Methodology
Minimum Wage Comparison Using Your Rule methodology
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
annualGap = (userReferenceHourlyRate − currentHourlyRate) × weeklyHours × weeksPerYearWhere
- currentHourlyRate
- Current hourly rate (currency units/hour)Source: User assumption
- userReferenceHourlyRate
- Reference hourly rate (currency units/hour)Source: User assumption
- weeklyHours
- Weekly hours (hours/week)Source: User assumption
- weeksPerYear
- Weeks per year (weeks/year)Source: User assumption
- annualGap
- Annual pay gap (currency units/year)Source: Calculated output
currentAnnualPay = currentHourlyRate × weeklyHours × weeksPerYearWhere
- currentHourlyRate
- Current hourly rate (currency units/hour)Source: User assumption
- weeklyHours
- Weekly hours (hours/week)Source: User assumption
- weeksPerYear
- Weeks per year (weeks/year)Source: User assumption
- currentAnnualPay
- Current annual pay (currency units/year)Source: Calculated output
referenceAnnualPay = userReferenceHourlyRate × weeklyHours × weeksPerYearWhere
- userReferenceHourlyRate
- Reference hourly rate (currency units/hour)Source: User assumption
- weeklyHours
- Weekly hours (hours/week)Source: User assumption
- weeksPerYear
- Weeks per year (weeks/year)Source: User assumption
- referenceAnnualPay
- Reference annual pay (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
14 versus 15 per hour at 40 hours for 52 weeks.
Calculation and outputs
Example
14 versus 15 per hour at 40 hours for 52 weeks.
- Annual pay gap
- 2,080.00 currency units
- Current annual pay
- 29,120.00 currency units
- Reference annual pay
- 31,200.00 currency units
The engine returns 29,120 current pay, 31,200 reference pay and a 2,080 gap.
Interpretation
The result compares only the two hourly rates you entered.
3. Validation and boundary checks
- The worked example is calculated through the same shared-work-logic engine as the planner.
- Non-finite and out-of-range assumptions return an input error.
- Result cards, trace, CSV, PDF and methodology bind to named engine result fields.
4. Assumptions and source classification
- Both rates use the same weekly hours and weeks per year.
- The reference rate comes only from the user.
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
- The tool never supplies or labels an official minimum wage.
- Local wage coverage, age bands, occupations, tax and premiums are excluded.
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
- : Initial public release of the Minimum Wage Comparison Using Your Rule planner and methodology.
Related reading
Use these practical guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- How to use the Minimum Wage Comparison using your rule calculator safely
Compare current and reference pay without supplying or labelling an official minimum wage.
Read guide