Free Republic

When deciding on a college major, students are encouraged to think about a few things: what they love to do; what they want to do; what jobs they imagine themselves in; and what the earning and growth potential is like for those careers. For instance, they'd probably want to know ahead of time that Human Services majors only see their annual pay increase by about $7,500, or 22%, over the first 10 years of their careers, compared to the average American worker, whose salary grows by about $25,000, or 60%, in that time. That's according to Payscale, the creator of...

Obese Americans have smaller paychecks than those who aren't overweight, and this difference is especially strong among women, a new study finds. The analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth revealed that in 2004, overall average annual incomes were $8,666 less for obese women and $4,772 less for obese men compared with normal weight workers. In 2008, obese women made an average of $5,826 (15 percent) less than normal-weight females, the George Washington University researchers said. "This research broadens the growing body of evidence that shows that in addition to taxing health, obesity significantly affects personal finances,"...

Risk your life for peanuts? New York and other cities are finding few takers. Are you looking for a job with low pay? Does the idea of working miserable hours appeal to you? How about working weekends and holidays? Is the daily risk to life and limb on your checklist of must-haves for your next job? If so, the New York Police Department has a job for you. Last month Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced an expansion plan that will put 1,200 more officers on the streets of New York. The plan calls for the hiring...

The war that nobody talks about - the overwhelmingly one-sided class war - is being waged all across America. Guess who's winning. A recent front-page article in The Los Angeles Times showed that teenagers are faring poorly in a tight job market because of the fierce competition they're getting from older workers and immigrants for entry-level positions. On the same day, in the business section, the paper reported that the chief executives at California's largest 100 companies took home a collective $1.1 billion in 2004, an increase of nearly 20 percent over the previous year. The paper contrasted that with...

THE SECOND anniversary of the Iraq war’s commencement was met by about 400 fuming protesters in Oslo. Four hundred—or, the approximate number of people in line for the bathroom at similar demonstrations two years ago—were all that could be found in that city. In Sunday’s New York Times, the ideal place for a poignant antiwar plea, readers were disappointed to find an editorial not about the Mid-East, but about the burning issue of unbalanced ecosystems in the Mid-Atlantic. “White-tailed deer are a plague,” the paper coolly noted. Left-wing anger is still out and about, but in new form. For instance,...