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The minimum wage was $2 per hour in 1973. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, what would cost $100 to buy in 1973 would now cost you $540.56. Therefore for the minimum wage to be equivalent to what it was in 1973, it would need to be $10.81 per hour now. Any lag in the minimum wage below $10.81 means that the Fair Labor Standards Act is out of date and needs to be adjusted.
The FLSA is also out of date in their calculation for overtime pay. $23,660 as a floor for overtime pay is sadly out of date. What this means is that a salaried manager at McDonalds making $35K a year and working a 60 hour week would be making just $11.22 an hour. Without a meaningful FLSA adjustment virtually anyone making more than subsistence wages can be classified as salaried.
I feel that as a 22 year old, with no kids, no debt, a college degree, numerous certifications, no jail record, and a near perfect credit score, I should be able to afford and save some cash at the end of the day. Really I don't think striving to be able to pay for shelter and save money isn't asking for a whole lot. Some people can see their money grow for miles, why can't I see mine grow an inch?
I was in a similar situation when I was your age. Except, I couldn't even find a job in my field as a Software Engineer due to the dot-com bubble bursting after graduating college. What did I do?
I took a retail job paying close to minimum wage, which wasn't anything near $15/hour at the time. Lived with my grandmother for a few months to help save money. Eventually got my own place WITH A ROOMMATE to help offset the costs and utilities. I didn't think about having kids or marrying until the job market recovered and I had my foundation set.
Minimum wage was never meant to provide sustainable living. If you need to save money at that level, or get more, you need to get creative and use your head. Get skills that are in demand. Stop blaming the system and being a victim. A country like the United States can't sustain itself by distributing wealth that doesn't exist, especially when those people don't have the skills necessary to sustain the country. Yeah, a free market isn't always fair, but then nothing is really. There will always be problems with any system. Socialism isn't the answer. We've already seen how that's resulted in the past and even today, very few countries can pull it off, and trust me you wouldn't want to live there, or IDK maybe you do, in which case that option is always available to you.
I'd say for me about $30. Almost 40 years experience working on everything from 300 ft warships to scale models. And I mean everything. I make slightly less than that now but I like my work so i can live with that. There's an element of misery too. I spend a lot of time in mud cold and rain.
The problem we're facing though is wages that are not keeping up with the cost of living. I live well. Many people I know are struggling even though they work hard and are smart about life. The system is out of balance. I remember in the 70s America bragged about how we would help the 3rd world rise up to where we were. It's not going that way, the 3rd world is here.
I think one thing that would help us immensely would be for government to compete with the realestate industry. The cost of housing is way out of control. Cut the rents by a third and see what happens.
This , 100% .
My husband makes this also after 30 years an A&P but the new ones coming in are willing to take half or less without taking into account how they will live so it drags down everyones pay and you are talking about peoples lives in the air here .
Rent is unreal in my region and they are really pretty high in alot of places that are't just garbage . I can live in some rough places up to a point - but it's because I have too not because I enjoy it .
never has been, it is always about skill, and knowing how to do it
knowing theory is fine but only if you can act on it, otherwise its only good to sit around a fire and talk over it
sounds like people prefer to be think tanks but at the end of the day, they need to put it to action, and they cant so they look foolish if they cant back their words with action
Skill is knowledge.
Knowing how to learn more is a skill.
I can put 20 year veteran electrician in front of a tugging machine. If the man can't figure out how to set it up and operate it he's worth less to me than a 4th year apprentice that does.
On the flipside, if the the machine breaks, that 4th year is going to be looking to the 20 year vet on how to finish the job by either repairing the machine, or going without it.
We need to be more than an efficient cog in machine if they want to retain or appreciate in value, otherwise we'll be left behind.
So when we tell low wage workers that their job doesn't entitle them to a living wage or whatever dollar amount we put on what constitutes a living wage, we're not telling those people that the job isn't that important. We're telling them that they, as people, as American citizens, aren't important.
No, we're telling them if they want more money, they just need to develop skills that are in higher demand. There needs to be some motivation for this. Do their part to support the country's growth and we can provide things like welfare. Otherwise they can keep doing what they're doing, and take what the market is able to give them, because value doesn't come from thin air. And be thankful to even have a job.
The sad reality is that nobody is "entitled" to anything. Some people work harder than others, and some don't do anything. So yes, certain people's skills are worth more than others. We're not the same. That's just how it is.
Socialist ideals don't solve this problem. They lead to complacency and a point where the country cannot sustain itself.
Skilled people move to countries that will offer a meritocracy. This is why so many great people move here. A minimum wage that barely motivates people to do better cannot support this country. We already have enough debt.
Skill is the application of knowledge, not the same. Doesn't matter how much you know if you can't use it
If someone says they know it, hand them a tool and see if they can really do it. If not, they do not "know" it. Repeating things from a book does not equate to knowledge of the subject
Seems like many college grads are good with repeating materials for test taking, they don't have a clue on how to use it outside a test though
edit: ie, a biology grad can name cell structures, identify animals, etc... when they look for a job, they dont want to roam around the outdoors where they can identify plants and animals. instead they want to work in a lab. what skills do they have? they can id cell structures? that isnt going to get them hired. what else? they can do the work they did in bio labs? sure, but fyi, they werent bio grads when they took those labs... in other words, they are looking at lab jobs that they did without a degree.
same for chem grads, they look to do jobs they did in lab class, titrations, pouring mixtures, some mass spec? if a non grad did it in lab class, the company can hire a non degree person to do it after trainig for a few weeks. so why hire someone with a degree for those easy jobs? what can a new grad offer though? they need to figure that out before graduation to be successful quickly
No, we're telling them if they want more money, they just need to develop skills that are in higher demand. There needs to be some motivation for this. .
I'm curious.
If minimum wage was raised by $5 (which is about 50% what it is now), what about all those who are making $15 an hour now with college degrees in entry level specialized positions? They won't get a $7.50/hour raise. They will be making the same as those in positions that do not require special skills or education. Is this fair?
I'm very open to hearing differing opinions without getting into an argument.
What do you think YOU'RE worth?
I'd like this to be an open discussion with no attacks or party-blaming (dems/reps)
In the current economy at about $9-10 an hour as minimum wage, I'd say I'm probably worth $21 an hour.. With a specialized masters and a license to practice therapy. Second year out of school.
One good way to find out is have the employees making less
than $15.00 minimum stop doing what they do for about a
week and see how it impacts society. Then decide from there
whether they're "worth" it.
I've watched on my own jobs the need for manpower being reduced thanks to technology and new methods to perform the work. A wire pulling crew used to consist of a large number of men. Now we have machines that can do the bulk of the pulling and feeding of large cables, so you just need a handful of people to actually manage the machines.
The writing is on the wall, knowledge is where the money is.
Then it would be wise to obtain the education required to transition to the knowledge based economy
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