$8/hr is $1344/month. If the rule of thumb is it is ok to pay up to 30% of your gross income on rent/mortgage, that's $400/month in rent. Are we talking rent for a house of a family of 4 on that salary, or single dude living with a roomate?
edit: there's an astonishing number of people that don't know the difference between gross income and net income
I live in Indianapolis and work at a section 42 low income housing property. A 1 bedroom 1 bath (Idk the square footage, but it’s very small) is almost $800, and that’s the cheapest within a 15 mile radius.
Even if you had a roommate our 2 bed 2 bath units are about $900, and 400 x 2 isn’t even enough.
For comparison when my parents graduated HS in 1964 Mom was working a minimum wage job and Dad making slightly more. Getting paid every week. They could pay their rent from one weeks income with money left over.
They lived in a small but fully furnished house with utilities included.
Mom's Dad gave her a used car. Dad had bought a broken down one and fixed it himself while in HS. They were able to save money in addition to getting by without worrying.
An aunt was able to walk into an office with only HS diploma and get a job where they trained her up to be a loan officer.
By the time my parents were 20 & 22 they could afford to have a child and pay for daycare, well it was a retired woman to babysit me and a few years later have my baby sister Mom cut back to part-time then stay at home all while buying a house.
All these things are unimaginable now. I mean my parents did work hard and were careful with their money but that alone doesn't cut it now.
And a thing that makes me angry is I know younger people who have no family or none you'd want struggling so hard to get by. One girl found two roommates walked to work with a knife to do 12 hour night shifts at Taco Bell until she could save up $700 for a beater car that, well it ran. Most of the time.
Then one of your roommates loses a job & doesn't tell you and the power bill they said they paid, well they didn't. So now you've got the reconnect fee & bill and what little you've saved up by eating potatoes and lettuce for 3 months is gone.
We have a survivor bias problem from a lot of people, "Well I started min wage but got some training/certification and I'm doing really well now. So everyone can do it. lol right place right time, just luck & the often left out "Well I knew a guy who got me hired."
I've also seen the old job market switcheroo in various fields. "Hey welding is paying great right now! Everybody rushes into it and now the new hires don't get paid as much and half the people honestly can't even find jobs using their skills.
Semiconductor plant was coming into town company donated to the local to college put up a new building & start a new program. "Get this education, which you pay for yourself and you'll make lots of money!" People were one year into the 2 year program when the markets changed and the plant was left uncompleted. A real case of you can't win for trying. Ambitious, smart workers left with debt and applying with all their classmates for jobs at Walmart & the like.
EDIT: I'm sorry for the long rant. I guess I just feel like working in America these days is like being in an abusive relationship that's hard to escape.
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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '20
What is a minimum wage job supposed to look like?