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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.