http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...ns/2005/stories/082105dnbusburns.15624ca.html
You can understand exactly why it's difficult to make your paycheck cover your expenses if you'll spend a few minutes thinking about a tool once used by the Department of Labor.
It's called the revised equivalence scale and is one of the many devices that have been used to sort out the differences in cost of living for households of different ages, sizes and composition. Academics continue to debate the best tools, but a revised equivalence scale that's 20 years old tells the story.
Let's say that the cost of living for a young married couple without children gets an index number of 100. From there, the revised equivalence scale has an index to represent the cost of living for each size and age of family composition.
A young single person, for instance, would get an index of 71.
Marriage and the arrival of a first child takes the index to 127.
The arrival of a second child moves the index to 147.
The index continues to climb as the children age. It reaches 204 when the older child is 6 to15 years old and peaks at 231 when the older child is 16 to 17. (The index is apparently unaware that some children go to college.)
From there the index starts to descend, going down to 186 when only one child is at home (assuming the other isn't at Stanford or Harvard). It reaches a mere 120 when the couple makes "Empty Nester" status. It hits 104 when the couple is retired and bottoms at 57 when a spouse dies and leaves a widow.
Put all these index numbers together, and you have a life cycle. You also have an idea of how much your income needs to increase if you have the heartwarming and politically correct goal of having two children. Between the day we marry (index 100) and the day the index peaks at 231 – a period of about 17 to 19 years – real family income needs to grow at 4.5 percent to 5 percent a year to maintain our standard of living.
<snip>
Whatever the job, it's tough to argue that you deserve a raise just because you're a parent and need the money.
Many young couples, armed with visceral knowledge of this reality, decide to have fewer children. Some – an increasing number – decide to have none.
</snip>
intercst
You can understand exactly why it's difficult to make your paycheck cover your expenses if you'll spend a few minutes thinking about a tool once used by the Department of Labor.
It's called the revised equivalence scale and is one of the many devices that have been used to sort out the differences in cost of living for households of different ages, sizes and composition. Academics continue to debate the best tools, but a revised equivalence scale that's 20 years old tells the story.
Let's say that the cost of living for a young married couple without children gets an index number of 100. From there, the revised equivalence scale has an index to represent the cost of living for each size and age of family composition.
A young single person, for instance, would get an index of 71.
Marriage and the arrival of a first child takes the index to 127.
The arrival of a second child moves the index to 147.
The index continues to climb as the children age. It reaches 204 when the older child is 6 to15 years old and peaks at 231 when the older child is 16 to 17. (The index is apparently unaware that some children go to college.)
From there the index starts to descend, going down to 186 when only one child is at home (assuming the other isn't at Stanford or Harvard). It reaches a mere 120 when the couple makes "Empty Nester" status. It hits 104 when the couple is retired and bottoms at 57 when a spouse dies and leaves a widow.
Put all these index numbers together, and you have a life cycle. You also have an idea of how much your income needs to increase if you have the heartwarming and politically correct goal of having two children. Between the day we marry (index 100) and the day the index peaks at 231 – a period of about 17 to 19 years – real family income needs to grow at 4.5 percent to 5 percent a year to maintain our standard of living.
<snip>
Whatever the job, it's tough to argue that you deserve a raise just because you're a parent and need the money.
Many young couples, armed with visceral knowledge of this reality, decide to have fewer children. Some – an increasing number – decide to have none.
</snip>
intercst