
Human Resources departments are dominated by women 70 percent of the time, yet men in the field
dominate when it comes to salary. The pay gap between male and female HR executives trickles down to every level of the department: In 2007, the median salary for male HR managers was 47 percent more than female paychecks, while male rank-and-file employees took home 28 percent more than their female counterparts.
One HR consultant assumes the gap could be blamed at least partially on the fact that many men in HR were executives at other firms who were recruited to their roles and enticed with the hefty compensation they were already earning.

Temperatures have begun to drop in many parts of the US, which usually means more hours spent indoors. Here is something that keeps me busy when I'm bored: a cost-of-living calculator. There are plenty of variations online, but I like
the calculator on CNN Money best.

Unemployment has been
an unfortunate effect of the credit crisis, and even those of us who haven't lost our jobs may see the state of the economy reflected in our paychecks. It's estimated that median household income
may be more than 5 percent lower in 2010 than it was ten years earlier, giving way to an income slump that the US hasn't seen in a very long time.
According to the Census Bureau, today's $50,600 median pay is already a little lower than it was in 2000 when the pay was $50,400.

Big companies have been making even bigger headlines these days, and all the recent economic drama has encouraged greater scrutiny regarding how much the CEOs of these companies are taking home.
Six figures would be nice for most individuals, but these executives have been taking home as much as nine figures! Can you guess how much some CEOs have made including base salary, stock, and bonuses?

Wall Streeters used to the unfathomably generous bonuses of years past will likely be facing lighter stockings (OK, direct deposits) this year. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley employees are now employed
by bank holding companies with payment structures closer to traditional commercial banks rather than investment banks, meaning Goldman's 2007
$12.1 billion bonus pool will be shallower in 2008.
The bonuses may be scaled down from past years, but employees will still receive bonuses bigger than what most of us outside the financial world will ever see.

We all had to start somewhere, and that somewhere is probably an entry level job. When you're fresh out of college and know nothing about the job market, it can be easy to overvalue or undervalue your salary potential. No matter where you are in the workforce — entry level or well into your career — it's a rare worker who doesn't harp on her paycheck.

The presence of websites providing forums for buying and selling the items that clutter closets around the world has made it pretty easy to raise extra cash quickly. Have you ever sold anything online?
Source

A new Careerbuilder survey shows that
47 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck; those results are right in line
with the 49 percent of you who admitted you're living in anticipation of your next check.
Perhaps more surprising is the discovery that 21 percent of those making $100,000 or more annually are also living paycheck to paycheck. Here are some other interesting findings from the study.

According to US Census Bureau figures released last week, only one state in the country saw a drop in median household income in 2007. This same state also saw a rise in poverty. Can you guess which state stands alone in its losses?

Madonna's career has powerfully withstood the test of time, and she's made the most of her long, ever-changing act. She was a self-starter who made a name for herself by working hard, using her incredible business instincts, and of course throwing in some shock tactics here and there to stir the publicity pot.
In honor of
Madonna's 50th birthday today, let's see how her talents and endorsement endeavors have paid off.