Posted on 06/15/2018 5:27:42 AM PDT by Simon Green
The economy’s booming. Some states have raised minimum wages. But even with recent wage growth for the lowest-paid workers, there is still nowhere in the country where someone working a full-time minimum wage job could afford to rent a modest two-bedroom apartment, according to an annual report released Wednesday by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Not even in Arkansas, the state with the cheapest housing in the country. One would need to earn $13.84 an hour — about $29,000 a year — to afford a two-bedroom apartment there. The minimum wage in Arkansas is $8.50 an hour.
Even the $15 living wage championed by Democrats would not make a dent in the vast majority of states.
In Hawaii, the state with the most expensive housing, one would have to make $36.13 — about $75,000 a year — to afford a decent two-bedroom apartment. The minimum wage in Hawaii rose to $10.10 an hour this year.
It gets worse in many metropolitan areas. San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties top the list of most expensive jurisdictions, where one would need to make $60.02 an hour to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.
“The housing crisis is growing, especially for the lowest-income workers,” said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The rents are far out of reach from what the average renter is earning.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
They’ve got subsidies, of course.
There is nothing wrong with living in a rathole on a temporary basis. I have lived in several trailers and shacks and I survived. Government housing should be ended because it destroys incentive and pride. The answer for minimum wage workers is to get a better paying job!
Wahhhh. People with no skill are poor. Waaahhhhh
A fsbo in Flint Michigan sounds like a nightmare...no thanks!
Supply and demand for 2 bedroom apartments is unrelated to supply of labor and demand for labor. One does not depend on the other.
Here’s a plan:
1. Get a roommate
2. Improve your skills and get a higher paying job
They never could. A two bedroom apt on minimum wage? WTH?
I oppose minimum wage laws because they are costly economic hocus pocus
That said it’s not supposed to be an affluent middle wage for people. It’s for starter jobs, part time jobs, side income jobs, temporary while I am in high school jobs, supplement my retire jobs.
Why would a minimum wage worker be in a 2 bedroom apartment.
Seriously? Very few people who are married, have a HS diploma or are over 25 earn Minimum Wage... and even among those who don’t have those those earning Minimum Wage is a very small percentage of the population.
This notion that folks who earn minimum wage are stuck there for life is stupid... minimum wage is where you start.... and most, even teenagers in part time positions, get raises within 6 months of their start.
Some facts about Minimum Wage:
https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm
“The percentage of hourly paid workers earning the prevailing federal minimum wage or less declined from 2.7 percent in 2016 to 2.3 percent in 2017. This remains well below the percentage of 13.4 recorded in 1979, when data were first collected on a regular basis.”
More than 50% of those making minimum wage are under 25. Hell only 8% of working teenagers earn minimum wage... and about 1% of those 25 and over earn minimum wage
Age. Minimum wage workers tend to be young. Although workers under age 25 represented only about one-fifth of hourly paid workers, they made up about half of those paid the federal minimum wage or less. Among employed teenagers (ages 16 to 19) paid by the hour, about 8 percent earned the minimum wage or less, compared with about 1 percent of workers age 25 and older. (See tables 1 and 7.)
Gender. Among workers who were paid hourly rates in 2017, about 3 percent of women and about 2 percent of men had wages at or below the prevailing federal minimum. (See table 1.)
Race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. The percentage of hourly paid workers with wages at or below the federal minimum differed little among the major race and ethnicity groups. About 3 percent of African American or Black workers earned the federal minimum wage or less. Among White, Asian, and Hispanic workers, the percentage was about 2 percent. (See table 1.)
Education. Among hourly paid workers age 16 and older, about 4 percent of those without a high school diploma earned the federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 2 percent of those who had a high school diploma (with no college), about 2 percent of those with some college or an associate degree, and about 1 percent of college graduates. (See table 6.)
Marital status. Of those paid an hourly wage, never-married workers, who tend to be young, were more likely (4 percent) than married workers (1 percent) to earn the federal minimum wage or less. (See table 8.)
Full- and part-time status. About 6 percent of part-time workers (persons who usually work fewer than 35 hours per week) were paid the federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 1 percent of full-time workers. (See table 1.)
Occupation. Among major occupational groups, service occupations had the highest percentage of hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage, at about 7 percent. About two-thirds of workers earning the minimum wage or less in 2017 were employed in service occupations, mostly in food preparation and serving related jobs. (See table 4.)
Industry. The industry with the highest percentage of workers earning hourly wages at or below the federal minimum wage was leisure and hospitality (11 percent). About three-fifths of all workers paid at or below the federal minimum wage were employed in this industry, almost entirely in restaurants and other food services. For many of these workers, tips may supplement the hourly wages received. (See table 5.)
State of residence. The states with the highest percentages of hourly paid workers earning at or below the minimum wage were in the South: Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Virginia (all were about 4 percent). The states with the lowest percentages of hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage were in the West or Midwest: California, Washington, Montana, and Minnesota (all were less than 1 percent). It should be noted that many states have minimum wage laws establishing standards that exceed the federal minimum wage. (See tables 2 and 3.)
Or the pedicures/manicures, braids, $1000+ rims, monster stereos, eating out every meal, clothes shopping every weekend, weekly bag of weed, nightly 12 pack, newest iphone......and on & on & on.
People this day & time have no clue about struggling. Boxed macaroni & cheese for weeks on end because it was on sale for 5 cents a box. Rationing toilet paper squares. Walking to the pay phone to make a call. Internet & cable, ha, no such thing. Splurging was when McDonald’s had 10 cent hamburgers on Sundays.
I call total BS. The “poor” in America are rich when compared with most people in the world...and many are fat slobs from eating too much and lieing around.
WHat’s wrong with a Studio apartment? It was my 1st place when I was starting out and it was quite nice too.
BINGO
Uh. Roommate or marry someone who works or go back to mommy an daddy. Not my problem
And now that we have so many of the uneducated, untrained, ignorant masses invading America and settling into these jobs permanently the liberals want to reward them with pay that is higher than that of apprentices in some of the skilled trades........for non skilled labor!
That was why I had a studio. A tiny studio.
When I had a two bedroom I had roommates.
It was not until I was making more then triple minimum that I had a two bedroom on my own.
.
Minimum wage is an apprentice broom pusher, not a source of family support.
.
However you can get a home in a decent neighborhood 30 years fixed, no money down for $322.00 and that includes taxes and insurance.
Add in another $150.00 for utilities and there you have it.
Under $500 a month 2 bedroom housing.
BTW, this is not a shack. Brick house with fireplace, finished basement, garage, central air.
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