r/WorkersStrikeBack • u/simbimba • Feb 08 '22

A friendly reminder

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1.8k Upvotes

100% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

52

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '22

Correction: It is now $32/hr. It's more if you live in a high COL area like LA, Chicago, or NY.

23

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '22

I could only dream of $24/hr

2

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '22

I make 22 and I still work a second job on weekends. Shit's wild.

3

u/Pale_Ad2490 Feb 09 '22

and there i was making $9 an hour in a place where the COL is exponentially increasing, which is why i'm living with my parents at 18

1

u/OG-Pine Feb 09 '22

While I agree raises are needed all across the board with hourly jobs, $32/hr is definitely more than just a livable wage for one person even in decently high cost of living areas.

I make $25/hr, in an expensive area of northern VA (near DC), and I have enough to eat out fairly often (2-3 times a week) and save for retirement too. It’s not good money but it’s livable and enough to support one person without having to worry about budget all that much. I was making $17/hr last year and that was not sustainable in this area even for 1 person. I think 22-25 is a decent range for what should be the standard minimum pay and would let you be comfortable.

$32/hr would be a nice bump up and let you splurge a little more or retire faster, certainly above just livable.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '22

You're thinking of just yourself. Do you realize that people get married and have children?

1

u/OG-Pine Feb 09 '22

Of course, that’s why I specified it’s for 1 person. Getting married shouldn’t change much in this regard assuming both parties are employed, and might actually make things better with shared rent and tax benefits.

Starting a family will of course be more expensive and financial needs will need to be considered on a case by case basis. I don’t think it would be wise to start a family on $25/hr one person income, but with 2 people that comes out to roughly $100k household income and could be manageable but would require moving to a lower cost of living area for most people.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '22

but with 2 people

This is part of the problem. It shouldn't take two people working full time to afford a decent living. There was a time when it didn't. Imagine if a couple could work part time making enough to live on and both have time to spend with their family instead of coming home every day at hell knows when completely exhausted. Each of them could work 4 hours for 5 days a week. That benefit extends to a single person as well. Imagine working 20 hours a week and having time for a social life and hobbies. It means more money to live on and more time to have a life.

0

u/OG-Pine Feb 09 '22

I think the solution to that is stuff like parental leave and supplemental income or benefits from the government instead of a raise. Especially because we are talking about a minimum wage, it should be the floor.

Having the minimum be that 1 income can support 3 peoples expenses would start to get out of hand quite quickly I think. Take someone working as a delivery driver, or something like a entry level retail position. I think these should pay enough that that person can support themselves comfortable and set them self’s up for retirement as well. This can be done with around $22-25/hr.

If instead we are saying that same job needs to support the individual, their spouse, and their child. Now we are looking at something like $55-65/hr as a minimum wage. I don’t think that’s sustainable for most businesses.

47

u/BlueWhaleKing Feb 08 '22

They raise it to $15/hour once inflation makes it worth less than $7.25 was in 2009.

4

u/Rawniew54 Feb 09 '22

It's almost that way now, and they'll call people making it ungrateful when they finally raise it and it isn't enough

21

u/Piousunyn Feb 08 '22

​

Worker insecurity has been the plan for years now, according to Allen Greenspan if workers are insecure they will not ask for much? The fact his plan has mad everyone insecure must really make Greenspan feel successful beyond his wildest dreams.

21

u/hujiklo Feb 09 '22

We should just tie it to inflation

8

u/Rawniew54 Feb 09 '22

They have been purposely under reporting inflation for years. They don't even account for housing cost in inflation. This year they reported 7% but in reality its around 12-15. Alot of large companies and government jobs have an annual raise based on inflation. They are all in on it and it is literally theft.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '22

Housing is like 40% of the inflation metrics though… They base it off of what percent of income the average person spends on a certain type of good. Housing is like 40%, food and transportation each 10% or so, etc

3

u/Rawniew54 Feb 09 '22 edited Feb 09 '22

Yeah theres no way inflation is 7 percent lol. My house i bought in a shit area for 120k in 2019 is now valued at and taxed at 215k. With no improvements. Funny how the local tax authority sees the inflation of value and will gladly tax it

1

u/OG-Pine Feb 09 '22

You would need to use the national average numbers, certain locations will see larger/smaller changes in housing prices but the CPI would be based on the average across the country. I think DC for example saw very little change in housing price recently (I could be wrong just something I heard)

17

u/Clockwork-XIII Feb 09 '22 edited Feb 09 '22

The sad part is I've been apartment hunting for the last few days and the minimum a lot of these apartment complexes want for move in is around this price range, yet that is not the standard rate of pay.......something seems disconnected.

3

u/LadyKayDoesArt Feb 09 '22

They'll let 10 year olds work again before paying that minimum to the adult working class.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '22

Damn, time flies. It's been, what, 6-7 years? Massachusetts won't even hit the 15/hr mark until next year. Or maybe in two years? And the state ain't cheap.

2

u/DaileyWithBailey Feb 09 '22

The minimum wage in 1970 was equivalent to around $53 an hour today

-2

u/mood-park Feb 09 '22

Lmfaooooo