Property News · November 20, 2010

Because you're worth it


How much we earn is still a taboo subject, says Oliver Burkeman. From milkman to pilot, MP to cleaner, we ask people to break the silenceHere is what happens when you call people up and ask them to tell you how much they earn. They stammer. They try to change the subject. Celebrities mention that they once previously made their salaries public and got nothing but grief, so there’s no way they’re doing it again; non-celebrities politely explain that it’s something they prefer not to talk about, if it’s all the same, thanks very much. The phrase “the last taboo” is a criminally overused media cliché that is always incorrectly employed, but perhaps it’s almost forgivable when it comes to the topic of discussing our pay cheques. Sex and death haven’t really been taboo for decades – there are people who won’t stop talking about either – but I’ve never been at a party or at drinks in a pub where salaries were openly compared.This isn’t hard to explain. Clearly, we fear being judged about our salaries – either undeserving or boastful about large ones, or morally inferior for earning less, and friendships thrive on equality, or at least the illusion of it. Yet this whole moral dimension to wages collapses under the tiniest bit of rational scrutiny. It hasn’t ever been the case that jobs pay better the more unpleasant they are (toilet cleaner), the more socially crucial they are (NHS nurse, state-school teacher) or the more sheer physical exertion they require (construction worker). Perhaps our reticence to talk about money stems from the awareness that this is unjust – but it’s such a ubiquitous injustice, it seems strange that we take it so personally. Money pretty much never reflects moral worth. So why all the queasiness, even among friends? Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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