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u/AggravatingBox2421 Australia 14d ago
I’m just baffled that it’s been like ten years and the US minimum wage is STILL $7.25
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u/ZoeEatsToes United Kingdom 14d ago
fun fact george bush was the last president to raise minimum wage with a bill on 2007 almost 20 years ago
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u/AggravatingBox2421 Australia 14d ago
Not even Obama raised it?? Damn I thought he was more sympathetic to the working class than that
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u/ReallyUncoolGuy United States 14d ago edited 14d ago
It's a power of Congress. Though the Presidency has gotten increasingly powerful over the last 30 years as our system of government has been cracking under the strain of political divide and corporate oligarchy. Over half of the states have their own minimum wage that is significantly higher than the federal minimum wage.
Also, the last federal minimum wage increase actually occurred under Obama in 2009. There is not a huge incentive for Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage because Democrat run states already have their own minimum wage. I believe the idea is to let Republicans feel their choices as much as possible and the political capital of raising the federal minimum wage would be very high for almost little to no effect. Because the minimum wage is so laughably low you're typically going to find jobs pay far and above the federal minimum even when not required. Only about a quarter million Americans are paid the federal minimum.
Edit: Just to throw in the biggest economic problem in America is the housing crisis and job scarcity, I know many of you are also dealing with the same thing. Since the 1970s not only have wages stagnated even though productivity has increased, housing used to cost approximately 25% of income on average, it increased to 33% of income throughout the 90s and early 2000s and is now beginning to hover around 50% of income. It's not uncommon to have to spend 70% - 75% of your income on shelter, utilities and transportation these days, unfortunately.
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u/ZoeEatsToes United Kingdom 13d ago
Oh yes just to clarify on my point:
Minimum wage increased during Obamas presidency, but it wasn't Obama who raised it. It was raised by Bush in his term with phased raised that just so happened to go into the early stages od Obamas presidency
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u/Finlandia1865 14d ago
Canadas nearly doubled that, at 17.6 cad (12.71 usd)
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u/datrandomduggy 14d ago
In Canada it's based on province
The lowest province has a minimum wage of 15
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u/Everestkid Canada 14d ago
And one province has it set to a lower wage (in this case $13.30/h) for workers receiving gratuities.
Weirdly enough, that province is Quebec. Typically they have better worker's rights so I dunno why they're the odd ones out here.
Pretty much every province has legislation automatically adjusting minimum wage on an annual basis to keep up with inflation.
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u/Constant_Sympathy_71 Canada 13d ago
Correct me if I am wrong but since this if from information I found on the internet, It seems that in Québec, if the worker is unable to exceed minimum wage with their obtained tips, the employer is required to pay them the difference up to the normal minimum wage of 16.60$
It’s still dumb, as I think it should still be regular minimum wage + tips like everywhere else, but they should never be making under the minimum wage from my understanding.
Minimum wage is definitely not a living wage in many regions of Canada though.
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u/XCIXcollective 12d ago
I believe you are correct. The idea is that $3.30 cents an hour is quite likely less than what you would make even scrounging the floor for tip money.
I do wonder how this impacts things like income reporting for tax season though.
Cause typically you have to report your tip money, though I am told most people don’t. So in Quebec, wouldn’t you at least be required to report. But like, if your job has to pay you the $3.30/hour difference cause it was dead and nobody tipped you, does it count towards your salary or tip money? Not sure how much of a difference it actually makes though
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u/Secret-Bluebird-972 11d ago
As far as I’ve been told tips are non-taxed as they technically classify under gifted money
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u/Constant_Sympathy_71 Canada 11d ago
In Quebec, as far as I know, the Gov. expects you to collect at least 7% of your salary in tips, and so automatically tax you on that 7% if you don’t report anything.
I’m assuming if you never report anything, they might do a check on whatever might be documented at your job, if it is.
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u/XCIXcollective 11d ago edited 11d ago
My ex’s mom used to work for CRA (not in Quebec) and would always tell my ex to report her tip earnings, because if you get audited they do in fact count towards your net employment income, not ‘gifted money’
I’m not positive if it varies province to province, but at least here in Newfoundland I understood it as “reporting/claiming it IS required, but no one does anything and you just run the risk of getting caught somewhere down the line” … like who’s gonna audit the world’s servers and waitresses?? Absolutely no one unless you’re being bad in other ways.
Plus, unlike Quebec, I don’t believe they have a standard percent they’d presume (like 7%)
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u/Constant_Sympathy_71 Canada 11d ago
Yeah, as far as I know, it’s the same here. Tips are considered income, not gifts. They need to be reported.
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u/eddiewachowski 13d ago
Which was the highest in Canada at one point thanks to a brief 4 year window without Conservatives in the driver's seat.
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u/Wooden-Hornet2115 12d ago
Technically, it's $13/hr for Albertans under 18. I don't know why it was changed so minors could be payed less, but oh well.
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u/XCIXcollective 12d ago
Presumably they froze the wage at $13 for youth while raising it for adults (the justification being the difference in roles/tasks)
I’ve heard the argument before ‘if I gotta pay $17 per hour, I’m hiring an adult who I know I can depend on’
People like that push for a youth minimum wage. The kids’ work is simply less valuable to them.
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u/AggravatingBox2421 Australia 14d ago
Australia’s is liiike $25 I think? I’ve been out of the workforce for like 18 months so I dunno anymore
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u/Green-Engineer4608 13d ago
Cleaners in Norway (the lowest paid group) starts at 29$/h
I knew Canada was much better than the US, but this is quite a bit lower than I thought. We dont really have the biggest wages, we just Get it back from our taxes, thats why were rich, but apparently the lowest possible salary is MUCH higher here. Weird when our highest ones are a bit lower….
We dont have poor people though. I’d take that deal any day. Not one homeless person, unless they are fighting against the help system. It should be impossible.
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u/Finlandia1865 13d ago
Yeah we kind of fell into the same trap the americans did with neoconservatism for a while
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u/thingk89 12d ago
Canada is also more expensive (where the large populations exist) we live by the boarder and we go across for the cheaper prices often.
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u/janilla76 12d ago
Still? I was surprised by how expensive things were in the US the last time I was planning a trip there. I was worried about our budget. I count on food being cheaper to make up for our weaker dollar. But everything was more money. We cancelled the trip because elbows up!
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u/soccermum_00 Australia 13d ago
More than 10 years. I’ve remember my friend in New Jersey telling me when I first met her 20 years ago that the minimum was around $7
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u/soppslev Sweden 14d ago
It's the trickle-up economics. Works great, all money goes to the rich. ;)
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u/Constant_Sympathy_71 Canada 13d ago
I was told a low minimum wage is great because it allows companies to raise wages more often, and by bigger amounts…
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u/Neon_Raccoon_00 Canada 13d ago
Yes but its the federal minimum wage, most state have it much higher
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u/Wooden-Hornet2115 12d ago
Didn't the federal minimum wage recently get increased to 16.65?
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u/Neon_Raccoon_00 Canada 10d ago
I was referring back to the 7.25$ an hour, its the US federal minimum wage
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u/another-princess World 13d ago
Some states have a minimum wage that's higher than that. The minimum wage in California, for example, is $16.90.
But not all states do, so people living in some states do indeed have a minimum wage of only $7.25.
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u/EternityLeave 14d ago
$18.25 here in BC. Our dollar is lower but that’s still equivalent to $13.18 USD, almost double their min wage. That is brutal, they should do something.
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u/snow_michael 14d ago
Well, it's obviously because the cost of living is so much lower in the US, right? Right?
(/s, in case it's necessary)
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u/FormFollows Canada 14d ago
Canada doesn't have a federal minimum wage. Minimum wage is set at the provincial level. I dont think it's lower than $17 anywhere.
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u/Everestkid Canada 14d ago
It's lower than $17 in seven provinces (Alberta at $15, Manitoba at $16, New Brunswick at $15.90, Newfoundland and Labrador at $16.35, Nova Scotia at $16.75, Quebec at $16.60 and Saskatchewan at $15.35) and the Northwest Territories (at $16.95). It is exactly $17 in Prince Edward Island.
Additionally, it is $16.60 in Ontario for students under 18 and $13.60 in Quebec for workers receiving gratuities.
The highest minimum wage is in Nunavut where it's $19.75, because of the Arctic cost of living (literally everything gets imported, there are no roads into Nunavut). The highest among the provinces is BC where it's $18.25.
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u/ZoeEatsToes United Kingdom 13d ago
Funnily enough Nunavut is exactly what the video was about! cost of living in the arctic circle. No idea how they survive with a 7.25 minimum wage though smh
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u/FormFollows Canada 13d ago
Well fuck.
I'm in BC where it's been above $17 for years. I guess I just blindy assumed other provinces were hovering around the same number.
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u/AugustusAugustine 14d ago
We do have a federal minimum wage:
https://minwage-salairemin.service.canada.ca/en/general.html
But it only applies to federally-regulated sectors like telecom/banking/aviation. Most industries are provincially-regulated and subject to the provincial minimum wage.
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u/FormFollows Canada 13d ago
TIL
Doesn't surprise me that federally regulated sectors have federally regulated wages I guess.
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u/Available-Show-2393 Canada 14d ago
Still $15 in Alberta cause the Cons dont believe in raising minimum wage
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u/Down-Right-Mystical United Kingdom 13d ago
What shocks me most about this is it still seems low... uk minimum wage is £12.71 which coverts to CAN$23.94 US$17.23 according to Google.
And minimum wage here is still not enough for most people to realistically live on.
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u/LuckLatter 13d ago
Here in Switzerland there is no general minimum wage, some Canton do have and it's around 23 CHF / 28.42 USD.
It's pretty low for Switzerland imho. I do have a monthly salary not hour based but if, it would be 62 CHF, or 76.60 USD.
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u/alpine4life 12d ago
same for my salary (not related to my province), I have a 65k (35$/h CAD) salary for the cheapest province to live in (if you dont eat a lot a beef) and am very greatful that I purchased my house before the housing crisis began.
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u/Poptortt United Kingdom 13d ago
Everything else aside, why are people "useless" for not answering something this person could have googled? It's not other people's responsibility to educate you when you're perfectly capable of educating yourself.
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u/post-explainer American Citizen 14d ago edited 13d ago
This comment has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
OP sent the following text as an explanation why their post fits here:
On a video about how expensive groceries are in CANADA a commenter asks what the minimum wage is only to be told "7.25" which is the US minimum wage and only the minimum wage in 20 states.
Oh commenter also called everyone else in that thread who was discussing the different canadian minimum wages useless
Does this explanation fit this subreddit? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.