Hired help, hourly wage?

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There is a 16 year old high school student that would like to work part time on the ranch this summer. He has no farming or cattle experience but loves the outdoors, neighbors highly recommend him and he is definitely willing to learn. Any suggestions on an hourly wage? Minimum wage is $7.25 but he'll be doing a lot of physical labor.
 
Seems like if takes at least $10 an hour to keep them interested. I usually pay $100 day, if they can get 10 hours worth of work done in 8 that's great.
 
I pay $10 for day labor. Young person doing a little skilled labor, and doesn't need much coaching from me is $15
 
i started at 14 for $8.20 i now make $9.00 but there is not very many kids willing to do the work i do for the pay i get

M-5":bkogqsb5 said:
You can get min wage to about 9bucks here at the swimming hole as a life guard or concession stand and watch bikini clad teenagers all day. I pay 10 /hr to pick up limbs or rake hay
where do i sign up to be a lifeguard? is there going to be a swimming test? im not real good at swimming so that could be a problem! :lol:
 
ez14.":2c6cnhvh said:
i started at 14 for $8.20 i now make $9.00 but there is not very many kids willing to do the work i do for the pay i get

M-5":2c6cnhvh said:
You can get min wage to about 9bucks here at the swimming hole as a life guard or concession stand and watch bikini clad teenagers all day. I pay 10 /hr to pick up limbs or rake hay
where do i sign up to be a lifeguard? is there going to be a swimming test? im not real good at swimming so that could be a problem! :lol:
You're spoiled son. Do your "near drowning" thing close to one of the girls in the bikini...she'll take it from there. :lol: :lol: I started at 14 for $1 an hour. Only good thing was we worked 55 hrs. a week so I got a lot of overtime. End of summer I could buy all my school clothes etc and when college started I could pay for the 1st semester of college which was only a bit over $400 per semester, room and board included. Guess those were the "good ol' days". :nod:
 
ez14.":1vz09mtw said:
i started at 14 for $8.20 i now make $9.00 but there is not very many kids willing to do the work i do for the pay i get

M-5":1vz09mtw said:
You can get min wage to about 9bucks here at the swimming hole as a life guard or concession stand and watch bikini clad teenagers all day. I pay 10 /hr to pick up limbs or rake hay
where do i sign up to be a lifeguard? is there going to be a swimming test? im not real good at swimming so that could be a problem! :lol:

well Im afraid the life guard for the sand box is already taken.
 
M-5":27w1jmph said:
well Im afraid the life guard for the sand box is already taken.

I took that job at a public pool back in the 70's. Those were the longest days of my life. The clock runs backwards I think. It was kind of nice when kids misbehaved; it actually gave me something to do.
 
$10 is usually what I test people out at. If they work for me regularly and show that have common sense Ill do $12. Some of my retired, baby boomers get $14 or $15... I pay them a little extra for their story telling abilities. :)

My fist jobs paid $5 an hour to spray brush, mow, etc. I was 8 yrs old. It was mostly family and family friends. You would have to run me off at night because I would try to sleep on your couch. Ill never forget when the first guy offered me $8. I though I had made it big... :cowboy:
 
my first job was $2.00 a day in a service station....started out as a gas jockey...pump gas check oil and wash windows...
ended up grease and oil changes and fixing flats as well....
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like $10 is average, especially since he has no experience driving a tractor, track loader, etc. We still have a ton of limbs/debris from the tornado but hubby has been essentially sidelined since Dec and while I'm pretty scrappy, there is a limit to what I can do myself. Or want to! Cattle are relatively easy in the summer, I can take care of them, but moving corrals, etc takes two people. Fixing fence, two barns need repairs, general maintenance, painting, even yard work. But as a bonus, he can fish all he wants - off the clock :)

I got suckered into taking over my brothers summer mowing job when I was 14 but I made a whopping $10 per yard. Totally not worth it!
 

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