What is the percetage of Americans that are paid on the 5th and 20th of each month?

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Clarification of Question by baidaho-ga on 17 Jul 2003 17:35 PDT

I have an employee that has threatened to quit because he feels he can
not live with being paid on the 5th and 20th of each month.  After I
call him on his ultimatum, and as he is walking out the door, I would
like to give him an accurate number on how many Americans are payed
using this schedule.  Please, is there anyone who can give me a
percentage or a count on how many Americans are paid on the 5th and
20th of each month.  I am assuming most government jobs use this
schedule.  Thanks for you help.

I don't have an answer for you, but would like to offer my thoughts.

We're really talking about money management, aren't we.

You could explain to him that getting paid half as much twice as often
is really the same thing.  The only difference is how you manage what
you have.

Perhaps you should consider letting him go.  If he can't learn to
manage his own money, how can you expect him/her to effectively manage
doing his job.

Just a thought.

Thank-you for your insightful thoughts.  One could look at as his
ultimatum as - "manage my money for me or I'll quit".  Still hoping
for some hard numbers.

Regarding the matter of government jobs using this pay schedule, I had
a government job for many years. I was paid once a month, usually on
the 8th or 9th day of the month.

Hi baidaho:

You're welcome.  I couldn't find you an exact answer, but here is a
study conducted by the American Payroll Association, which is a
service and support group for the payroll industry.  The study
involves random statistical sampling, but should lead you a fairly
reasonable conclusion.

Based on a random sampling of 4.3 million (fairly large sample)
employees (which I would imagine is fairly representative of a
national average), only 900K (or about 21 percent) are paid on a
weekly basis.  As expected, most of the world (or 79%) gets paid
either twice a month (semi-monthly) or bi-weekly (once every two
weeks).
http://www.americanpayroll.org/paymedia.html#24

Said another way, if your employee quits only because he can't get
paid more often, his employment prospects will be severely limited, as
there is only a 1 in 5 chance he will find a company that will pay him
weekly (which I assume is what his gripe is about).

Not to be unsympathetic, but he needs to 'grow up.'

I hope this information has been helpful to you.

Good luck handing your 'situation.'