Why are important careers paid so little?
Written By: Noah Douglas
Teachers, firefighters, police officers, military soldiers, and paramedics all make (on average) less than $100,000 a year while shaping the community the most. Yet, professional athletes, singers, actors, and television personnel are all making millions of dollars while having little impact on a community. As seniors, there has always been the dream of once becoming one of those people making the most money, however, as reality sets in that not all of us are going to the pros, we recognize our other careers. But, how come our careers we desire don’t get paid very much money? How come sports players make millions while people saving others get paid a sliver of their annual salary? These are some of the most major questions that I have had while contemplating my future career. Will their salaries ever get increased?
On average, firefighters get $47,900 (median), while Major League Baseball players get on average $4.4 million. Police officers receive $60,500 while professional basketball players tend to make an average of $7.7 million. Teachers receive an average salary of $51,000 per year while NFL players make $860,000 per season. But what do all of these numbers mean? These numbers show the direct ways in which the pay system is flawed. People that are in the entertainment realm of sports, acting, singing, and being television personalities are all making 5 times more money than the people serving our country and saving lives every day are making. I recently reached out to the Governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, about how poor pay is for teachers who are some of the most influential people in shaping our communities. He stated that he passed a new bill that will increase the amount of money the school board can pay their teachers by nearly double their original salary. While this is a major improvement from what teachers pay now, that is still not nearly enough for how impactful they are on shaping society. Federal taxes pay the firefighters and the police officers. Firefighters' salary comes directly from the taxes of the community they work for and according to an article from turbotax.com, for every dollar in taxes, 4 cents go to both firefighter pay and police officer pay. That small number multiplied with the thousands of dollars in taxes is not nearly enough to cover each and every firefighter, police officer, paramedic, and other government officials’ pay every year. While these influencers are struggling with their money and truly needing to budget, LeBron James, J.J. Watt, Ariana Grande, and so many others are able to lack a budget simply because of their popularity, while ordinary civilians are saving lives, they are making just a fraction of their salaries again showing the major corrections that need to be made. Every person has a value in a community and entertainers should not be paid nearly that much as protectors are getting paid.
In the United States alone, the top 10 paid sports players or celebrities (excluding business owners) make a combined 1.536 BILLION dollars. That bizarre amount of money is more than 3,250 times the average salary of 10 firefighters. Because of the amount of money celebrities make off of their popularity, and how little money people that constantly risk their lives doing, really should send the message of how corrupt the economy is with people’s pay. While Americans are struggling with the concept of budgeting, celebrities have zero concerns of budgeting simply due to their much greater income.
Though these numbers are very widespread, it still goes to show that people that are doing good for the communities around us, yet none of them are paid for nearly what they deserve. Every single person can make the argument that they deserve more money but, between firefighters, teachers, police officers and even soldiers, it is clear that they have the direct argument because of the ways that they shape the future and the safety of our communities.
Works Cited
“The Celebrity 100: The World's Highest-Paid Celebrities 2020.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, www.forbes.com/celebrities/.
Emmiemartin. “This Chart Shows How Much Money Americans Earn at Every Age.” CNBC, CNBC, 21 Aug. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/07/24/how-much-money-americans-earn-at-every-age.html#:~:text=Full-time workers in the,How does your salary compare?
Jr., Tom Huddleston. “These Are the Highest Paid Players in the NBA Right Now.” CNBC, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/10/22/highest-paid-players-in-the-nba-right-now.html#:~:text=The average NBA player salary,season, according to Basketball Reference.
by, Written, and Courtenay Stevens. “Best States for Teacher Pay in 2020.” Business.org, 15 Oct. 2020, www.business.org/hr/employees/best-us-states-for-teachers/.
TAX THE RICH! I knew that teachers were under payed in comparison but you brought up some really good points about other career that are being under payed for their significant role in society. This also brings up some interesting points on whether or not we should tax people based on their wealth, or their contribution to society?
ReplyDeleteTaxing the rich isn't enough. We need to fix the fundamentally flawed system that allows these people to be paid what they are, while leaving the more important jobs in the dirt. There are currently too many loopholes that allow the rich and only the rich to keep their money from the government. Money that is highly unlikely to be spent in their lifetimes.
DeleteI want be a firefighter myself. Isn't crazy 10 top athletes get paid 3,250 times more than 10 firefighters. I 100% a agree with you that people with significant roles in society needs to get paid more than they do. But where should the money come from?
ReplyDeleteI once read an article going over how certain aspects of our society prioritize creativity and entertainment value over actual talent or usefulness, and I can definitely see how this applies here. Without prior income, funding for things as commonplace as education and safety isn't something that we prioritize, (no matter how much we should) in favor of funding something for a Hollywood gala or someone getting cancelled on twitter, because we find it more interesting. Our system is so incredibly flawed, I completely agree that something needs to change.
ReplyDeleteI can list a reason why people in the entertainment and sports industry get paid more money than those with jobs like police, firefighter, military and so on. I think it would be because majority of people are paying money directly to those people. For example, so many people would pay for tickets for a football game, but we don't directly pay the cops for their services. You directly buy one of Ariana Grande's and a good chunk of that money would go directly to her. It's not wonder these people are earning so much more money when we are basically giving our money to them.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it is not surprising to see that these athletes and celebrities are being paid so much compared to firefighters, but I wholeheartedly agree that these people are helping us stay safe and give us a better education, but they have really low salaries compared to people in the entertainment or sports industries. As we look at it, the entertainment industry is important, but these teachers, firefighters, etc. do much more work to keep normalcy in the world.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a huge problem that needs to be solved, but unfortunately, this is going to take a while to fix. I think that Elizabeth brought up a really good point mentioning, we prioritize entertainment over community needs. I think that some people look at jobs with the intention of money in their minds too, and typically this draws them away from becoming a teacher or a firefighter just based on their financial goals which is unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteI see a lot of people complaining about the "flawed" system of capitalism. Firstly, I believe that this system is the best on Earth. It allows everyone opportunity, and so many other amenities. While these people are making insane amounts of money, you must remember that they chose a very limited and highly unsuccessful career path. Instead of choosing a stable career, these individuals chose a career path that didn't have a high success rate (i.e. acting, singing, etc.). And now, they made it to the top, and are being rewarded for it. Also, we must remember that we are the ones feeding into their stardom. We download Ariana Grande's songs (giving her our money), we watch J.J. Watt play football (giving him our money), and we love watching Leonardo DiCaprio (giving him our money). The entertainment industry is what it is because all of America is consumed in it. These individuals simply saw the reward in this industry, and put their life future on the line to pursue their dreams.
ReplyDeleteI find it very unfortunate to see how corrupt the economy has become and I never realized how drastic the pay difference was between firefighters to celebrities. I think it is very cool that you proactively reached out to our governor to actually try to solve the problem. I wonder why nothing is really being done to fix this issue and how it was allowed to grow this large? IN the end, I agree this is a major issue that should be fixed. Those who save lives should be making more money than a NFL player.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with this and think it is a huge flaw in our society, but I agree with what a lot of others said in the way that it is going to take a while to fix. It is honestly sad to realize it, because there are people risking their lives or saving lives everyday to earn their pay and then there are celebrities that earn money just because a rerun of their show is aired on t.v. This needs to be fixed an NFL player who goes out and plays a game that many others do, and just because its on t.v.v and for entertainment they get to be paid a significant amount of money, it's unreal. This isn't just sad, it's disgusting. If more people realized this and actually cared I wonder if it would actually help fix this?
ReplyDeleteThese public good jobs are deserving of lots of money. They save us from disasters that could potentially end our lives. In the United States they aren't paid as much as a basketball player just like you said. This is because of consumerism. Millions of people don't pay their money to watch a firefighter do their job. Millions of people will pay their money to watch Michael Jordan dunk in a basketball game. The government is not to blame for which jobs make which. It is the people of the United States who give these celebrities their money. I did like how you showed both sides in your argument. It shows you have an open mind.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a huge problem, but there could be a reason why these pro athletes and singers get paid more. Those people entertain others. The NFL is a huge way of entertainment for literally everyone. It takes hard work just to get there. The amount of time and effort that goes in to making an NFL player is insane. In the end, firefighters and police officers are risking their lives to save others, and yes they should be paid way more than an average of 100k a year. That is definitely a problem that needs to be fixed.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that you are passionate about this topic, and that it serves a purpose in our lives as teenagers embarking on careers in the next few years. It is irrefutable that there is a large pay gap between celebrities and the average citizen, but I do question what will bring about this change specifically? What solutions do you propose? Also, is it not unreasonable or unrealistic to think that every influential worker should have their salaries at least doubled, which you argue still is not enough? Despite the unfairness, there will always be celebrities, professional athletes, etc., however they do make up a small percentage of the population, and thus may not be a primary economic concern.
ReplyDelete