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Methodology

Job Offer Comparison Calculator methodology

Compare two offers without collapsing pay, benefits, time and costs into an unexplained score.
Duc Nguyen X.By Duc Nguyen X.· Founder, Wage101Last reviewed: View update historyMethodology

Educational only: Work and pay decision support, not tax, legal, financial or career advice.

Privacy: Calculations run locally; Wage101 does not receive your work or pay inputs.

Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.

Scope: Market-neutral work and pay planning using your own assumptions.

1. Formulas and units

Offer comparison
annualDifference = comparisonNetAnnualWorkValue − currentNetAnnualWorkValue

Where

annualDifference
Annual Difference (currency units/year)Source: Calculated output
comparisonNetAnnualWorkValue
Comparison Net Annual Work Value (currency units/year)Source: Calculated output
currentNetAnnualWorkValue
Current Net Annual Work Value (currency units/year)Source: Calculated output
Comparison annual value difference
netAnnualValueDifference = secondNetAnnualWorkValue − firstNetAnnualWorkValue

Where

netAnnualValueDifference
Comparison annual value difference (currency units/year)Source: Calculated output
Comparison hourly value difference
effectiveHourlyDifference = secondNetAnnualWorkValue ÷ secondAnnualCommittedHours − firstNetAnnualWorkValue ÷ firstAnnualCommittedHours

Where

effectiveHourlyDifference
Comparison hourly value difference (currency units/hour)Source: Calculated output
Comparison base pay for hourly parity
requiredSecondBasePayToMatchFirstHourly = max(0, firstEffectiveHourlyValue × secondAnnualCommittedHours + secondAnnualDirectWorkCosts − secondAnnualVariablePay − secondAnnualBenefitsValue)

Where

secondAnnualVariablePay
Comparison offer annual variable pay (currency units/year)Source: User assumption
secondAnnualBenefitsValue
Comparison offer annual benefits (currency units/year)Source: User assumption
secondAnnualDirectWorkCosts
Comparison offer annual direct work costs (currency units/year)Source: User assumption
requiredSecondBasePayToMatchFirstHourly
Comparison base pay for hourly parity (currency units/year)Source: Calculated output
Comparison net annual work value
secondNetAnnualWorkValue = secondAnnualBasePay + secondAnnualVariablePay + secondAnnualBenefitsValue − secondAnnualDirectWorkCosts

Where

secondAnnualBasePay
Comparison offer annual base pay (currency units/year)Source: Work record
secondAnnualVariablePay
Comparison offer annual variable pay (currency units/year)Source: User assumption
secondAnnualBenefitsValue
Comparison offer annual benefits (currency units/year)Source: User assumption
secondAnnualDirectWorkCosts
Comparison offer annual direct work costs (currency units/year)Source: User assumption
secondNetAnnualWorkValue
Comparison net annual work value (currency units/year)Source: Calculated output

Money inputs and outputs use the currency selected in the scenario without changing the canonical methodology. Pay, time, benefits and work-related costs use the units stated beside each input.

2. Worked example

Input assumptions

Compare a 75,000 current offer with an 80,000 offer that has different benefits, commuting and direct costs.

Calculation and outputs

Example

Compare a 75,000 current offer with an 80,000 offer that has different benefits, commuting and direct costs.

Comparison annual value difference
2,000.00 currency units
Comparison hourly value difference
4.47 currency units
Comparison base pay for hourly parity
70,765.96 currency units
Comparison net annual work value
87,000.00 currency units

Annual and effective-hourly differences are shown separately with an hourly-parity salary.

Interpretation

Use annual and hourly differences together; neither is a complete job decision alone.

3. Validation and boundary checks

  • Both offers use independently entered schedules.
  • Committed hours include additional unpaid time and commuting.
  • At least one compensation component per offer must be positive.

4. Assumptions and source classification

  • Benefit values and variable pay are user assumptions.
  • Amounts are gross and pre-tax.
  • Each entered schedule repeats for its weeks per year.

This calculator has no current policy-data dependency. Its work and pay assumptions are user supplied. Registered family-level regression suites exercise the shared work-logic engine and worked-result reconciliation.

5. Limitations

  • No local tax or employment rule is applied.
  • Qualitative role differences are not valued.
  • Future variable pay and benefits may change.

This is educational decision support, not personalised tax, legal, financial or career advice. Check the treatment of your circumstances under the rules that apply to you and seek qualified advice where appropriate.

6. Update and evidence policy

Registered family-level suites test formula invariants and example reconciliation; the release ledger records that coverage without claiming a separate oracle for every line of public copy. There is no official threshold or benchmark to refresh for this calculator. Work and pay inputs remain user-supplied because they vary by person, job and contract.

Change history

  1. : Initial public release of the Job Offer Comparison planner and methodology.

Related reading

Use these practical guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.

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