There are tons of Minimum Wage Workers in Northern VA (Arlington: low crime, daycare)

[my post]

When people think of Northern VA most imagine a government worker or someone in tech making good money but in recent years there has been an increase in poverty and adults working for close to the minimum wage. Retail, restaurants, and services are an ever increasing amount of the total employment in Fairfax.

Yes, few people make the actual minimum wage but there are lots of adults making under $10 an hour. These are not high school students making a few extra bucks for fun, but adult bread winners.

The local McDonalds in Arlington VA was advertising for workers and were proud to say they were paying $8.25 an hour. I wonder why someone would chose Northern VA as their home when they work for under $10 an hour. At least in DC the minimum wage is going up to $11.50 on July 1st. How can the Arlington VA McDonalds offer $8.25 when the worker can make over $11.00 an hour minimum in DC or many other cities?

(I just spent a month in Texas and the McDonalds in low cost Fort Worth was advertising for help and offering $11.00 an hour to start.)

Isn't Northern VA a terrible area for the low wage worker?

[Eagle4Life]

What is the point of this thread? Wages are set (in theory) by supply and demand. Low skill workers are in great supply thus driving wages down. Simple economics. Minimum wage was never meant to equate to a living wage. And plenty of people are willing to work for that $8.25/hour.

[my post]

Originally Posted by Eagle4Life

What is the point of this thread? Wages are set (in theory) by supply and demand. Low skill workers are in great supply thus driving wages down. Simple economics. Minimum wage was never meant to equate to a living wage. And plenty of people are willing to work for that $8.25/hour.

The point of the thread is to discuss Northern VA workers and the changing nature of it's employment. And why they decide to live here when they could get a much higher standard of living somewhere else.

[gomason]

The most obvious answer is family. A lot of people aren't willing to move for that reason. Moving across the country isn't so simple for a poor minimum wage worker either.

[NOVA_guy]

I feel like there's a bit of an overreaction going on with 'Northern Virginia is declining, low wage families are coming!!' I do think the area is getting more and more expensive, so ultimately it makes things seem a bit more dramatic than what they are.

The area is changing, sure but I don't think it's going to lose its foundation that's made it what it is today -- superb job market, good compensation, highly skilled and educated workforce, great schools, low crime etc.

[Ffxdata]

Originally Posted by my post

The point of the thread is to discuss Northern VA workers and the changing nature of it's employment. And why they decide to live here when they could get a much higher standard of living somewhere else.

Because mobility is a bit of a myth. As easy as it is for people (and politicians) to say "just move somewhere else," it's incredibly complicated for the working poor. Perhaps a mother with a child lives here and works for minimum wage. Here she can count on her mother to watch her child while she works. If she were to move to Fort Worth, she would have no family or social support system. She'd have to pay for daycare for her child which even in FW isn't cheap. Even if she does manage to move to FW, it doesn't have the metro system that she is used to, and it takes her an extra hour to use the unreliable FW bus system. That means an extra 2 hours that she has to pay for child care. If her kid is sick and the daycare won't accept her sick kid like her mother would have so she has to call out of work and likely loses her job. So she is in an area with no support system and no job and probably next to no savings.

Or imagine a divorced father who has children but few skills. He wants to have a relationship with his children, so he must stay nearby and choose from the jobs available.

Even if someone wants to work for the low wage DC job instead of a low wage VA job, they still have to get there. Driving to that job means reliable transportation (and associated costs and parking) or an expensive metro trip (metro is expensive when you make $8 or $10 an hour).

[chehokie09]

I wouldnt worry as much about people making minimum wage. I would worry more for those with 4 year degrees making 40k/yr with 100k in student loan debt. To me, that is a larger problem.

[my post]

If they can't move to a place where $10 an hour gives you closer to a middle class lifestyle, like Texas, then work in DC instead of Arlington. In DC you will earn at least $11.50 an hour starting this summer. In Arlington, across the river, they are paying $8.00 an hour.

Originally Posted by Ffxdata

Because mobility is a bit of a myth. As easy as it is for people (and politicians) to say "just move somewhere else," it's incredibly complicated for the working poor. Perhaps a mother with a child lives here and works for minimum wage. Here she can count on her mother to watch her child while she works. If she were to move to Fort Worth, she would have no family or social support system. She'd have to pay for daycare for her child which even in FW isn't cheap. Even if she does manage to move to FW, it doesn't have the metro system that she is used to, and it takes her an extra hour to use the unreliable FW bus system. That means an extra 2 hours that she has to pay for child care. If her kid is sick and the daycare won't accept her sick kid like her mother would have so she has to call out of work and likely loses her job. So she is in an area with no support system and no job and probably next to no savings.

Or imagine a divorced father who has children but few skills. He wants to have a relationship with his children, so he must stay nearby and choose from the jobs available.

Even if someone wants to work for the low wage DC job instead of a low wage VA job, they still have to get there. Driving to that job means reliable transportation (and associated costs and parking) or an expensive metro trip (metro is expensive when you make $8 or $10 an hour).

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by my post

If they can't move to a place where $10 an hour gives you closer to a middle class lifestyle, like Texas, then work in DC instead of Arlington. In DC you will earn at least $11.50 an hour starting this summer. In Arlington, across the river, they are paying $8.00 an hour.

But there's lots of $8.00 jobs. Not so much in parts of Texas. In fact, many places don't have a ton of minimum wage jobs. My son is a college student trying to get a job in a small town just for spending money. The competition for the fast food jobs is ridiculous. I know if he were here, he'd get a job in about a day.

[Ffxdata]

Originally Posted by my post

If they can't move to a place where $10 an hour gives you closer to a middle class lifestyle, like Texas, then work in DC instead of Arlington. In DC you will earn at least $11.50 an hour starting this summer. In Arlington, across the river, they are paying $8.00 an hour.

You literally quoted my response to this logic.

"Even if someone wants to work for the low wage DC job instead of a low wage VA job, they still have to get there. Driving to that job means reliable transportation (and associated costs and parking) or an expensive metro trip (metro is expensive when you make $8 or $10 an hour)."

And you act like living in Arlington is some low-cost housing oasis. "Oh just live in Arlington and spend $6+ each day to metro around to your job in DC."