w-2 hourly rates... asking for a bit more, and other factors (work, companies)

[ackmondual]

I've also been looking at w-2 hourly rate positions. What are some of the rules of thumb when deciding on a wage?

Salary is often always negotiable, but these days, does asking for $1 to $2 more price you out too much if a staffing agency's also involved (since they may be pitching other candidates, and have others from other agencies)?

As an example, if you're comfy making say, $60K a year annually (with fringe benefits), $30/hour be the equivalent strictly money-wise, but then you'd need to take out about $4K to $8K a year to pay for your own health + dental insurance, so if you do want the same thing money-was, you'd want an hourly wage that's at THAT figure? I take it the actual pay will be lower since whoever pays you on a w-2 will already deduct Social Security and Medicare? Other factors too like if you're moving to an area that has a lower Cost of living.

I'm assuming working 50 weeks a year since when the companies are on holiday, you won't work nor get paid due to no PTO.

Any other pitfalls and factors to watch out for?

[charlygal]

Since when is health insurance $4k to $8k? Most company sponsored plans aren't that much even with large families.

Remember that each $1 per hour increase amount to an approx. raise of about $2,080.