What should I be paid in this situation?

[frannie1287]

I am new this this aupair/nanny work.

I have been in contact with a family, but we are both unsure of what is a fair wage for me and are looking for some comparables. Please help!

I will live out as I am on a study abroad from America with a lease and apartment already. I will work 25-30 hours per week. The mother is a stay at home mom and I will assist her with child care and light housekeeping or errands. The children are 9 months and 2 1/2. I will play with them and help to teach them english and also how to swim.

I do have babysitting experience with young children (ages 6 months-4 years) for up to 5 hours at a time. I also babysat my 2 nieces and nephew since they were newborns.

The situation is a bit tricky because they wanted a live in, but I cannot because of my apartment contract....should I expect to be paid like a live in because of this?

Which country are you in? I ask because immigration rules changed in the UK last year, which now prevents Americans coming to the uk to work - so if you are in the UK you need to check your visa very carefully to see what work it permits (if any). Also need to know due to UK employment law and National Minimum Wage regulations. Due to you being live-out, if you are in the UK your employer has to pay you National Minimum Wage... which varies according to age (how old are you?).

I am actually in Germany but couldn't find any website like this for Germans (I love this place!). I know it will be a bit different since I'm not actually working in the UK, but I figured I might be able to get an estimate of what would be normal there. I am 22 years old.

Tax and social security are hideously high in Germany. Full time live in nannies earn quite low net wages because of this (around 300net/week) but the gross wage is virtually double that.

For live in au pair work in Germany standard pocket money is 70-90EUR net per week depending on where you are but as you point out you get accomodation (and food etc) with that. I don't think there's a minimum wage for domestic employees - some sectors are covered but many aren't - so you could legally earn the same wage as a live out au pair.

In the UK you would be covered by minimum wage, so nearly £6 gross per hour for your age, earning around £180/week before tax and NI.

Live in au pairs earn 260 euros a month. There is a thing in Germany called a "minijob" where you can earn up to 400 euros a month and don't pay any tax on it, so maybe that would be a good wage?

perhaps they can feed you as many meals as possible in addition to the 400 euros would that work?

I guess you need to come across as costing much the same as a live-in au pair or only slightly more expensive otherwise they will opt for a live-in (unless they have no option because of lack of space).
If I were in a similar situation (and for the theoretical situation there was no minimum wage to stick to in my imaginary country), the maths I would do would be - live in au pair costs me about £700 per month which includes pocket money, all food, petrol, car insurance and the increase in bills (electricity, heating) from having someone in the house all day...so I would pay a live out au pair the £700 minus the amount the bills have increased (£35 a month) social petrol (ie. not driving my kids about petrol) (£20 a month), would have to pay car insurance anyway, and food would decrease because not paying out for evening snacks/weekend meals and maybe breakfast..so would probably offer about £550 a month for 'pocket money' for a live-out au pair. (£128 a week).
Again, that's in a world with no minimum wage and no need to register as an employer and pay tax/NI on wages over £95 a week because to be honest with all that hassle I would just stick with a live-in!

Ok, so far this has been a great help. I will use this along with some other things I have found when negotiating our wage (I don't want to be overpaid--I am just happy to be in europe, but at the same time, I find it odd to be paid at a little above 2 euros an hour at 260/month). Thank you for your advice!

Hi Frannie,

It might seem odd, but the au pair status is a particular one, it was conceived as a way in which young people could live abroad but in a family situation while improving their language skills,in return for a bit of domestic help. which is why it is outside of the normal employment rules.

In order to get a 'proper job' you would have to jump through all sorts of visa hoops...(though as someone said, do check as things might have changed)

Best of luck.