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Comment by madsbuch | Hacker News Reader

Not American, so a couple of questions:

1. Is it normal for teachers to have alternative income for the days they don't work?

2. Sounds like the term "six figures" has a special meaning other than just being in the range 100.000 - 999.999? It appears like there is a connotation that it is a special things to achieve in your life.

3. Taking inflation into account, shouldn't it soon be normal to earn that amount (when including pensions and benefits like health, which I know is expensive).

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> 2. Sounds like the term "six figures" has a special meaning?

Six figures simply refers to a salary with six digits (i.e. in excess of $100,000). This is nearly double the median income so "six figures" is often just used to mean "a lot of money."

Yes, just clarified the question.

"Six figures" appears to be an idiom in American English that should be abandoned.

For #2, "six figures" has a connotation of being a large annual income for one person to earn. It's similar to being called a "millionaire". This is a bit outdated now, especially after the last couple of years, as inflation and higher salaries make earning "six figures" less of a rarity than it was in the 1990s and 2000s, but the connotation remains.

1. Yes a lot of teacher have different summer jobs. 2. Means at least 100,000 3. Yes, it should be normal.

Working most of the year as teachers means they can't make much at that summer job, though. I had a high school biology teacher who worked as lab tech in the summers, which she described as low-level work that she did just because she loved being in the lab. She was extremely sharp, but I don't think there was any way she could have trained for a more difficult position or taken on any higher responsibility when she couldn't stay on the job for more than a few months at a time. That was the only teacher I had who had any summer job that required education, except maybe for teachers who worked at a family business during the summer.

Answering #2, six figures refers to the number of digits in your paycheck, so 100k+

Lmao the downvotes are hilarious. I literally am explaining something the parent comment wanted to know. They didn't even have the bit about "100.000-999.999" when this comment was posted, as evidenced by another person quoting the original comment and the commenter saying they clarified the question.

And for the international audience, Americans cite salaries pre-tax. So a $100,000 salary means people earn somewhere around $80,000 after tax depending on their situation and where they live. And then further deduct benefits and retirement savings from that. About $60,000 might actually hit your bank account if you have a 100k salary.

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