would probably double your salary, as would anything in a factory or manufacturing environment. Just about anything involving a degree should start you out at double what you made last year.

I'm not up on current starting salaries, but when I graduated in '96 the starting area for marketing/customer service/sales was around $30K.

I'm a secretary at a Autobody shop, and a Counter Parts person for Carquest Auto Parts on the weekends. I started the body shop job in August and make $10,450 for 4 months which isn't bad. But now I got a $100 raise per week so now I make $600 a week. At the end of this year I should have made $31,200 which isnt bad considering you guys see what I do all day

The parts store I made $7,000 last year but remind you, I only work there 1 day a week for 10 hours.

I'm a welder I started at 11.80 in july and got a raise at 90 days, 6months, and a year, and a year and a half i'm up to 15.55hr. I brought in just under 35000, thats with 401k, and ins. taken out before taxes. Mind you that I also had 3yrs of experience before that.......average starting wage for a welder is 10-12hr. with less then 2yrs of experience.(FYI 2yrs of experience is considered a welding dergee to most shops)