Are you thinking about opening up a service-based business and
can’t figure out what rate you should charge?
Well, in this short post, we’re going to introduce to you the idea
of using average wage statistics to help you determine the right rate for your
service.
Our Findings
If you want to run a service-based business, it can be tough to
determine what rate you should charge for your work.
Your first step should always be to start by examining what your
competitors charge for the same service(s) that you intend on offering. But, getting this information is not always easy—competitors’
rates may not be published and they may vary from customer to customer. So, in practice, this route typically will
not give you all of the information that you need to set the right price.
As your second step, we recommend that you research the average
wage of jobs that best reflect the type of work you will be performing. Doing this is easy!
Step One
Go to your government’s resource on average wages.
For Canadian businesses, this can be found at the Government of
Canada’s “Working in Canada” website, found here.
For American businesses, this can be found at The Bureau of Labor
Statistics’ “Occupational Employment Statistics” webpage, found here.
Step Two
Search for the occupation that best resembles the type of work you
will be performing and the area where you will be performing it.
For Canadian businesses, you’ll notice drop-down lists will appear
as you enter job titles and locations.
Rather than typing either in full and searching, we recommend that you choose
from the drop-down list instead. If
you’re not satisfied with the options that come up, simply try different words
that describe what you’re looking for until something more appropriate appears.
For American businesses, start by clicking on the state where you
will be performing your service. From
there, scroll down until you see a series of links that list the main types of
occupations in the state you selected.
Choose one that best describes your business’ service.
Step Three
For Canadian businesses, the occupation’s profile will give you
plenty of useful information not only on wages, but also: job descriptions, job
duties, education and job requirements, and much more.
For American businesses, the occupation’s profile will also give
you a great deal of useful information in addition to the job’s wages,
including: national estimates for the occupation; an industry profile for the
occupation; and a geographic profile for the occupation.
And that’s it! This
information should help you gauge if your rates are at an appropriate level!
References
(1)- The Government of Canada’s “Working in Canada” website:
(2)- The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “Occupational Employment Statistics”
webpage:
Links to More Information
For Canadian readers, as we alluded to above, the Working in
Canada website is an outstanding resource for businesses. We highly recommend that you familiarize
yourself with it—it will definitely come in handy for job descriptions,
determining appropriate employee wages, and much more.
For American readers, The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ website is
also a very useful resource. Like the
Working in Canada website, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with it
and its resources.
Each of these sites should offer you more than enough reading
material! :)
Want to make a request for free research? Follow the
directions found on the left.
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a comment you'd like to pass on? E-mail feedback@ostrichcanada.ca