Salary Increases Spent on Gas

October 12, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new report from Salary.com finds that the average worker spends 3.3% of compensation annually on gas, eating up most of the average 2005 pay increase of 3.7%.

According to a Salary.com press release, at the current gas price level ($2.81) and average fuel economy of 17.8 miles/gallon, average American workers, who earn the national average salary of $40,409, spend $1,341 per year on gas needed to commute to and from work. This is an increase of nearly 50% from October 2004, when the average gas price was $1.91 per gallon.

Bill Coleman, Senior VP of Compensation at Salary.com, pointed out in the release that, “The reality is that while every commuter is experiencing a financial hardship with increases in gas prices, those individuals earning the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour are being the hardest hit, with a whopping 11.3% of their salary being pumped into their gas tank annually.”

More information from the study can be found here .

«