Make five bucks an hour. The choice is yours..."...that's my skuullll"
Posted on 12/20/2004 2:10:14 PM PST by Willie Green
WASHINGTON -- Most Americans who rely on just a full-time job earning the federal minimum wage cannot afford the rent and utilities on a one- or two-bedroom apartment, an advocacy group on low-income housing reported Monday.
For a two-bedroom rental alone, the typical worker must earn at least $15.37 an hour - nearly three times the federal minimum wage, the National Low Income Housing Coalition said in its annual "Out of Reach" report.
That figure assumes that a family spends no more than 30 percent of its gross income on rent and utilities - anything more is generally considered unaffordable by the government.
Yet many poor Americans are paying more than they can afford because wage increases haven't kept up with increases in rent and utilities, said Danilo Pelletiere, the coalition's research director.
(Excerpt) Read more at thepittsburghchannel.com ...
So what is the counter-argument? That we should artificially raise wages?
Remind me not to raise a family on the Minimum Wage.
Or it would be nice if the media would stop reporting this garbage. The only time I made mimimum wage was in high school and college - this story is useless. (but still a good post)
"Minimum-Wage Earners Struggle To Pay Rent"
Who knew?
sounds similar to the welfare topic we just did.
where the general response was wondering how many have cellphones, big screen tv's and smoke cigarettes . . .
"For a two-bedroom rental alone, the typical worker must earn at least $15.37 an hour"
What a crock!
I bought a HOUSE and at the time I only earned 9.50 and hour.
Where do these 'poor' people live? Upper Manhattan?
This is why God invented ROOMMATES!
... to live away from their parents. Until they are 18. Or 30. Or until they get their head out.
"For a two-bedroom rental alone, the typical worker must earn at least $15.37 an hour"
Rent a studio apartment. Problem solved.
Maybe they'll have to get (and keep) two full-time jobs and perhaps learn a skill.
Oh yeah, and give up the beer and cigarettes and cable TV and cell phone....
Minimum wage = what a totally unskilled worker is worth.
If you raise the minimum wage, what incentive do these folks have to seek skills to better their life. They may not even if minimum wage doesn't go up, but then who is at fault? (/rhetroical question)
Bottom line: If you only have a minimum wage job, don't have kids!
Well, I suppose we should just raise the minimum wage to $32,000 per year.(15.37 x 40 x 52) That would take care of that. Never mind the fact that a lot of college grads don't start out making that much.
It is time to lower rent, utilities, food, cars, street drugs, booze, clothing etc..so that the minimum wage earner can afford to live middle class without digging and clawing their way out of that station through hard work and good choices.
By getting the government to control all walks of life we can turn the US into the 3rd world countries that so many illegal immigrants are leaving.
Communism is a miseralble failure everywhere it is tried but we're Americans. We can make communism great!
/sarcasm
The lesson here is get a job that pays above minimum wage. Minimum wage is entry level pay.
We pay millions for schools each year so individuals can receive an education and obtain better paying employment. Those who do not will have a miserable time of it.
All this 'study' is doing is simply comparing numbers - not looking at real world stuff.
I've never seen a real world min wage worker working one 9-5 job. A large number are students or retired folks earning a little extra -- those who are not are working 2-3 jobs to get ahead, wife is working, brother and brother in law who live with them are working, plus they're selling crafts at the flea market and mowing lawns etc.
They don't as a general rule stay making min wage very long. That's just a stopping point on the way up. Those who don't care to work don't work for min wage - they sit back and draw government largesse as a general rule (it pays better than a single 9-5 min wage job).
"sounds similar to the welfare topic we just did.
where the general response was wondering how many have cellphones, big screen tv's and smoke cigarettes ."
That was a GREAT thread.
The points you make are well taken.
I moved to California with my wife and two kids, in 1988, and promptly lost the job I went there for, three months later.(They went out of business)
We lived on NOTHING except handouts for about 2 months as I worked part time minimum wage jobs.
But guess what?
One month after that, I had a job as a 'handyman' at $7.00 an hour and I ended up buying my own (mobile) home a month later.
I worked long hours and 'endless' workdays. But it was worth it to keep my family and me 'off the streets'.
Make five bucks an hour. The choice is yours..."...that's my skuullll"
Minimum-Wage Earners Struggle To Pay Rent
Duh.
Next?
I've never made minimum wage. When I was a paper boy at 13 I made more than minimum wage.
Don't forget the mandatory heathcare that comes with it. Coming soon, the $50 pizza. Or not.
For the record, I only have an associates degree and have not worked a minimum wage job since high school. It was $3.35 an hour back then.
Probably that we should also have a "maximum wage," because it isn't fair that some people earn more money than they could ever spend while others don't earn enough to make ends meet.
-PJ
That book is stupid because min-wage jobs are not meant to support families: they are entry-level jobs. Many of the Americans who work them are high-schoolers and college kids who don't have to pay rent/utils. Others will make more money as time goes on and they get some experience.
If you eliminate low-wage jobs, you stop unskilled workers from finding work. These people already have to compete with illegal aliens who will do their job for less than min-wage.
The market sets wages-not the needs of workers who decided to start a family without a marketable skill beyond the ability to flip burgers.
Life is tough, but it is even tougher if your stupid!
Seems like each major party has chosen to endorse what was once a warning in this country - JMHO ...
There are a lot of them who are worth much less. That's the problem with the minimum wage. An unskilled kid might be worth a buck an hour (and the aggravation it takes to train and supervise) to sweep the stoop and empty the trash but it's stupid to pay him more.
Of course, after a few months doing that kind of work, that kid might end up being a fairly useful employee -- even if its for somebody else.
Wanna get paid more?
Get a job that pays more. One which is more difficult do perform.
Be worth more. Get complex skills, and experience.
A few hints:
Most minimum wage jobs are so easy, almost anybody is capable of doing them. IOW it takes about two days to learn everything, and most people can remember from day to day, those few requirements.
I agree, the book is completely ridiculous. But of course it is the left's poster-book for what is wrong with America.
That would make rents go up even further and still keep them out of reach.
I have a solution: Stay in school and learn a skill that will pay you sufficient income.
"The market sets wages..."
Ding-Ding-Ding!! We have a winner!!
There is no "federal minimun wage for Network Administrators" but we all know what to expect salary-wise.
They'll struggle even harder to pay the rent when they're laid off because their employer can't afford them. Half a sandwich is better than no sandwich.
-PJ
Most people earning minimum wage live with mom and dad.
Thank you.
Socialism, aka communism, is self perpetuating, the higher the taxes go the more people fall below the poverty line which reults in still more higher taxes. There is a reason why socialism/communism fails everywhere it is tried.
"You can all be replaced by Golf Carts" - Caddy Shack
This is news? If you are, say 40 years old, or have about 20 years experience in the work force, and you are still earning only minimum wage, YOU PERSONALLY have screwed up big time somewhere along the line. What the hell did you do that nobody thought you deserved a single raise in two decades?
I know that you know that but the American Commie Socialist still thinks that THEY can make it work. Free Enterprise is the engine that permitted all the other things necessary to make this country great.
It's not the minimum wage that is the problem -- it's the journalism education.
Those with a journalism education require three-four times the amount of money that others can get by on the minimum wage.
If I made $15.37/hr I could afford to buy an even bigger house than I own know.
Why not just raise the MW to $100/hour and be done with it? Think of the CHILDREN!
The vast majority of kids that live in poverty are supported by a single parent that works an average of 16 hrs a week.
No. It is what a totally unskilled, inexperienced worker must be paid because of federal and state minimum wage laws. Many unskilled workers aren't worth minimum wage. Since there is no cheaper alternative to pay an unskilled person the worth of the skillset they offer, many small businesses will simply choose not to hire anyone. That leaves lots of unskilled, inexperienced potential workers with no opportunity at an entry level position. Frankly, there are plenty of experienced people who are unemployed and have skillsets well beyond what is necessary. They will get the jobs first.
After they raised the minimum wage all the restaurants I went to raised their prices, I used to eat out at least once a day before they raised the minimum wage, now I'm down to going to a restaurant maybe 3 times a week. Two dollars a meal adds up when you go out to eat a lot. Any fool who doesn't understand this concept should not get re-elected.
You are right about skilled jobs. Most 2 year associate degree grads (other than business degree) are earning way more than a generic college degree. Jobs like electricians, plumbers, machinist, HVAC techs etc. A local machinsit company in my area is short 8 machinist and are paying up to $5k sign up bonus.
Plus these types of jobs are very hard to outsource.
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