Hourly payment’. This phrase is constantly used by Nepalese working in United States of America where they get hourly payment. Whether they are Nepalese, Chinese or even American, almost everyone starts their career from the ‘hourly-payment-work’.
People from all over the world ( whether legal or illegal ) have been residing in this country. One of the interesting facts in this country is that many people don’t speak and understand English language. But this doesn’t hamper them in getting a job. Lets’ see about the economic place of USA i.e. New York City. If anybody goes to Flushing of Queens, then people might be confused it for China. Similarly, Jackson height of Queens confused people of India. People who speak Hindi language can survive here easily. If anybody gets on a subway train , then s/he will be surprised to see people from all over the world talking in their native language.
Back to ‘hourly payment’. Nepal’s law hasn’t specifically defined the minimum wage for the job so people can be underpaid there. But here, in USA, nobody can think of employing anybody with less than a minimum wage. Employers will be arrested if found doing so. US government has set minimum wage of 7.25 dollars per hour. It can be different from states to states. For instance the capital city of the nation i.e. Washington D.C. has minimum wage of 9.32 dollars per hour. Whereas New York has minimum wage of 8 dollars per hour.
What is needed to be understood is that it is regulated for 40 hours per week only. If somebody does more than 40, then employer has to give the employee 1.5 times the regular hour remuneration. It can be explained in simple language. For instance- If Harry is given 10 dollars per hour and he works for 40 hours a week, then he will make 400 dollars. If he works there for 60 hours, then he has to be given extra 300 dollars for 20 hours. This means his weekly payment would be 700 dollars ( with tax ) .
This type of ‘hourly-payment-job’ where physical work is involved is referred as Blue-collar-job. Almost everyone starts their career with this kind of job. When the same person gets academic degree and with some experience , he will be doing white-collar-job. White-collar-job has good payment.
‘Hourly-payment-job’ teaches you the importance of time. It teaches you that time is money. That’s the reason why Nepalese living here often asks about the hour they spend in a week but not the salary. One of the Nepalese who works in a store in New York City says that he gets really excited whenever he is paid after one long week. He, who came to USA in 2008, under Diversity Visa has revealed that he had continuously worked for 2 years without any day-off. Originally form Sarlahi district of Nepal says he was employed the week he was in USA. When asked about the reason behind his 2 years continuous work, he smiled and says- ” You won’t believe, there was the time when I used to work 105 hours per week. When I received the money I made after a week , then I used to convert US dollars into Nepalese rupees which would make me feel awesome.” He was happy that he was able to sponsor for the 2 younger brothers to continue engineering education in India. Plus, he was relieved that he contributed financially in the building of new house in the capital city of Kathmandu. When asked how much he has made in these 6 years in USA, he chuckles and says- “You guess yourself ” .
He is just one character from Nepal. There are lots from there who have made a good fortune for themselves with blue-collar-job. But what is to be kept in mind is that it is not easy to do these kind of job. Standing and doing long hour shift is really tiring. It’s hard for anyone to see sitting while doing blue-color-job.
‘Hourly-payment-job’ teaches people how important time is. The more you work, the more dollars you make. Another Nepali who hails from Lalitpur District agrees that blue-collar-job makes you energetic at work. He , who is living in queens for 28 months with wife and two kids says- ” I had a good job in Nepal and was living a good life. I was making 300 dollars per month. But work there wasn’t that difficult. But here in USA, I have started to understand the value of time since I started doing ‘ hourly-payment-job’ . I used to talk more and work less in my country back then, but here things are completely the opposite. ” ” The more you work, the more dollars you print ” he chuckles.
This country really respects work and the workers. People are looked up to whatever work they do. Whether a guy is a banker or a dish washer, s/he is referred as ‘Sir’ or ‘Miss’ . Nobody discriminates anybody with their work.
People often writes about the difficulty in work here which is partially true. But what everyone needs to understand is that this difficulty is for almost everyone who starts from the scratch. It doesn’t matter if he is Nepalese or American. People can do a lot better with good education and good skill. Lots of Nepalese have their own business houses, law firms, and are professors at university as well. The only thing i.e. similar to almost all of them is that they have started their career with ‘hourly-payment-job’ .
प्रतिक्रिया