[Chart on page 17]

IT COSTS MONEY TO WORK

gross income $15,000

federal taxes 5,238

social security taxes 908

state taxes 862

child care 2,080

household help at $25/​wk 1,250

workday lunches at $15/​wk 750

transportation at $7.50/​wk 375

Total expenses 11,963

Net income $3,037=20.2% of $15,000

Financial Costs

Suppose that a married woman with a preschool-age child is offered a job that pays $15,000 a year. How much of that money will she really bring home? Half? A third? In many countries the answer could well be one fifth!

Hard to believe? Look at the financial records of one such working wife and mother, as reported by the publishers of Changing Times magazine and as shown here under the heading “It Costs Money to Work.”

If you are a working woman, why not take a few minutes and make a list of where your money is going? Take your daily expenses, such as bus fare and lunch at work, and multiply them by 250 if you work five days a week, or by 300 if you work six days. Does your work require you to own and maintain a car that would not otherwise be needed? Figure that in. Do you need special clothes for the office? Child care? The total cost of your work may surprise you.

As you can see, the largest single expense for this woman was taxation. Of course, taxes in your country may not be as high as they are in the United States. But if you live in Europe, quite likely they are even higher. In Sweden, for example, taxes take 60 percent of total production. Notice, too, the extra travel and clothing expense this woman incurred because of her job. Such expenses are quite common.

The family of this working woman should not consider even her net income of $3,037 to be all gain. It should be balanced against the loss to the family of her services as a full-time wife and homemaker. How much are those services worth? More than many women realize!