The Huffington Post quoted the US Labor Department saying that 3 out of 5 or 59.1% of the American workforce are now paid by the hour. According to the Labor Department, this rate is up by 0.5% from 2010 and 1.5% from 2008 figures. Although the Economist has noted that the percentage of workers getting paid on an hourly basis has been mounting since 4 decades ago.
Most businesses opt to hire part-time workers or contractors to do a full-time employee’s job to keep wages and other expenses at a low, including bonuses, promotions, health and other benefits. Those we can’t afford in a climate of extreme economic volatility.
Now, since most jobs by the hour are paid at historic lows, lower-income to middle-income workers are, more often than not, forced to work overtime—regularly. They get 1.5 times their regular hourly pay for working overtime.
That has contributed much to why the US is now the world’s most overworked nation. 3 out of 4 or 75% of our labor force work beyond the 40-hour maximum workweek, says the International Labor Organization (ILO). Even a third of professionals work more than 50 hours a week.
But despite “literally working themselves to death”, most overtime workers took home much less than their counterparts four decades ago. In 1970, 35 work hours entitle you to an average annual income of $59,000, whereas today you only get $51,000 for working 46 hours a week.
So, if you’re a professional who earns as much as $150 hourly and simply want to bill your client by the hour or if you’re the type who just wants to keep track of your employee time and overtime, some of these mobile apps might work for you:
Paymo
Paymo for iOS and Android devices comes in a free and paid version, which is at $14.85 a month. It allows you to keep track of the time you spend for accomplishing projects as well as view past projects and clients arranged by date. Paymo automatically syncs with the web version of this app that also allows you to create invoices for accomplished projects or clients and analyze how you spend your work time using graphs.
HoursTracker
HoursTracker works on most iOS gadgets and comes in a freemium and premium version, which costs $3.99. This mobile app keeps a record of the time you clock in and out of your work and computes your entire pay after entering your hourly rate. With HoursTracker you can view your time log in a weekly or biweekly basis, and more. Data is encoded through this mobile app can also be exported as a text or CSV file.
Eternity Time Log
Eternity Time Log Lite can be downloaded for free at the iTunes App Store while its premium version may cost you $9.99. This mobile app can help you create a balance between work and your personal life as it categorizes activities according to work, play, and rest. You can also customize Eternity Time Log according to your activities. With this app, you can also create your daily, weekly, or monthly time report and back up data via email, cloud storage apps like Dropbox or export as an Excel file.
Harvest Time and Expense Tracker
Harvest Time and Expense Tracker is available at free and paid versions for iOS and Android OS mobile devices. It allows you to keep track of your work time and expenses incurred to help you create invoices, estimates of your earnings and reports in a jiffy.