There’s an old SDMB thread that asked this question.
The answers wander all over the place from a sesterce equaling $10 to “unknowable,” with the latter far more believable to me.
However, @Jim_s_Son provides useful information, albeit a century after Augustus.
Here’s a better site that gives daily pay in asses, and a sesterce is said to be worth 2.5 asses (hence the name), so this refers to the Republic. There were 4 asses to one sesterce in the Empire.
An artisan made 12 asses a day. But a legionary makes 10 asses a day or four sesterces and that’s much more than 900 a year. So compare with caution.