Comparing hourly, annual, and school-year pay

Write down the inputs first

For each role, record annual base pay or hourly rate, scheduled paid hours per week, paid weeks per year, and what the quoted figure includes. Confirm whether a school-year salary is merely distributed over 12 months: the paycheck schedule is not the same as the work schedule.

Use a transparent calculation

Annualized base pay = hourly rate × scheduled paid hours per week × paid weeks per year.

Scheduled-hour equivalent = annual base pay ÷ total scheduled paid hours.

Keep the schedule assumptions next to the output. These are comparison calculations, not payroll instructions or determinations about compensable time.

A worked example

The following figures are illustrative, not market benchmarks.

Position B has higher annual cash pay. Position A has a higher scheduled-hour equivalent under these assumptions. Neither measure alone establishes which job offers better compensation; benefits, actual duties, workload, and schedule expectations still matter.

Common comparison errors

• Mixing a posted minimum salary with the average actual pay of current employees.
• Comparing base pay with a figure that includes bonuses or employer benefits.
• Assuming annual pay distributed monthly means 52 weeks of work.
• Rounding schedule inputs before calculating the result.
• Treating missing hours or paid weeks as zero.

Keep the source’s definitions

Before converting a published estimate, read how the source defines hourly and annual wages. BLS documents its wage concepts and annualization practices in the OEWS FAQ. Retain the original figure and document any transformation separately.