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If you’re a single parent in Virginia, you’re probably going to take home a little less than $40,000 per year.  But oddly, due to various tax breaks and welfare benefits, your haul will be roughly the same, regardless of whether you’ve made $20,000 or $40,000 from actually working.

That’s according to an analysis of the “working poors’” implicit marginal tax rate from the Mises Institute, a libertarian think tank. The chart below has been popping up on other economics blogs this week, so I figured readers on BNET would be interested to see it as well.

This chart’s creator, Clifford F. Thies, is convinced slicing welfare/income data in other ways would still show the same result: for many, there is a disincentive to work for more money.

Here a few of the consequences of such government hand-out programs, in Thies’ view, even if they are well-intentioned:

For many of the working poor, the implicit marginal tax rate is greater than 100 percent. The long-run consequence of undermining the positive incentive to work is, of course, the creation of an underclass acclimated to not working; the supplement of cash and noncash benefits with income from crime and the underground economy; and the government resorting to negative incentives such as mandatory work programs.

Do you agree with Thies’ analysis?  Or do these programs and tax breaks create a necessary safety net?

Over half of academic life science researchers maintained financial ties with industry, according to survey results published in Health Affairs.

Here are the key details about the relationship between universities and corporate America, according to the Wall Street Journal:

About a third of the respondents said they had served as consultants, nearly a quarter said they had been paid speakers and 20% said they had received research funding from industry. That last figure is down from 28% of researchers who said they received research funding from industry in a similar survey conducted in 1995.

The authors suggest a number of possible causes of the drop in researchers who said they got industry funding for research, including a big increase in NIH research funding since 1995 and more scrutiny of academic-industry ties.

Interestingly, it was also found that faculty with industry support “were more productive than faculty without such support on virtually every measure.” However, we cannot conclude that corporate support caused the productivity surge, since it’s possible that the most productive researchers tend to attract the most money.

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Judging by the questions we receive from the senior job seekers who read our content, age discrimination is top of mind for most candidates north of 40. Recently, we took their questions head on with a package titled “‘How Old Are You?’: Readers Tell Job Interview Tales.”

Reporter Patty Orsini took job-seeker inquiries directly to recruiters, lawyers and hiring pros to find out how much candidates are required to disclose about their age and how best to avoid dating themselves in a non-confrontational way.

Here are five techniques to keep in mind:

Whether the times are good or bad, there will always be self-appointed experts preaching the charms of entrepreneurship. But unfortunately, not everyone has what it takes to “turn what you know into dough.”

Unless you have startup experience, access to lots of capital, time to work long, odd hours and most importantly, a novel business idea that actually serves a market need, then entrepreneurship is probably a bad idea.

So yes, it’s fun to fantasize about being your own boss and controlling your own financial destiny.  But there are plenty of reasons why being the boss sucks and you must seriously consider them all before taking the entrepreneurial plunge.  Here are a few, from Gaebler:

• Form 941, I-9s, SS-4s, SS-5s, W3s, Form 1096, WH-381s, Form 1120 – are we having fun yet?
• There’s nobody above you to flirt with you, so you can’t sue anybody for sexual harassment.
• 50% of startup businesses don’t make it. You’re just a coin flip away from failure.
• The fantasy of saying “@#$% you! I quit!!” is no longer relevant.
• If people are nice to you, it’s probably just because they want a raise.

You can read the rest of Gaebler’s top ten reasons why it sucks to be the boss on its website.

And feel free to warn would-be entrepreneurs about the worst aspects of running your own business in the comments section below.

Even if you are new to Twitter, you’ve probably already learned that most of the tweets are “pointless babble” about whatever users had for lunch.  Even though almost half of all tweets could be classified as nothing more than narcissistic notes, it is important to send out messages other than links to the latest “hot deals.”  Because if you don’t add those personal soundbites, you will seem like a spammer.  No one will follow you, ensuring that Twitter ends up being a waste of your precious time.

So naturally, it seems fitting to fill your feed with tweets about your job.  Many use the service solely to promote themselves or their company (shameless plug: follow my new feed).  However, while the evidence hasn’t yet proven that Twitter can further your career, it can certainly end it if you foolishly broadcast nasty things about your employer.  Here are five ways Twitter can get you fired, according to Applicant, a job blog:

1. Tweet how much you hate your boss

2. Brag yourself up on successfully lying to your boss

3. Make it public that you are sleeping with your boss

4. If you are quitting and don’t think before tweeting

5. Block your boss and tweet as you please

Everything that’s published on the web circulates virally across multiple platforms.  Nothing that’s published can be deleted so those tweets can always get back to you.  Therefore, I’ll add a sixth lesson: use common sense.  Those 140 characters aren’t worth your paycheck.

What’s the worst job-related tweet you’ve ever seen?  Feel free to share it below.

There’s a thought-provoking article today on the American, an online economics journal funded by the conservative American Enterprise Institute.  Veronique de Rugy asks why unemployment keeps rising (it hit 9.8 percent in September) despite the stimulus.

It’s an academic question as to how many more jobs would have been lost had there been no government action.  But it is startling to consider, as de Rugy points out, that President Obama’s economic team predicted unemployment would hit 8.8 percent during this recession without the stimulus.  So why have we already exceeded the White House’s worst expectations?

There are three theories why unemployment is still rising, according to de Rugy:

1. Some economists, including Paul Krugman, have argued that the problem with the President Obama’s plan is that the spending is not big enough. Hence, they think that a second stimulus is needed.

2. Other economists are arguing that the money is not being spent fast enough. Indeed, at this rate, the economy is likely to have recovered before most of the stimulus money has been spent.

3. To spend money, the government needs to either borrow it, tax it, or print it (or a combination of these). Money that is taxed or borrowed from the private sector is money that firms cannot spend on goods or employees. The government’s slice of the pie gets bigger by making the rest of the pie smaller.

You can read de Rugy’s entire unemployment argument, along with the data, on the American’s website.  And please share whether you think the stimulus is effectively creating, or at least saving, millions of jobs in the comments section below.

Nationwide, unemployment hit 9.8 percent in September. Of course, some regions have been hit harder than others but at a certain point, it may make sense for anyone who is unemployed to consider cutting their losses, packing up and leaving.  The forecast still looks relatively sunny throughout Texas and in coastal metropolises like New York, Seattle and Washington, DC (for a handy breakdown on the best job markets in small, medium and large cities across America, check out New Geography’s tables; for the worst cities for jobs, check Forbes).

Let’s say you’ve made the decision to seek greener pastures elsewhere but haven’t actually moved yet. How can you keep your local-address-less resume from reaching the wastebasket?

Here are six tips for the long-distance job search, edited down for length and clarity, from career guru Penelope Trunk:

• Pitch yourself as specialized Most people are relocating from a city that is in low demand to a city that is high demand; if you want to get a job [in a big city like San Francisco] from Tucson, you need to have one of those skill sets that people do not think they can hire for in San Francisco
• Pitch yourself as a big-city catch Some of you are trying to move the opposite direction: New York City to Tuscaloosa; in that case, you can pitch yourself as having big-city know-how that you can bring to a smaller city
• Get a reality check If you can’t pitch yourself in either of those ways, then you’re going to have to relocate before you get a job
• Be amazing at building local networks If you are still determined to get a job before you move…you need to have a strong network on the ground where you want to relocate; this does not mean inviting forty people in that city to connect with you on LinkedIn
• Choose a city since you can’t choose a job Since you are going to have to move before you have a job, why not make sure you are going to the right place?   For figuring out where you belong, [see] Richard Florida’s book, Who’s Your City, which he has conveniently broken up into web-friendly widgets for your relocating pleasure
• Consider your friends and family Before you relocate for money, consider that the number-one factor for whether or not your next job will improve your happiness is whether you’ll be moving closer to friends and family; [O]nce you have the basics of a good job, it’s your relationships that make you happy

If you’ve recently relocated to find a new job or are considering a move, please share any additional tips or words of wisdom in the comments section below.

What blocks women from equal representation in senior management? Recent research suggests that the barrier is less a glass ceiling than a moat around certain networking opportunities.

Despite decades of law and corporate policy, women are still underrepresented in senior positions compared with their male colleagues.

It’s not for a lack of career-development and job-search savvy among professional women, experts told Kevin Fogarty in a story for TheLadders titled “Why Men Have Stronger Professional Networks Than Women.” The real culprit is a statistical tendency for women and men to network with members of their own sex. Since men have historically been in more influential positions, male networks are often more powerful.

“Women have tended to be better connected overall, but they and many of their female contacts tend to work in more female-dominated jobs,” sociologist William Bielby, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told Fogarty. “So their networks may be wider, but don’t reach to as high a level as men, who tend to be better connected, particularly in getting professional news, to more high-status people.”

Bottom line: Women who understand these networking tangles can take better steps to address them, both by strengthening their personal pitches and extending their networks to span the gender gap.

No two ways about it: You’ve got to put yourself out there to get a job. But in this era of electronic data breaches and identity theft, how secure is the information you’re providing potential employers on your resume and other documents?

In an article for TheLadders titled “Resume Insecurity,” veteran tech writer Lisa Vaas examines the software vulnerabilities and human foibles that may leave job seekers’ personal data exposed:

“Interviews with hiring professionals confirm the anecdotal evidence: Even recruiting agencies that use sophisticated applicant tracking system (ATS) software to store and protect job applications often leave the applications open to theft by allowing access to anybody and everybody who walks by an unsecured terminal; companies leave sensitive information moldering in unlocked closets accessible to all; and job applicants’ data gets left on laptops that get stolen and on USB thumb drives that get misplaced.”

And in an accompanying piece called “How to Protect Your Resume from Identity Theft,” Vaas enumerates some defensive steps that HR professionals and security experts recommend.

• It’s OK to say no. Job seekers in this tight market are sometimes too willing to accommodate requests for information. Ellen B. Vance, senior consultant and advisory services practice leader at Titan Group, an HR consultancy in Richmond, Va., recommends that, before receiving a job offer, job seekers should omit any fields on forms that ask for sensitive information such as Social Security numbers. “It’s OK to leave that blank and say you’d be happy to provide that at time of hire,” said Vance. “There’s nothing a prospective employer needs that data for.” And recruiter Lorne Epstein suggests candidates omit their home addresses from their resumes. “Mostly people are getting communicated with by e-mail and by phone” anyway, she said.
• Watch your step. Vance warns job seekers to look carefully at the job listings to which they’re applying. To identify legitimate job listings, use reputable sites and look for job postings that identify the company posting the listing. “If you’re not sure whether it’s a bona fide (listing), don’t apply,” Vance recommended. “Or send a request for additional information.”
• Never send copies. Once a job offer comes, candidates should also avoid providing copies of documents used for I-9 purposes, such as passports or birth certificates. Employers can legally record the documents’ information, but don’t hand over photocopies that can be mishandled.

I’ve been in the following situation before and so have a surprising number of my friends and colleagues.  So I figured I’d lay out this first-time consulting conundrum and let the wisdom of the BNET crowds suggest answers.

Say you are in a transition period in your career.  Seemingly out of the blue, a former employer or colleague contacts you to see if you are available to help with a new project.  You are flattered that they value your work and could certainly use some extra cash.  Plus, you get to keep one foot in the game as you continue your search for full-time employment in the field.  So you tentatively express your interest in the gig.

But shortly after hanging up the phone, a nagging feeling sets in.  You start to wonder whether you’ve accepted a lowball offer for your services. You’ve never been a consultant before so you do a little research and contact others in the profession to gauge what they’ve charged (and paid) for this type of work.

And unfortunately, your worst suspicions are confirmed.  Whether you’re labeled a freelancer or a consultant, the fact of the matter is you are now an independent contractor.  That means you’ve got to cover your own insurance, taxes and all other expenses.  Furthermore, they aren’t paying you to pick up the phones.  You’ve been brought on board to only provide your highly specialized skills.  When you add it all up, you realize as a consultant you should be charging two to three times more than the fee they’ve suggested.

So what’s your next move?

You don’t want to compromise the relationship with whomever offered you work by haggling aggressively over a short-term project.  But you know you’ll be bitter if you aren’t getting paid properly.  You start thinking it might be better to turn the project down than get stuck in a permalancer rut.  It’s an awkward follow-up conversation either way.

If you’ve been in this situation before, please share how you’ve dealt with it in the comments section below.