We are all hideously underpaid

My potential new employer asked me to suggest my own salary, so I have been doing a little research this morning. It'd be administrative assistant work -- nothing terribly hard, but you do need half a brain and some judgement.

• The median salary for an administrative assistant in Ottawa is $39,884 a year = $19/h. (Low but not lowest pay is $35,533 = $17/h.)


• A badly-paid file clerk earns $25,118 a year = $12/h.


• The median salary in Ottawa for jobs requiring less than 1 year of experience is $40,000.

I am therefore going to suggest $15/h and hope that he thinks I am worth it. The research certainly was, because I had guessed at $10/h...

I conclude from the list above that virtually everyone I know is being hideously underpaid, or is burning through money a lot faster than I imagined, or both.

I know that you are all smarter and more capable than your average admin assistant. All of you can and should be doing much more interesting, valuable, and lucrative work. So how can we get us some of that?