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If someone has enough of a work ethic to be holding down three minimum wage jobs, they've got a strong enough work ethic to make more than minimum wage - probably significantly more.
The unemployment rate is 3.9 percent and even lower in some parts of the country for pete's sake. At this point there are companies desperate for quality workers and willing to pay well above minimum wage for them. Of course, they still expect them to be drug free, dependable, honest, with a good work ethic, and preferably with no criminal record.
This area is filled with mostly minimum wage based jobs.
It certainly is reasonable for you to raise this issue with your city & county & state economic development departments. What are they doing to attract higher value-add companies?
Or, it's $3500 down to buy a nice, good condition 3/2 house in the midwest. We have one for sale right now, it's actually priced a little high at $100,000, many similar models are around $90,000. Good school district, can walk to shops, on the bus route. It's just small town USA.
I understand that and it's a great idea for retirees or people who can actually find a job that pays enough to buy any house, but that's certainly not always the case, is it? Because if it were I think most of those houses would be sold the minute they go on the market.
So sad. It used to be (back in my old person view of the world) that if you can work hard, you deserve to at least live. And let's not forget 'I'm tired of keeping welfare losers afloat with my tax dollars, at least get a basic job'. Now it's 'You don't deserve to live if didn't come from a family that could send you to a great college and get a great job-you deserve to live with your family the rest of your life even if you work or are very motivated to work'.
Does anyone here even have kids? I do. I don't even worry about the fact that no matter how much my husband and I worked in life and how many taxes we pay, we still may not get to retire without worrying in our modest but beloved little home. I worry about my kids whom struggle to be able to work. My son is trying to be an emt. Peanuts. My daughter wants to be a nurse. Ok, better. My son has medical things he is responsible for now that we can't cover them with our insurance. He's now trying to work at my husband's factory for the benefits and pay while giving up the dream of emt because it's literally not close to what he needs for a basic apt and living with his other costs. I want them to live with us forever and so does hubby. But then I remember my life years ago and how I felt being able to take care of myself. My kids want that and I want it for them. How is this even a discussion about workers getting treated like absolute crap for nothing. I DON'T want that for my kids and I don't want to worry that my kids will eventually find themselves terminated by a company that was a good one for what the future can hold and be unable to live as employable as so many of us 40 plus year olds have found ourselves in.
It's not about minimum wage. It's standard of living increase vs wage increase, it's healthcare costs and general welfare per person vs decline due to societal work and other issues. economics. It isn't that simple. What's simple? No one can live nor can they rely on a future looking better in this prospect but actually seeming to go quite the opposite.
Now, I know times have changed, but I started working for minimum wage in 1984. I made $3.35/hour. Granted, I wasn't working full time at that point, but the idea that anyone could live independently on $3.35/hour never crossed my mind. Minimum wage jobs were for teens going through school, not for educated adults. When and at what point did people decide that they should be able to support themselves and possibly a family as well on minimum wage??
Actually, no, minimum wage laws were originally intended for workers in sweatshops, not teenagers particularly. There really wasn't a concept of "jobs for teens going through school" until the 1950s. Before then, everyone who worked was working equally to support the family.
Minimum wage laws, as they struggled through the courts at state and national levels from the 1920s through the 1940s were always intended for the benefit of those working to support their families.
I bothers me when some one quotes that that " only 2% of the population works at minimum wage" or whatever. But working for a nickel more than minimum IS " not working for minimum", but it still IS a minimum type wage. Even a dollar over minimum is still a minimum wage based job. So those types of statistics are skewed only in that $7.30 /hr is above minimum, but REALLY. , $0.40 a day will not even buy a candy bar these days!!! Minimum wage IS a,problem when much of the employers feel that is all they have to pay.
Exactly! And minimum wage increases tend to raise the wages of all workers, not just those who are paid minimum wage. This isn't really about those making minimum wage, they usually are the youngest or the newest workers, it's about people earning a few dollars more than minimum wage who are in jeopardy of becoming homeless. Low wage jobs are almost all part time or on call, they rarely have a fixed schedule, it's common for retail and fast food jobs to work different days and shifts every week. In spite of the amazing rags to riches stories we read in these forums, it's important to remember that Horatio Alger was a fictional character in a 19th century novel.
One bedroom apartments in Sacramento have increased from $600-$700 a month 3 years ago to $1,000-$1400. Landlords require 3X income to qualify, a 2 or 3 year verifiable rental history, credit score of 640 +, and no criminal convictions.
We are going to have an impossible homeless situation in this country if this continues and poor blaming/shaming will not fix it, not now- not ever.
It certainly is reasonable for you to raise this issue with your city & county & state economic development departments. What are they doing to attract higher value-add companies?
Wow...what an answer, this falls right into the category of C-D responses as "well if you care about the homeless, how many have you invited to live in your home?"
Ah, the empathy card rears its head again. So you have cornered the market in that department. First of all, the real min wage at most places is 40% higher than the Federal min wage. And who said you HAVE to work min wage jobs. I paid someone to plant 10 small trees. He finished in 3 hours and got $150 for it. Instead of waiting for Pelosi to give you a raise, how about looking for a job that pays more?
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