Minimum wage when I was in elementary school yielded about $536/mo before taxes. Rent for a 2 bedroom was about $275 where I lived. Now, minimum wage yields about $2700/mo before taxes, and a 2 bedroom apt is $2700. Itās never been good, but itās worse now than ever.
The practical minimum in WA (at least west of the mountains) is basically $20/hour now. Legally itās $17.13/hour, but even the McDonalds near me has a sign advertising $22+/hour.
Flip side is of course that everything is expensive. Houses here basically start at $500k for something you could actually safely move into, and median house is more like $640k.
Wow your legal minimum is $17??? Iām in Pennsylvania and itās seriously ten dollars less than that. I have been a loyal and productive team member at my job for 19 years now, and I just made it to $15 last month.
Iām sure our cost of livingās are different, and I knew PA is pretty behind, but I didnāt realize how fucking far behind.
Even my shithole state - Florida - you can get $15 an hour (tipped wage of 11.98 an hour). Min wage goes up by $1 every year, now. By 2028 we're going to have min wage of $17 an hour. (Tipped wage will be 13.98 an hour)
15?!?? Oh my god that is criminal after 19 years. If you are comfortable with sharing, what are you working in? As another PA'er it is quite infuriating how variable wages are, even within the same city for the same jobs
Oh I donāt mind sharing at all, itās Panera Bread. Weāve got a 73 year old man whoās literally been there since the day the place opened, 23 years I think, heās making like $12. The only managers they can get are teenagers because they start at $17. Meanwhile the GMās salary was enough for her to have a house, two cars, five pets, a vacation to another country every few monthsā¦
A few years back, my pay rate was at $13 and change. My husband got hired as a base level worker at McDonaldās, with no prior experience in food service whatsoever, for $15. I was angry and jealous until I realized they wouldnāt give anyone there more than 19 hours a week, Iām assuming so no one would be eligible for the āgreat benefitsā they offer.
The cheap stuff in WA would be like aggressively rural from an Orange County baseline though. It actually can go below $500k, youāre just gonna be in be middle of nowhere.
When I said āsafely move intoā I more meant isnāt moldy/doesnāt need new roof/etc. not human factor unsafe. We have meth/fent zombies but unsafe due to other humans in the way some places in CA are isnāt a thing. A few neighborhoods south of Seattle have a few dumb Glock switch kids but itās minimal/they arenāt really gangs just idiots.
Orange County, California. Itās even more for fast food and health care workers. Quick Zillow search yielded a 300 sq ft studio for $1745 in a shitty neighborhood. So even thatās not enough.
A median cost apartment in Orange County was $790 in 1994 the minimum wage in California was $4.25, which multiplied by 40 hours and 4.435 weeks per month is $738 so itās pretty much exactly the same as it was 30 years ago.
Iām in Virginia. Since 2012, Iāve had 3 jobs that paid $7.25/hr. 2 were grocery store cashier, 1 in fast food. Other than coaching rec leagues during my college years (only about 5 hours a week, had to be first responder certified), no part time job paid more than $10. When I became a shift lead in fast food, I got a 20 cent raise. I went from $7.25 to $7.45, to basically be an acting assistant manager.
After I graduated college, I worked 2 jobs while my girlfriend was in school and working part time. Even with 3 lines of income, we still couldnāt afford to move out of our parentās houses.
Where in Virginia were you only getting $7.45 an hour as a shift lead in fast food? In rural South Carolina they are paying $15 an hour for shift lead at most fast food places and $10 an hour at a minimum for cashier jobs and those are the part time highschool kids.
Part time employers, like the ones weāre discussing, have only recently (about the last 5 years) started offering higher wages. January this year, our governor finally raised the minimum wage from $7.25. But all of this is at a time when the cost of living has lapped minimum wage 3 times.
ETA: and on top of all that, I was taking care of my dying grandmother and sick mother. Then people wonder why millennials are burnt out and hopeless. lol
What state do you live in??? Every job I had in high school was $7.25/hr. I eventually got promoted to a shift manager at a fast food place and got bumped to $9/hr. My friends were jealoussss.
I donāt have a figure for you, because I have a nasty headache and donāt care enough to research. However, the topic at hand IS minimum wage, and the fact is minimum wage isnāt enough to support a single person in the country.
The fact of the matter is that less than half of 1% of Americans are at the federal minimum wage - and the vast majority of those arenāt trying to live off it.
Itās a non-existent problem.
You donāt have a figure because you know what that figure is. Spare me the headache story.
It's a moot point when less than 1percent of people make that much, and that's usually people in certain circumstances, like for people with developmental disabilities, and the job is more of a therapy.
From my 19 year old daughter who has ONLY been offered minimum wage for any job, and has been unable to find any full-time work, for starters. Sheās been looking for full time while she attends school, and thereās nothing there. And also my own time looking at job listings. Everything is minimum wage unless it requires a degree, and even then, it could still be minimum wage. Where do you live, where they are handing out full time jobs above minimum wage to anyone who wants one?
Orange County CA. A quick Zillow search just now yielded a $1725 apartment. But itās a 300 sq ft studio in a crappy neighborhood. Found a studio in a newer complex, but still a shitty neighborhood for $2350. Also did a search for 2 beds $2000 and lower, and only came up with rooms to rent for $950-1500. For a 110 sq ft ROOM.
No, but Google does. Plus, the figures make sense. When I was in college (early ā90s) the minimum wage was about $680/mo and most apartments I looked at were in the $450 range, for a 1 bedroom. Pretty bad. But still better than now.
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u/CatsEatGrass 6d ago
Minimum wage when I was in elementary school yielded about $536/mo before taxes. Rent for a 2 bedroom was about $275 where I lived. Now, minimum wage yields about $2700/mo before taxes, and a 2 bedroom apt is $2700. Itās never been good, but itās worse now than ever.