Wage Envy

I overheard a co-worker say he makes $2,500 take home every week. I don't even make that much in a month - even when I was working a lot of overtime. It's very frustrating to go to work for the same amount of time as he does but he makes about six times as much as I do. And no, I don't believe he works harder than I do. If anything I think I work harder. I'd say over 50% of the time I walk by his desk he is reading his personal email or surfing the Internet on non work related websites. His job title, has "engineer" in it, but he doesn't spend his time in a lab or doing complicated calculations. I'm not even sure what he really contributes.

Me on the other hand, I've struggled to get past the $30,000 a year mark. I just barely reached the $30,000 mark one year, and that was way back in 2002 when I had a decent job. Unfortunately I moved away in late 2003 and have struggled the make any decent money since then.  My wage earning ability has been absolutely pitiful. I found a part time low paying job in 2004, then found a full time job in 2006, but it still didn't pay that well. Then we moved again in 2007 and I struggled to find anything other than temporary jobs.  I can't find my most recent SS statement, but as you can see my income has been embarrassing:

I made more money in 1995 while I was still in high school than I did in 2008.  It's no wonder we are still struggling financially.  I'm almost thinking it is a mental thing that I can't make over $30,000. If my job still offered overtime, I most likely would have surpassed the $30K mark this year, but since they no longer offer overtime, I probably just miss the $30K milestone. It's mid year and if I work 40 hours for 26 more weeks, I'll make $13,520 before taxes for the rest of the year. I made $15,397.37 in the first 6 months, but was offered overtime for the first 4 of those. So as of right now I'm projected to make $28,917.37. So once again, still below $30K. Maybe a new wealth goal for next year is to make well over $30K. The sad thing is my slacker coworker will make $30K in about 2 months.