Why do people in this town think that $10hr is "good money"?

[smdensbcs]

Things can generally only be understood in context to other things (sorry, I'm a history major). In the case of the $10/hr job, it sort of "seems" good b/c it is 1/2 again as much as the "minimum" wage and therefore better than lots of folks get. What that misses is that the buying power of the minimum wage itself has been steadily dropping decade over decade since the 1950's. By 2010, the minimum wage buys roughly half as much as it did in 1950. Put another way, a minimum wage worker has to work 2x the number of hours in 2010 as the same minimum wage worker had to work back in 1950 (and roughly 1.5x the number of hours as in 1980) to afford the same average apartment rent.

So even though $10/hr is indeed better than the current minimum wage, $10/hr in 2013 has roughly 30% less buying power than the minimum wage in 1950 and roughly the same buying power as the minimum wage in 1980. In other words, its pretty much minimum wage as we'd typically think of it, but employers can now legally pay even less.

This is intended to be a politically neutral analysis, not commenting on whether the steady degradation of the minimum wage's buying power is a good or a bad thing, just that it's a thing. Forgive the generalized numbers above, but this is a city data post not a PhD footnoted thesis, and thank goodness for you all that's the case.

[lurtsman]

LOL Otowi. Someone making 10/hour with no roommate is NOT going to have health insurance. It would be great if they could, but they won't be able to afford it. When I was poor I went without health insurance for several years. I had to be much more careful, but that's what it took to put beans and rice on the table.

I certainly wouldn't let a daughter live in somewhere that was 500/month. It's crazy not to find a room mate.

[guest4]

back in 1996, i lived on 3 dollars a day for food, and most of my activities were free. precisely walking for miles to a mall or just checking out neighborhoods. i was 19 back then so it was fine on my body. i remember eating a bagel with mayo and a slice of tomato for one dollar as a treat. the other two went for cheap dollar pasta sauce and pasta. at times i'd also go by KFC and look through trash for freshly eaten chicken and eat around the part where the customers didn't eat. min. wage was $5 something back then i believe. i was paying my own rent with a roommate. when i was sick during allergy months (april may), i would stay home and shut the windows if i could because i could not afford claritin D at the time. my job was security guard at odd locations.