Western North CarolinaThe Mountain Region including Asheville
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Yes, poppydog, I understand. In fact, I was going to insert 50K into my message but hit the wrong key. My point remains because we would need to acquire info about starting income levels for ALL college grads (your list is skewed toward the top earners; not comprehensive) PLUS non-college educated 20-somethings to have an accurate picture of what they are earning.
That is all beside the point of what I was addressing anyhow. People take $10 per hour jobs and figure out how to get by (plenty are doing that) OR they train/educate themselves to be able to command higher wages in better jobs. Same as it ever was.
For 5 years, in my 20's, I shared a 1 bedroom apartment with 2 other people and for the first 3 or so of those years barely had $1000 saved for cushion. At 27, I was able to afford to only have 1 roommate in that apt. Not complaining nor do I feel bad about those years. I was doing what had to be done to make it work til I could improve my prospects, which acquired work experience allowed me to do. I paid my dues and I find that time to be a relevant benchmark in my life.
QuilterChick - "Low wages vs. high cost of living here is the bottom line. That is a deep hole not easy to climb out of." --- What? People lives in those scenarios all over the country. It isn't remotely unique to AVL. In New York, Chicago, Boston and on and on. Plus many smaller communities...all over the USA...in California, Colorado, Northeastern states, etc. etc.
Travel- "What? People lives in those scenarios all over the country. It isn't remotely unique to AVL. In New York, Chicago, Boston and on and on. Plus many smaller communities...all over the USA...in California, Colorado, Northeastern states, etc. etc."
Those areas all have higher paying jobs and more dynamic economies though as well as higher minimum wages, especially NYC Chicago Boston California. But the cost of living in Asheville is not remotely close to what it costs to live in those areas, so I agree with you in the sense that it is not a unique situation.
One would like to think that the scarcity of workers would cause employers to raise wages, but more likely people will just commute from further out since Asheville seems to be fairly desirable place to live.
Yes, poppydog, I understand. In fact, I was going to insert 50K into my message but hit the wrong key. My point remains because we would need to acquire info about starting income levels for ALL college grads (your list is skewed toward the top earners; not comprehensive) PLUS non-college educated 20-somethings to have an accurate picture of what they are earning.
$52,569 is the average starting salary out of college for all jobs according to that first link. Obvs some are higher and some are lower, but you are off the mark to say that kids don't come out of college earning $40 or $50k. That is below the average starting salary.
poppydog, I'm not going to split hairs with you about this. For some reason you are still distracting from the point being made. You willfully hijacked my original statement and took it for a drive down some self-serving lane. What the heck is that about? It is not a considerate thing to do.
Thank you for the linked info but it represents 4 year degrees. If you would like to forward data about the incomes of ALL persons in their 20's, which is what my original statement plainly referred to, then we'll have accurate info. And my educated guess is that info would indicate the majority of ALL 20-somethings are not earning north of 50K.
(Are you catching all this, weiwuwei? Because this is very common in these parts. Linear conversations are the exception.)
Travel Crazy, I just picked up on what you said about college grads. Didn't mean to take things off track.
My point is, if Asheville employers aren't paying the salaries that folks can get elsewhere that may be why the employers are having a hard time finding workers.
...One would like to think that the scarcity of workers would cause employers to raise wages, but more likely people will just commute from further out since Asheville seems to be fairly desirable place to live.
It seems to me that in places having a high cost of living (HCOL), the impact would be to reduce the available supply of low wage workers locally. I mean, if you can’t live in a place based on what you earn - it’s hard to live (and work) there.
Commuting from a low cost of living (LCOL) to HCOL for a low-wage job might be a solution in some circumstances. I’d guess more so if the costs of commuting are low (fuel, fare, time, etc.). I would guess that for low wage jobs the effect of commuting might be analogous to the effect of immigration.
Here are some graphs and a study that might further the conversation about the situation in Asheville. Section 4-5+ of the PDF discusses impacts of immigration and seems somewhat analogous to commuting (not perfectly analogous, I know).
Assuming the demand for labor is constant (D1), I’d guess that a HCOL location would experience a decrease in the available supply of low wage Labor - S1 to S2 in Panel (d). If the demand for low wage Labor is increasing - perhaps due to economic gains at the medium and high- wage levels (the only levels that can afford to live in an HCOL area), then you might see something that looks like Panel (a) + Panel (d) - with a much higher wage at equilibrium. So at it’s simplest, the low wage jobs might start approaching medium wage earnings.
These are just models and life is not so simple, of course.
Somewhat disingenuous title though as I believe this is just a bill and hasn't necessarily been passed. Didn't research further to see what the progress is on it though, but man that would make me feel a ton better about my move! Paying someone $8-9/hr in this day and age is simply preposterous and exploitative.
$12 an hour: ~ $24Gs a year, before taxes/deductions and commute...
That, and the overall lack of non-avocation type/just getting by job opportunities, other than the higher skilled/degreed openings, is the 400 lb gorilla in Western NC and other groovy, great places to live, tourist type areas, imo.
I'll take 12/hr in Asheville over 11/hr (eventually 15) in NYC/Boston/LA/Chicago any day of the week. Yes, more job opportunities for higher pay in those areas, but the rent is at LEAST double or triple that of WNC.
No kidding, but other than bare existence 'service jobs' in those metro areas, who is really 'living' on ~ $20 - $25Gs a year?
I lived/worked in NYC/metro NY for almost 3 decades, and travelled half the world for biz. I get it.
There is some kind of disconnect in this thread...not a Let'emCake person, but living from day to day, barely squeaking by, just to be 'somewhere' for more than a short experiment, is difficult for me to understand.
Last edited by motordavid; 06-09-2017 at 10:28 AM..
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