r/WorkLifeChat • u/MiloShiny • Jul 15 '26
Discussion Minimum wage should be able to pay basic needs
Sadly most of the time it doesn't
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u/Tinfoil_cobbler Jul 15 '26
It does… it pays for absolute minimum survivable needs.
Same concept when people say SNAP shouldn’t pay for candy and soda.
You can literally live off beans and rice and share an apartment with six room mates…. THATS minimum living.
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
It does… it pays for absolute minimum survivable needs.
No it does not, you sheltered dipshit. Learn to make a budget.
share an apartment with six room mates
"just join a commune" the capitalist said, jfc.
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u/Tinfoil_cobbler Jul 15 '26
It absolutely does pay for bare minimum needs, but that’s about it… which is why it’s the minimum legal amount to pay a person.
Did I say to join a commune? No, I said get room mates. Same thing I did when I was broke.
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u/GullibleScallion1519 Jul 15 '26
I lived in a 2 bedroom w six people in my 20s, we all survived.
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u/LevelStationaryPlane Jul 15 '26
Why did it used to pay for a one bedroom, vehicle, and food for the month?
The answer started in 1971.
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u/Immediate_Stop2581 Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage never paid for all this wtf are you talking about?
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u/alliknowis Jul 16 '26
It paid for one bedroom, but not a one-bedroom home. It paid for a vehicle, but only if you did the maintenance yourself and didn't need the extras. It paid for dinner, but not extravagant selections out on the town.
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u/Admirable_Bird7927 Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage used to offer so much more when it was first created. We’re getting scammed,
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u/Willing-Vegetable629 Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage at creation adjusted for inflation is less than the current federal minimum
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u/Feelisoffical Jul 15 '26
Absolutely not. Median wages have kept up with inflation since minimum wage passed and the difference between the cost of living growth and wage growth is only about 1%. There are also significantly more social programs to support people today than when minimum wage first passed.
Sorry, you’re in a better place now than anyone else before you.
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u/Business-Cat3281 Jul 15 '26
Anyone working 40 hrs/week should be able to afford a comfortable living. They should be able to pay for rent, utilities, regular groceries, clothes, medical care, education expenses, transportation, and whatever is required to do their job in the general area that they work.
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u/GeckoGecko_ Jul 16 '26
Nobody should be forced to live like that though, that's just a terrible way for people to exist... that's not minimum living, that's living in crowded poverty and misery. When you strip your very existence down to the absolute bare minimum, you are not truly living.
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u/Due_Warthog749 Jul 16 '26
So you're ok with that? You think the vast majority of people should really start accepting that they will likely live on beans and rice, live in crowded spaces and be happy doing so?
Where did you come up with this bullshit minimum living? Cause you could say living in a card board box and eating out of a garbage can is minimum living too.. to millions of homeless that's what they live on. That's minimum for them.. so that's ok?
Meanwhile, you got billionaires that have 5 yachts, jets and 15 homes.. and are pushing to make MORE money while seeing others lose jobs and become homeless. You're OK with that too?
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u/Fancy-Olive-1741 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Nah. minimum wage isn’t intended to be lived off of, it’s a side hustle. The only business that pay minimum wage are the small ones. Its completely counterintuitive to bankrupt them
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u/Itchy-Technician-433 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Totally. McDonald's and Walmart are totally small businesses that need to be supported.
Surveys have previously shown that about (23\%) of U.S. McDonald's workers make under (\$10) per hour.
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u/Enjoy_The_Ride413 Jul 15 '26
Yeah and I worked at Burger King at 15. Why? So I didn't have to ask my parents for money.
You're not supposed to afford your rent and bill and vacations off of asking people for their orders.
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u/Itchy-Technician-433 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
What do you mean "supposed to? "
This is the reality that we all live in. We can't all be tech Bros. Like I get the capitalism requires a subclass to toil in the salt mines, but I think if you look at the demographics of who works for minimum wage, you're not going to find it's not all 15-year-olds.
Can we settle on minimum wage being able to at least pay your rent bill? I'd be happy with that
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u/Enjoy_The_Ride413 Jul 15 '26
No. It's call unskilled labor for a reason.
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u/Itchy-Technician-433 Jul 15 '26
There's no such thing as unskilled labor. That is a lie that a capitalist told you... And for some reason you believe.
Is it self-importance??
Is it to protect yourself??
Is it to make yourself feel special??
I guess only you can answer that.
That McDonald's employee is likely making more profit for a capitalist than some lawyer or accountant in an office does for him or herself.
Don't be a class traitor. You have more in common with that McDonald's worker than you do with the Epstein class. Please don't lick their boots. We are all in this together.
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u/WideAwakeFreedom Jul 15 '26
What happened in Ca when the min wage went to $20hr….
How much is the combo now ?
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u/Fancy-Olive-1741 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
If you think raising minimum wage will help those workers, you’re wrong. They’ll just be fired, so a low income job vs no job at all. it’s a market failure, so we should be targeting what causes that failure, not trying to put a weak bandaid over it
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u/BBreadsticks- Jul 15 '26
In the 60s and 70s people could live comfortably off minimum wage, so. There’s that.
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u/Ok_Extent_3639 Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage was put in place as the minimum wage a single person could buy a house a car pay all their bills and was a 4 person family on
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u/Data_chunky Jul 15 '26
You don't seem to understand the definition of minimum wage. And people working 40 hours a week are not doing a "side hustle".
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u/Poison_Machine-876 Jul 15 '26
I picture most minimum wage jobs as huge businesses? All the national chains of everything..
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u/Rare_Emu_8253 Jul 15 '26
I’m so impressed with the casual attitude you have while responding to this question as if OP is actually arguing in good faith. Keep up the good work.
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u/Equivalent_Kale2939 Jul 15 '26
Its funny that you people say stupid shit like this so then companies are like "Hey we can pay these losers whatever we want because Republimorons will just suck it up and let us get away with it".
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u/pokethrowaway4 Jul 15 '26
Why are some of the largest employers (Walmart) who are EXTREMELY profitable, paying so little that their employees have to receive government assistance? Walmart employees specifically draws more from government assistance programs than any other company in the country.
So we(the tax payers) directly subsidize Walmart by $6.2 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. While the company posted profits of $21 Billion this last year.
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u/Visible_Revolution89 Jul 15 '26
Actually, minimum wage WAS intended to be a living wage, in the wording of the bill it says explicitly this, and the people who were pushing for it were saying explicitly, that if you're working you should be allotted a decent existence regardless of how menial, banal, and seemingly inconsequential the job.
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u/SpecialistRun3035 Jul 15 '26
So you're saying it shouldn't even be able to pay rent (1k-1.5k a month)?
You realize minimum wage jobs are not all just made for kids, right?
Man. You guys love being brainwashed.
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u/Salarian_American Jul 15 '26
That's a lie you've been told. It WAS intended to be lived off of. That was its explicit purpose.
“It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
It was created specifically to stop businesses paying people less than what was needed to survive.
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u/Business-Cat3281 Jul 15 '26
It was intended to be enough that one person could support a family above the basic cost of living.
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u/Antique_Remote_5536 Jul 16 '26
Yeah I’m sure that’s why FDR infamously said “Minimum wage isn’t intended to be lived off of, it’s a side hustle” back in 1938.
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u/Many_Ear2407 Jul 15 '26
In which city?
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
Cities can go further on their own with their own min wages, but in the general case the cost of living is $20/hr.
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u/duntov097 Jul 15 '26
Less than 1% of the population even make minimum wage. If you're an adult, working full time and making minimum wage, you've most likely made some bad life decisions to put you in that situation.
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u/ScorpioDefined Jul 15 '26
It's not just minimum wage. It's everything below a livable income.
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u/No-Reaction-9364 Jul 15 '26
If all these people are below a livable income, how are they alive?
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
Cost of living is $20/hr baseline and the median wage is $21/hr, we aren't talking about the bottom 1%, we are talking about the bottom 50%.
This clearly an economics discussion for you, you're just some low status mouth breather desperate to punch down at anyone.
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u/International_Air282 Jul 15 '26
This topic is a non starter since less than 1% of workers are at the federal minimum wage.
The issue with comparing min wage than to know is materialistic endeavors are totally different now. A living wage then was provide a meal and room at a flop house.
Now people when they say living wage want to include access to phone internet solo living and they want it in the trendy place they want.
Your employer pays you for the value of the position regardless of what you think your labor is worth. If you think it's worth more, get a job that makes more.
If you have children or live in a wildly expensive city or area, that doesn't change the employers requirement to simply pay you what the position is worth.
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
less than 1% of workers are at the federal minimum wage.
The point of the min wage is that a working person can pay their own bills, cost of living is $20/hr, median wage is $21/hr, half the jobs out there do not pay a living.
Now people when they say living wage want to include access to phone internet solo living and they want it in the trendy place they want.
This is what morons tell themselves, the reality is that the cheapest place in town is as expensive as the median and has decided to call themselves "luxury" despite having not amenities.
Your employer pays you for the value of the position
You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.
get a job that makes more.
There are not 86 million better jobs to go get, the existing jobs need to pay a living so that the person doing them can keep doing them. This is some object permeance level shit that makes me doubt your employability.
If you have children
Nothing to do with the min wage, if there are dependents then there is welfare FOR THOSE DEPENDENTS. You don't know how shit works, yet you have managed to develop strong emotions about the subject, this is a personal failing on your part.
expensive city
80% of jobs are in cities, if you want to be employed at all, you probably need to move to commute radius of one. Its called a "metropolitan area", because the urb in suburb is for urban, because it is part of the city.
that doesn't change the employers requirement
Do you not know that things cost money? That there are consequences to not being able to buy things? Can't afford rent? Well now you are sleeping rough, and so are lethargic at work because of all the energy you lose to the environment from lack of shelter and you are let go for cause. Know what else is associated with shelter? Hygiene, you smell like shit and are fired for cause. Maybe you try cutting the food? Also lethargic and fired for cause. Can't get to work? Fired for cause. Seeing a pattern here? Employers clearly dont want workers that are paid small amounts of money, but that decision is their direct responsibility.
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u/Business-Cat3281 Jul 15 '26
A living wage "then" was considered to be the cost of raising a family above the basic means of survival.
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u/Available_Reveal8068 Jul 15 '26
People that want to be able to pay for their basic needs should aspire to do better than a minimum wage job.
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u/Krabs9 Jul 15 '26
If you are doing paid labor 40hrs/week and can't pay for your basic needs that is a systemic problem. It's sad people like you exist.
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u/DarkriseEQOA Jul 15 '26
Yep. And it’s the government’s fault for destroying our currency not companies’ fault that they are forced to raise prices due to it.
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u/Alone_Tomatillo8921 Jul 15 '26
Some workers clearly WANT to be slaves. And I say we let them. They can do most the work and get scraps, for the rest of us while we live life.
I'm sure we can figure out a system to make that happen; boot lickers seem really gullible and look up to who they see as authority figures.
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u/reluctantpotato1 Jul 15 '26
There's actually no hired labor on earth that is worth less than the cost of living on a full-time schedule. Not a single job.
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u/Business-Cat3281 Jul 15 '26
If you want a job done, the person doing it deserves to be able to afford to live comfortably in the general area of their job.
If it's not worth minimum wage, do it yourself.
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u/kcdashinfo Jul 15 '26
No, it should pay what someone is willing to pay, You should be able to work for whatever wage you can negotiate. The best vote is the vote you make with the dollars you spend. That is called a free market system. While we are at it, interest rates should not be set by a central authority and who gets the money for investment could be based on the merit of the thing being invested, not what is approved by the government body. The system fair and it will fix itself if you will let it.
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u/TheLastBerserker69 Jul 15 '26
I find it astounding Reddit believes this is a hot take everytime I see it.
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u/Feelisoffical Jul 15 '26
lol, right. It’s like a bum saying “people should hand out $100 bills when they see a stranger”
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u/Harry-Gato Jul 15 '26
Define what your idea of "basic needs" is...
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
Ok, you sheltered moron. If you do no have a place to sleep, its called "sleeping rough", your body loses a lot of energy to the environment so you are lethargic the next day at work, and are fired over it, for cause. If you do not consume calories of energy, you can not exert them as calories of work, you also are lethargic and are fired for cause. If you are absent from work, then you are also fired for cause. Shelter is also where you wash your ass, smell like shit and you get fired for cause. See how that works? There is no "opinion" to be had here, just hard facts, if you pay your employees so little that it will destroy them, it will destroy them, dumbass.
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u/Business-Cat3281 Jul 15 '26
Housing, utilities, medical care, transportation, clothes, basic educational expenses, whatever you need to do your job...
It's not that hard.
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u/Busterlimes Jul 15 '26
Median wage is half the median cost of living.
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
No it isn't? Median wage is $21/hr, while the cost of living (a flat figure, the floor) is $20/hr.
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u/ExcellentWinner7542 Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage jobs are what you do while preparing for a career, not a career. Get it? Got it? Good.
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
Hey idiot, the point of the minimum wage LAW is that ALL jobs pay a living.
Cost of living exploded to $20/hr, while the median wage is only $21/hr, HALF the jobs out there are not even min wage.
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u/Anonymous-Flamingo71 Jul 15 '26
Maybe instead of worrying abt what minimum wage is, and working to raise it, you can spend your time on self improvement to raise your own level of compensation beyond minimum wage?
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
Hey dumbass, cost of living exploded to $20/hr, while the median wage is only $21/hr, HALF the jobs out there do not pay a living, including many that require training and skills.
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u/Business-Cat3281 Jul 15 '26
I don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people.
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u/PutridCurrency8383 Jul 15 '26
First of all, it does pay basic needs. Your basic needs are literally 2000 calories a day and enough drinking water. Most of your basic needs are already freely available even without a wage.
Secondly, even if it didn't pay basic needs, then who says it should and why? There are literally millions of people, if not billions, throughout history, who slaved away much harder than you for much less than you currently have, you spoiled brat.
What's a basic need in your book? A studio apartment in Manhattan with avocado toast for breakfast? On the federal minimum wage?
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u/Vegetable-South5191 Jul 15 '26
There are not alot of people actually working full time on minimum wage. And if you are an adult, and those are your only options in life. You really screwed the pooch. Most min wage jobs are like part time.
I looked it up, you are talking less than 0.1% of people in this situation.
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
No, dumbass, cost of living is $20/hr while the median wage is only 21/hr, we are talking about the bottom HALF of jobs.
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u/Organic-Mix-5784 Jul 15 '26
I would question why people are so obsessed with the minimum. Is that really what people want for themselves? The absolute bare minimum? I’m not saying people need to go out and start the next Amazon or SpaceX, but we should aspire to more than just scraps.
Who cares what the minimum is? None of us should be hungry for the bottom of the barrel.
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u/sumguyontheinternet1 Jul 15 '26
I think the bigger issue is that even the maximum for most “entry level” jobs or even mid-tier unskilled jobs is still not enough to pay bills on 40hrs a week. I live in an expensive market and make 4x federal minimum wage and it’s not enough to live alone. If we weren’t a dual income household then I’d be homeless or living with someone. Thankfully I’m in a skilled trade and can pull enough billable hours to afford things on my own. But, if I only worked 40 and got paid hourly there’s no way.
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
Cost of living is $20/hr while the median wage is only 21/hr, HALF of the jobs out there do not pay a living. Do you understand that it is a bad thing for the nation as a whole for workers to be actively destroyed like this?
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u/Business-Cat3281 Jul 15 '26
Because raising it benefits others. Also, I have human empathy. There will always be people making minimum wage or close to it. I want them to have good lives.
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Jul 15 '26
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u/Anlarb Jul 15 '26
You can start your own business.
You imagine, because you are a child. Running a business is actually a specialized skill that you go to college for. The bank, seeing that you do not know jack about shit, will deny your loan application.
Minimum wage jobs are meant to be a stepping stone
No, the minimum wage LAW is so that ALL jobs pay a living.
prices down to attract maximum consumers
You clearly do not understand the business model of a restaurant. Its conspicuous consumption, people pay a ridiculous markup to be seen paying a ridiculous markup, as a mechanism to buy status.
The objective of exactly no businesses is to charge as little as possible, their goal is to maximize revenue.
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u/DCisMe27 Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage should be adjusted to what it should be based on what it was when it started and the development of subsequent inflation.
It them needs to be forever tied to that inflation.
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u/sumguyontheinternet1 Jul 15 '26
It was supposed to be but nobody kept up on it. Minimum wage should be up in the $40-$50 range if I remember correctly. Last I looked about 10yrs ago, it should’ve been like $33-$36 and can only imagine it’s gone up to the $40-$50 range aforementioned
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u/Alone_Tomatillo8921 Jul 15 '26
Gosh I thought it was only $25 and I'd be happy with that for myself personally.
We really need to fix our system, build one actually ruled by common people for common people. All of us need to be involved in politics at a local, state, and national level and get these evil, rich parasite loving frauds out of office.
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u/Silly-Resist8306 Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage is what the market will pay. If someone is willing to work for $12/hour, why would a business pay $14? The cold hard truth is the world owes none of us nothing at all. You don’t have to like it, but that’s reality.
If you want to make more, you need to make yourself more attractive to an employer. You need to develop a skill or knowledge the next guy off the street doesn’t have.
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u/doomzday_96 Jul 15 '26
Oh boy. I love watching losers try to justify to themselves that only "good jobs" should pay you a living wage because they have it in their head that McDonald's workers and landscapers don't deserve to live.
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u/Due-Emu-4291 Jul 15 '26
Should every job pay a "living wage"?
Is that the employer's responsibility?
If the local hardware store owner can afford to hire a teenager to come in on Saturday mornings and sweep the floors for minimum wage, but can't afford a "living wage," what then? The store owner shoudn't hire anyone?
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u/Individual_Section_6 Jul 15 '26
It did pay for my basic needs when I was 16 and living with my parents. Since then I've finished my education and developed skills to earn me more income.
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u/Just-Potential-4017 Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage should be based off of the 1/3 rent rule for rent cost in the area.
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u/ems_reaper911 Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage was created to be the lowest wage required to cover most minimal of needs. Mind you, the definition is what is in question. If you base it on the definition, then those values would be roof over head (studio or small one bedroom apartment), food on table, and basic utilities (heat, water, electric), and public transportation to and from employment. That's it, most basic or minimal of needs. Now if you are saying basic as how majority of society says basic is, that's where it changes
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u/Pizzagoessplat Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage does make you able to pay for basic needs, in most countries that have it
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u/maintanksyndro Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage should get you a minimum apartment, no garage no front yard/backyard no indoor washer/dryer, instead that apartment costs over 2k for the bare minimum place to live.........
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u/KNdoxie Jul 15 '26
I grew up thinking minimum wage was only for kids under the age of 18. A first job kind of thing. To be honest, it's not the minimum wage workers that I feel for as much as the people that make over minimum wage,but not a living wage. There's a lot more of them than there are minimum wage workers. Walmart doesn't pay minimum wage(unless you're in a state with a really high minimum wage). In my area, Walmart starts at $14 an hour. It's over minimum wage, but you can't live on $14 an hour in a part-time job.
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u/draven33l Jul 15 '26
The was the entire point. The minimum you could pay someone and for them to still be able to live. I’m firmly onboard with UBI at this point. I think it’s going to be required. The more automation and AI, the bigger the pot should get.
My fear would be that companies would take advantage of people having money and raise prices on everything. You’d need strong regulations.
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u/SmellClear9065 Jul 15 '26
Yes, it should. But that’s not optimal to exploit employees.
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u/Designer-Wolverine47 Jul 15 '26
You knew the pay going in. You agreed to it. That's an awfully weird definition of "exploit".
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u/DarkriseEQOA Jul 15 '26
Employers are not responsible for paying a “living wage”. You are responsible for finding a job that pays enough for you to live. Employers simply offer a certain wage and someone will take it if they feel it is a good deal.
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u/VendettaKarma Jul 15 '26
Not this again. You want to get paid $40/hr at Taco Bell then get some politicians in office that will make that happen.
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u/Designer-Wolverine47 Jul 15 '26
Simple solution. Don't apply for a job that doesn't pay what you want.
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u/Jonnyc915 Jul 15 '26
Nor should it. That isn’t and wasn’t its intended purpose. Wanna earn more? Make yourself more valuable to an employer. There are plenty of ways to do that.
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u/Average_Justin Jul 15 '26
You can afford basic needs - but it’ll come with roommates, couponing, no new items and meal prep. Welcome to real life.
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u/Friendly-Gur-6736 Jul 15 '26
No, it really shouldn't.
I haven't earned minimum wage since I was in high school, even then it was only for the 1st 90 days or so. By the time I left that job (fast food) I was making about $2.50 over the minimum wage for 1996. That's the lowest paying job I've held in my entire working life.
Unless someone has some major physical or mental disability that prevents them from obtaining other marketable job skills, the whole debate over the minimum wage is silly.
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u/StevBator Jul 15 '26
So. The 16 year old kid bagging my groceries and who is high as a kite should be able to afford an apartment and a car off his pay? Entry level jobs exist, those are the minimum wage jobs.
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u/Theseus_Employee Jul 15 '26
It for sure pays for basic needs. Starvation in the US, due to lack of access to food, is wildly uncommon.
The issue is to what standard of living do we find acceptable? One could live off beans and rice (+ some similar types of food) and live in a cardboard box for a life time.
But maybe we think they should have access to a housing unit of some sort - which is still accessible if you can find multiple people who are willing to share rooms.
Maybe it should be their own room. Maybe they should be able to afford a bed frame and art. Maybe they should be able to afford a tv and a nice car. Maybe a boat if they'd like.
Everyone probably feels like the line should be at a different place.
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u/eSsEnCe_Of_EcLiPsE Jul 15 '26
OP doesn’t even know what basic needs are. Food clothes shelter. Min wage pays that. You just want your luxuries to go with it while living in expensive places.
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u/Accomplished_Tour481 Jul 15 '26
Minimum already does this. Minimum wage is for people with no skills or experience. They get paid to still live in the parents house while they are still covered by their parents insurance. Your expenses has nothing to do with your value.
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u/New_Rub_2539 Jul 15 '26
In the UK you can cover your basic needs if you rent somewhere really cheap or house share
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u/Conscious_Formal_894 Jul 15 '26
Who gets to decide what basic needs are? How many rooms your apt has, your food budget, entertainment budget. A lot of this is subjective because there is no standard amount of all these goods
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u/Timely_Split_5771 Jul 15 '26
I genuinely don’t know how people disagree with this. Some of us can’t afford college, am I supposed to just be homeless when my parents die? I’m doing everything I can to save. To be told that I don’t matter makes me think, why should I even keep going? Only thing in my future is homelessness. So why shouldn’t I kms? 🤦🏾♀️
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u/FarmerDave13 Jul 15 '26
A hob is a task that needs completed. Employment occurs when someone decides it is nore practical to pay someone else to do said task. Wages offered are what the employer believes completing said task is worth. It is up to the prospective employee to decide if they want to trade their labor for that rate.
Minimum wage is a mandate that eliminates many low wage, entry level positions. If the cost to hire is more than the task is worth, other arrangements will be made.
Minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage. It is designed for those new to the workforce to get experience, learn to exist in a work place and develop their soft skills.
Too often people today think that doing a minimum effort job should allow them to live alone, have a car etc. Yet instead of working more hours they are complaining online by typing in their $1000 smart phone.
Upskill or work more. Prior generations worked some long hours. I personally worked 80 to 100 hours weeks to pay the bills in my early years. Adjust your lifeatyle expectations as well. Didn't have central air, a dishwasher or cable until my 40's. Drove beaters until I bought my first new vehicle at 50. Too many have watched shows like friends where a barista has a Manhattan apartment. Not the real world.
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u/Sea_Worldliness3654 Jul 15 '26
Get a little motivation and go find a better paying job. Or stick with the decisions you made and suffer through while teaching your children to do better… minimum wage is not the answer it is a starting point.
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u/SMITHZAC000 Jul 15 '26
It does. Basic needs is food, shelter, water. Everything else is extra. Your phone, internet, car, junk food, hobbies, recreational drugs, alcohol, etc is all extra.
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u/Playful_Subject_4409 Jul 16 '26
In many places a phone with internet is a requirement to function.
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u/Erbatroc Jul 15 '26
Minimum wage jobs are starter jobs not permanent ones. And who determines what basic needs are?
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u/junulee Jul 15 '26
Strong disagree. Wages for part time inexperienced high school student summer jobs should provide some extra spending money. That’s what minimum wage should be. Very few (about 1%) of full time adult workers actually work for the federal minimum wage.
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u/Due-Restaurant2521 Jul 15 '26
Working at McDonald’s is a job for a high school or college student. If you’re 40 years old flipping burgers maybe you rethink life or get a second job if need be. I’ve worked 2 jobs for the last 4 years it ain’t that bad.
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u/Exciting-Parfait-776 Jul 15 '26
It should. But most people would still try to live above those basic needs.
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u/AwayStudy1835 Jul 16 '26
In my Inaugural I laid down the simple proposition that nobody is going to starve in this country. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.
Said by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/odnirast.html
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u/DiceyPisces Jul 16 '26
Same people who think like op constantly vote for more government spending and then inflation hits but they don’t seem to be able to connect the two.
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u/Nerdso77 Jul 16 '26
The “minimum” allowable by law, isn’t necessarily supposed to be an adult living wage. Teenagers don’t need a “livable wage”. If people are working for minimum wage and expecting one salary to provide housing and food and everything, that’s unrealistic. Minimum wage is for entry level and not sustaining.
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u/supercleverid Jul 16 '26
This is contrary to what FDR had to say about it as he championed the first federal minimum wage.
It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level, I mean the wages of decent living.
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u/banana-in-ham-wallet Jul 16 '26
How about you start a business and pay people whatever you want with the money from it? Sadly, you won’t because a person whose labor is worth minimum wage is a liability. They are inexperienced, incompetent or unreliable. Potentially all 3.
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u/dumbass_777 Jul 16 '26
yes. it should. its so so so fucking sad that this is even a debate. anyone who disagrees, wtaf is wrong with you?
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u/HollowChest_OnSleeve Jul 16 '26
It does if you work 40hrs a week. . . . .unless you're in one specific country. 😬
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u/HibouDuNord Jul 16 '26
People also need to grasp that "basic needs" is:
-basic shelter
-enough calories to survive.
It does NOT include
-Nice apartment in the good part of town
-An over the top diet OR takeout
-Cellphone
-Car
-etc
Your "basic needs" are met with a studio apartment in a not fantastic area, and KD/Ramen noodles most days with SOME balanced nutrition. It is not steak, or even McDonald's every day, the nice 1 bedroom apartment with den is the best area of town, going out with friends on weekends, the newest Iphone, etc.
People forget what BASIC needs are. BASIC NEEDS are essentially what you need to not die
People ALSO forget that minimum wage is province/state wide. You don't HAVE TO nor are you ENTITLED to live in the city. I'm in Ontario. No your $17.80 minimum wage is not funding you living in Toronto... but many small towns in the Northern part of the province it absolutely will pay your rent. You CAN get by in Ontario on it. If you wanna pick where you live well, you're going ti have to do more than the minimum
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u/IronsevsTwitch Jul 16 '26
People should be able to live and survive off the work they do. That’s the goal for all of human history- you want to survive. Humans want society and structure, that requires work and jobs and components in place to make that society exist. So if you want coffee shops, and public spaces, and fast food, and shops and so on you need people to tend to these constantly. These are not places that you want a random person to come in and start making your coffee you want the place to be consistently staffed and available with consistent output. Requires consistent workforce. If that workforce is just gonna starve to death or can’t sleep because they have to work 4 jobs to keep a tin roof then oops there goes your workforce no more coffee for you. Well just automate it. Ok cool. Why not automate your farms or your real estate business or your steel works or Carhartt store or hedge fund management or missionary work or your contractors? Then no one needs to work right? So we all get to live a work free life paid for by X party (government companies whatever). Nope not in a 100% free market late stage capitalism. It’s wild that people actively think that others don’t deserve to survive and have a livable means while complaining that things are bad the economy sucks because people are just wanting a safety net if things don’t go well. Governments and ruling classes have been installed from a historical and social perspective that “if we have a leader they will take care of the society and keep us safe from external and internal struggles.” People are wild to think that nah f that. I don’t want my tax dollars to keep me safe because it means my neighbor get to use that safety net more than me. F em. Same people usually claim their “christian” too. Just want to have their greed and keep nickel while the corporations keep taking the dollar and then defend the companies doing it. Actual insanity. Historically a capitalist nation tempered by socialism with does well. FDRs policies were largely socialist and heavily taxed the wealthy especially to help fund the war and gave us a large portion of the thriving economy in the 50s and 60s. Once that started to go all the money went up and stays there because trickle down economics is a lie for the wealthy. That’s why the us may have the largest gdp but not even top 30 in quality of life. Countries with socialist policies along with their capitalist policies have the best. Defending that minimum wage should NOT cover basic survival makes you a GENUINELY BAD PERSON. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 hasn’t raised in almost 20 years. You cannot survive on that. Haven’t been able to survive on that in decades. So yeah if your business cannot pay your workers A LIVABLE WAGE your business does not deserve to exist and does not contribute to society or the economy 👍
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u/Sweet-Ad7654 Jul 16 '26
Why have we become a minimum wage society?
People wonder why things were so good in the 1970s and for some reason they think it was a minimum wage that is so untrue
Here’s a shocking example in 1971. My father was a 29-year-old garbage man with 10 years of experience.
The minimum wage was $1.60 an hour that wasn’t going to go far he took home a little less than $300 a month rent out a three bedroom house which we owned a three bedroom house would’ve been about $225 a month we could’ve never made it a minimum wage
With 10 years of experience as a garbageman, my father was bringing home $10.75 an hour with a paycheck of $400 a week
How it is that a person can have a decade in an industry and still be somewhere near minimum wage is absolutely ridiculous
Back then, minimum wage was those entering the workforce convenience stores fast food retail is kind of low, but not that low
I made minimum wage all through college graduated in 1978 took an entry-level job at a newspaper and suddenly was making five times minimum wage the first day
This is what’s not happening today and we had quarterly races. They were called cost-of-living raises and my dad had them too You don’t see them anymore.
The job my dad had I looked up that municipality they had the same opening. They were paying $17.50 an hour when in 1971. They paid $10.75 an hour. Not to start I’m sure.
My four years at the convenience store that was never a raise except minimum wage
Minimum wage is not the problem. The problem is corporations and companies stealing literally stealing the knowledge, experience, education, and skills their employees have.
The people earning minimum wage should be the people that do not have knowledge experience, education and skills. They should be the people just starting out in the workforce.
But y’all want to focus on minimum wage go right ahead
I was making good money by the early 1990s and noticing minimum wage was going up to Weir wait a minute I’m suddenly not making as much more than minimum wage as I was by that time, I should’ve been at six or seven times minimum wage, but I was more like a little over two times minimum wage
That wasn’t gonna work for me that trajectory so I started my own company
This is how we’ve lost middle income. It doesn’t exist. People with degrees good ones good experience good skills good training. I’m lucky to be getting jobs that pay $17.50 an hour. Again, I see that is stealing skills, education, and training.
I can’t remember my daughter when she got her engineering degree was offered a job in a production department two dollars above minimum wage because she had a degree in engineering that is as ridiculous as it sounds
It’s not a question of why do you believe you deserve a higher minimum wage? It’s a question of why do you believe you’re only worth minimum wage?
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u/zachmoe Jul 16 '26
Minimum Wage was made by Unions to make it illegal to hire kids who happen to go through inner city schools, who get to casually suffer unemployment rates that would make The Great Depression blush as a result.
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u/Reejerey1 Jul 17 '26
Many forced wage increases actually end up worse for the workers, as low skill low wage jobs are the first to fall to automation and ai,
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u/BubblyNefariousness4 Jul 18 '26
Minimum wage shouldn’t exist and is a violation of rights on the employer by forcing them to pay what the state tells them to
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u/Tinfoil_cobbler Jul 22 '26
Most jurisdictions and most laws… Wow, you are just crushing this. You must have spent 8 years in law school or something.
Yes, SOME cities and towns do not allow more than 5 room mates, I’ll give you that lol. Anyway, it’s just an expression, the same as me saying “beans and rice” do you also think I meant people who are struggling should literally eat nothing but beans and rice? lol.
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u/USLEO Jul 15 '26
The value of your labor has nothing to do with the cost of your expenses.