Living on the bare minimum (payment, unemployment, financial, major)

[Petunia 100]

Originally Posted by Suburban_Guy

Day in the life of a minimum wage worker

The solution for her is to acquire some skills which command higher wages.

I fully support programs to assist her with that goal.

I support the idea of a minimum wage, and agree it does need to be raised from time to time. Without a minimum wage, supply and demand would drive wages for those with no skills far lower than $7.25 per hour.

I do not buy the notion that the minimum wage should be enough to support a comfortable middle class life. That's ridiculous.

[MrBR]

Originally Posted by Petunia 100

The solution for her is to acquire some skills which command higher wages.

I fully support programs to assist her with that goal.

I support the idea of a minimum wage, and agree it does need to be raised from time to time. Without a minimum wage, supply and demand would drive wages for those with no skills far lower than $7.25 per hour.

I do not buy the notion that the minimum wage should be enough to support a comfortable middle class life. That's ridiculous.

Golly Gee Wilikers, are you going to bring back the good paying jobs factory job of the 1950s?

[Petunia 100]

Originally Posted by MrBR

Golly Gee Wilikers, are you going to bring back the good paying jobs factory job of the 1950s?

How did I become responsible for that? Why don't you do it?

[MrBR]

Originally Posted by Petunia 100

How did I become responsible for that? Why don't you do it?

You told them to find better paying jobs but the problem is there aren't any. There are far more people today than jobs and its only going to get worse as automation kills off more and more jobs. Hell even the McJobs will be gone soon.
This isn't the 1950s anymore where you can wave at your neighbor and he'll tell you about a nice ol' job down at the factory paying enough to support a family.

[ByeByeLW]

I work at the post office and am near retirement, so I worked there when it was good .

The new job descriptions keep changing as the wages get lower.

For example, TE's who were making over $20 an hour were demoted to CCAs who make around $15 an hour.

The carrot with the stick is that they may one day make "regular" and become career employees.

Please understand I don't have all the facts about these different jobs. I'm too busy getting edjumicated for a second career.

There was a decent article in Psychology Today about working for the USPS. It did, however, give a totally unrealistic salary for the new hires.

I wonder if any of the new hires will ever hit $53,000 as mentioned in the article, unless they go into management at some point.

[Petunia 100]

Originally Posted by MrBR

You told them to find better paying jobs but the problem is there aren't any. There are far more people today than jobs and its only going to get worse as automation kills off more and more jobs. Hell even the McJobs will be gone soon.
This isn't the 1950s anymore where you can wave at your neighbor and he'll tell you about a nice ol' job down at the factory paying enough to support a family.

It's not that there aren't any higher paying jobs, it's that there aren't any higher paying jobs available to her. Her problem is that she lacks marketable skills, otherwise knows as skills which command higher wages in the workplace. Factory jobs and McJobs are not the only two options.

[FBJ]

Originally Posted by freemkt

And if there's never any emergency savings. that's okay? What happens when there's an emergency?

I don't think you have to pay student loans if you are unemployed. And yes there should be an emergency savings if you are able to create one.


Emergency savings should be for

Food
Rent
Bills


Not things like

Student Loans
Going out
Shopping

[freemkt]

Originally Posted by FBJ

I don't think you have to pay student loans if you are unemployed. And yes there should be an emergency savings if you are able to create one.


Emergency savings should be for

Food
Rent
Bills


Not things like

Student Loans
Going out
Shopping

Student loan collectors disagree with you, and they can take income off the top.

[FBJ]

Originally Posted by freemkt

Student loan collectors disagree with you, and they can take income off the top.

So you are telling me they would take income off the top of a Unemployment check?

[Petunia 100]

Originally Posted by FBJ

I don't think you have to pay student loans if you are unemployed. And yes there should be an emergency savings if you are able to create one.


Emergency savings should be for

Food
Rent
Bills


Not things like

Student Loans
Going out
Shopping

I agree.

Additionally, I think student loans should be used to pay for tuition, fees, and books. Too often, they are used to cover rent, cars, food, and entertainment. The result is students graduate with a bachelor's degree and are 100k in debt.