They take the higher wages then work fewer hours. See the proportion of Nursing, Teaching and Speech Therapists working part time for examples.
With marginal tax rates of circa 50% and high childcare costs there's a big incentive to work part time.
They take the higher wages then work fewer hours. See the proportion of Nursing, Teaching and Speech Therapists working part time for examples.But even without pension contributions to greatly reduce the tax burdens on higher earners, I've yet to meet anyone who refused the opportunity to earn higher wages because of tax rates
The country is full of people like you who have done the sums and worked out that promotions and working longer hours are simply not worth even considering because of the poor tradeoffs of after-tax income against concomitant sacrifices and commitments.But even without pension contributions to greatly reduce the tax burdens on higher earners, I've yet to meet anyone who refused the opportunity to earn higher wages because of tax rates.
They take the higher wages then work fewer hours. See the proportion of Nursing, Teaching and Speech Therapists working part time for examples.
With marginal tax rates of circa 50% and high childcare costs there's a big incentive to work part time.
As a single father I can say unequivocally that being able to care for your children is a privilege, not a burden. Having to miss so many of the special moments as they grow up because you have to work, or facilitate the other parent being at home with the children is the burden. I don't know where the preposterous notion that being able to spend more time at home and raise your own children is a burden came from.Women are still in real life required to take by far the largest share of the caring burden and also remain very much overrepresented in those professions. In my experience, the availability of childcare is a much bigger issue than the cost of it. The availability issue is what requires both of us to take 4 weeks unpaid leave each summer, while also paying significantly more for various camps than we would do for childcare. We are far from unique.
We are extremely fortunate to be able to take that unpaid leave and also to be able (via flexible hours and blended working) to make up (with some difficulty) the gaps between the availability of childcare provision and retaining full-time jobs. Take away the flexible hours and blended working and we would both need to cut down to part time hours regardless of the financial impact. And regardless of the amount of money involved neither of us can consider taking a role which doesn't have the flexibility we require.
So let's not confuse the effect of marginal tax rates with the combined effects of a culture pushing most caring responsibility onto women who are consequently greatly disproportionally affected by insufficient childcare provision. One may disincentivise work (although as I've already said I very much doubt that actually happens) while the other actively prevents it (and is also responsible for the gender pay gap).
I appreciate that a site called askaboutmoney is completely the wrong place to say this, but money isn't everything.
Being able to care for your children is absolutely a privilege. But it becomes a burden when staying at home etc is forced. And household chores are generally pushed on to women as well and they are a burden, unless you're going to tell me that you also love doing dishes and laundry.I can say unequivocally that being able to care for your children is a privilege
Sure. Let's just ignore all the empirical research on nature Vs nurture and assume that women & men have no agency beyond their genetic programming, and then we can say that women wanting to stay home and men wanting to stay at work is just the natural order of things. Science schmience, we've had enough of experts, and we prefer our own alternative facts....Women are more likely to want to spend the extra time with their children and men are more likely to want to spend more time in work. That's hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, not the Patriarchy.
And let's add in that the gender pay gap basically doesn't exist before childbearing because women are required to do the majority of the early years caring and related household chores.That said the cost and availability of childcare is, in my opinion, the main reason that skilled women are under participating in the workforce.
I'm now in a long term relationship, living with three of my children and two of my partners children (edited - thanks @ClubMan). She's off work sick for the last 16 months and I do all almost of the cooking (that is enjoyable) with my daughters doing the odd meal (my son does most of the dishes) and I do all of the ironing which I can do while watching the TV so it's not really a chore (I've never met a woman who can iron a shirt properly) but she does the laundry and we've a cleaner and kids for the housework.Being able to care for your children is absolutely a privilege. But it becomes a burden when staying at home etc is forced. And household chores are generally pushed on to women as well and they are a burden, unless you're going to tell me that you also love doing dishes and laundry.
Why would we do that? You are aware that in countries like Sweden where there are very high levels of legislated equality the gender differences is work are more pronounced than is less equal countries?Sure. Let's just ignore all the empirical research on nature Vs nurture and assume that women & men have no agency beyond their genetic programming,
No, but we can definitely say that it is more probably the case that women will choose to stay at home and men will choose to go to work.and then we can say that women wanting to stay home and men wanting to stay at work is just the natural order of things. Science schmience, we've had enough of experts, and we prefer our own alternative facts....
There is definitely a gender earnings gap but whether there is a gender pay gap is unclear. If there is it's certainly not as big as the earnings gap but you can't expect to have the privilege of spending time with your children when they are young and still have the same lifetime earnings as those who make the sacrifice to stay in work instead.And let's add in that the gender pay gap basically doesn't exist before childbearing because women are required to do the majority of the early years caring and related household chores.
Un ménage à trois (ou cinq?)? Ooh la la...I'm now in a long term relationship, living with three of my children and two of my partners.
Indeed. And if the tax rate was changes so that it was, say, €60 extra per week instead of €50, you'd still be balancing an extra €60 against the additional responsibility/stress. Your decision might not be any different.5k is about €100 a week. After tax close to €50 a week. The €50 might mean extra hours put in or stress.
The laws of microeconomics apply regardless.And if the tax rate was changes so that it was, say, €60 extra per week instead of €50, you'd still be balancing an extra €60 against the additional responsibility/stress. Your decision might not be any different.