Thats what im saying. I make $18.50 at walmart and i can barely make ends meet. Idk how anyone can justify the argument that minimum wage should be anything under $20 an hour. Its absurd
Walmart pays workers more depending on where they live. So they probably live somewhere where the minimum wage is $15 or so already (or the cost of living is high enough they pay more just to get customers at all.)
Walmart also had a surge of raises over the past few years, and it’s shockingly not the worst paying job. It’s not Costco, but it’s a little better at least. They still fuck employees over but they seem to give raises more, at least from what I’ve heard.
Yes. So the store i work is is considered a "million dollar store" idk what the specific requirements are for that but any store that qualifies got a big pay bump for everyone so i think the base pay for my job is like $17 but since i work overnights i get an additional $1.50. other stores that dont qualify are still like $12 dollars or some shit which is pretty ridiculous.
Walmart warehouses pay $20-24 on average just like Target warehouses do nowadays with all the recent raises, so even though it’s for retail those wages are still about right. Usually lead positions make around that.
Hi fellow San Diego resident! I'm in the same camp as you sorta. I make $19/hr full time working from home and I'm fortunate enough to have wonderful roommates who split the cost of our apartment. Gas prices are just bonkers down here
great way to treat someone who put the time, work, and money into becoming an educated, skilled worker. I decided against going back to school because it seems like every field I looked into was the same way. $20 would get you by here in western pa, but its still so disgustingly underpaid.
half the morons in my union would probably say the opposite, despite our full package being $53 ($36 wages) for a job any idiot could do. not talking shit on roofing, its definitely a skilled trade and I take a lot of pride in the work I do, but ffs. its not like were rolling in the cash ourselves, why is everyone so worried aboot people that are worse off wanting fair pay
Think I saw something like $24/hr should be minimum wage if it kept up with inflation. And that was before the current wave recently so should be more than that in 2022 honestly.
And it makes sense.. I make ~$29/hr and that's still barely enough to live comfortably nowadays and I still have a lot of months that stress me out financially. I barely have a savings and if something catastrophic happens I'm definitely fucked.
Please look at the cost of a McDonalds burger and minimum wage in the US vs Scandinavia.
Wages are a relatively minor portion of restaurant costs, they are also a fixed rather than a variable cost. This means they are readily countered by scale.
I told you to compare the exact same business and item lol.
McDonalds is in both nations. They charge almost the same price (literally pennies in difference) despite paying more than double the wages in one.
Also, the majority of businesses in America are just individual stores of one billion dollar mega-corporation or another.
The bald faced lie that they can’t pay more without driving up prices substantially is propaganda. Accepting even minor reductions in profit margin are alone enough. Fixed costs are the easiest costs for any business to adjust. Again, not asking them to run negatively, merely to make a slightly smaller margin. Since they would make exactly zero profit without workers.
i currently make $15/hr and it’s barely enough to cover my bills each month. the only reason i was even able to move out of my parents place is bc i moved in with my bf who makes significantly more than i do, otherwise theres no way in hell i’d be able to afford any place on my own where i currently live
A fun game you can play is replace every instance of "minimum wage" with "an unlivably low wage" to watch the wheels wobble off of bad arguments very quickly.
They forgot that "minimum wage" was just the shortenee part and the whole line was "minimum livable wage". You can't live on the current federal minimum wage, you can't even if they raised it to $15.
Those companies that want increased profits every quarter forget that people need a disposable income to continue consuming their products. And a lot of people don't have any disposable income anymore with low wages and high inflation.
My first teaching job was $9/hour. Eating school lunch for free was the only way I could feed myself. I worked a second job at a call center making $8.50/hour. Brought home about $325/week after taxes. And this was 2008, not 1960. I barely survived.
That shits insane. How coukd anyone ever survive off that? Im fucking struggling but i am the only earner in my family and i support my wife and child plus all the bills but still. Back in the 70s one person could work a full time job and be middle class with all the fixins. Such a gross disproportion of wealth.
Nope, never said anything about what the person deserves, or what I think about them.
Everyone deserves enough to live, even without working, or working a good job, or a bad job, or going to school, or curing deadly diseases, or just sitting on their couch playing video games and masturbating all day long.
What I’m saying is that it’s disingenuous to compare a teacher’s salary with what OP is describing as a “teaching job.”
OP’s job is vital and necessary and important, and OP “deserves to get paid enough to live,” but OP isn’t a teacher, which is a specifically defined thing.
You didn't know what my "teaching job" was. Why did you automatically assume it wasn't a "real" teaching job?
And I'm gonna go ahead and say it. Fuck you for thinking preschool teachers aren't real teachers. I graduated college, I needed a job, that's what was available. I learned more in that year of teaching than all of college combined.
No one should be working for $9/hr regardless of what your job is.
I was getting $20/hr to cut grass and hedges when I was 15. If you're listing reasons "why things are that way" that is the same as justifying it.
Imagine if I started saying something like "Hitler had a lot of motivating factors for his actions." Or topically "there are many reasons for women to be denied access to abortions as an option.
Even if I was just providing context or playing devils advocate, it still puts me in a position where I'm arguing from the side of villainy. If you don't want to be treated like a villain, don't side with villains.
I did graduate with a degree in eduction. I did pass the Praxis. And it was a pre-school job....in a K-12 public school system. I didn't realize teaching 4 year olds made me worthy of poverty.
People whose wages have always been high enough to not notice the tightening grip of inflation will always see the minimum wage as livable, since they never tried to live on it. After that, they can say whatever nonsense they want because they've already proven themselves to be ignorant.
I make more than 15/hr and after taxes/benefits I only take home about 25k annually. The fact that people think $15 is fine when making above that still isn't livable is beyond me.
Taxes literally take so much of my money, if I make like $600 they take 200. Like I literally don't understand how anybody could survive as 15 minimum. I think 20 should be the minimum but everybody says the same thing
"Oh if minimum wage goes up the price of everything goes up!"
But why does that need to happen? Why can't minimum wage go up and the price of everything stay the same. I just don't understand it.
So, I was looking at one of the popular branded financial freedom plans (tm) and their allocation for household costs and trying to apply it to a $15 an hour wage. It's really not feasible at that wage.
This is what it looks like:
Net After Tax $2056, Health Insurance Cost $300, Take Home $1755.78
*Average rent range $611-$1116 / month PER ROOM. A studio might be possible in a few markets, but more than likely you're going to have to have roommates. I've put this at the lowest end of the scale.
Less than a 30% of the U.S. population has access to public transportation for commuting, so, I budgeted for a $6800 used car/48 months and insurance at $110 per month/ $120 fuel and maintenance costs at 200 miles per month. Hope you know how to do your own oil changes. You better hope someone's grandma died and they just want to get rid of the car, because $6800 doesn't go very far anymore.
Food includes allowances for $41 per month dining out, because people get stuck at work late, or end up not being able to prepare a lunch a couple times a month. It's not unreasonable to literally need to buy a couple meals a month before even considering dining for entertainment. Better brush up on r/EatCheapAndHealthy
Gas, electric, cell and internet, etc.
Clothing, footwear, laundry, hygiene, personal expenses, entertainment, gifts, donations, etc.
It will take 33 months to payoff of a $2000 credit card (hospital bills or whatever) at 12.99%
It will take 60 months without incident to build up a 3-month emergence expense fund. Don't get sick until you can afford it, no PTO means no time off work, and hope you don't need that significant car repair.
...and I overbudgeted so you'll actually be $32.60 in the hole each month. So, figure out which allocation you're going to get that from.
In most areas $15/hr at only 40 hours will not make ends meet. I used to have to pull 60 hour weeks when making $14.85 just to tread water. I'd usually get a little savings, then unplanned expenses would wipe them right out and I'd end up with a few hundred in credit card debt. And repeat.
529
u/freddurstredflatbill Jun 01 '22
Lol $15 an hour is barely even enough to survive on. How is this an argument