Salary Utility used to be a free program, but now it is bundled with 49 other programs for about $1.50 (50 Great Utilities for Palm OS which I found using Froogle).
This program allows students to calculate how much they really make once they take into account the costs of commuting, paid vacation, insurance, etc. This is a good tool to help students understand that an hourly wage isn't necessarily worth its face value. A drawback to this program is that it doesn't take into consideration social security, retirement, state and federal taxes. In addition, teachers would want to supplement the use of this program with discussions about topics such as how much commuting to a higher paid job located farther away would cost (is public transportation available? is a car necessary?) as compared to a lower paying job within walking distance.
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