Is 20.00 an hour pretty good now a days? (work, company, wages)
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$20/hour is horrible in San Francisco which has a ridiculous cost of living.
$20/hour is good if you're in a small town in flyover country. You'd be living decently.
Making 20 an hour in 2021 isn't that great in most States in America I think. This post was back in 2011 and inflation has eroded that 20 an hour even more. I guess there are a few States that it's above average but where I live it's only good for a student.
In my local area, it’s better than average. You can survive on it with careful budgeting and a simple lifestyle. There won’t be a lot of flexibility or many luxuries. I live in a low cost of living area.
My 21 year-old son makes slightly less than that. He started working full-time at 18. He wasn't ready for a college path. He has built up a good work history, now that he is eligible (21) he is maxing out his 401k, has a private investment portfolio that has provided him with opportunities to educate himself and learn to manage his money, and he pays all his own expenses. His friends are in their last year of college. Due to COVID19, the second half of his friends' junior year, and so far this senior year, the on-line experience has been subpar yet the cost is nearly the same. Some of his friends are now beginning to be concerned that they may not be able to find a decent job due to the current economic climate. With zero debt and a decent amount of savings, my son is looking at taking advantage of the low rates and a good credit rating to buy his first house. The path he has chosen will allow him to do so before most of his friends have gotten their first job.
Taking a job and learning do not have to be mutually-exclusive decisions. As others have mentioned, one can work a job and go to school part-time, take a certification course, do some focused personal learning, take a job that offers an apprentice program, participate in employer-based training opportunties, etc.
For an electrician's helper in Stuttgart, Ark., I guess $20 an hour is pretty good.
For an aerospace engineer in Seattle, not so hotso.
See?
It all depends.
To that end: Seattle metro, that's skinny money but people get by. They aren't getting ahead. Add kids and other financial drags, it's precarious to say the least. Forty grand a year...my my. In 1990, that was tolerable money for a professional when I started fresh out of undergrad in STEM. Now, it's tolerable money for service industry, I gather, and that's just what it is with inflation and etc.
All the way up yonder here in 2020, a GF of mine makes about $20/hr. She's on the phone all day doing what she does best, which seems to be mothering and helping others. It's work and she earns it, but is a model employee (so I'm told, I believe it). She also has a couple daughters and alimony, and gets by via living frugally. I'm not knocking it, but I'd call it working class: some have different horizons. No possession monger, she, fortunately as that would run up credit card bills that can't be paid. No college education, average intellect, good heart, shops for value and most meals are home prepped (and the better for it, btw). She does side jobs for a couple hundred here and there, too: cleaning, mostly. I think the latter goes into what my mom and granny used to call the "pin money" stash.
We do live in a notoriously high cost of living area, though. She lives in a working class part of town which is nice enough, to try and put into perspective. Retirement, interesting vacations? Forget it. She puts five grand together it's a major event. And, major events do happen as one might expect.
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