4 ms·

Of course the lower paid people live in cheaper areas, where else can they live? $15/hr is no longer a sufficient/comfortable wage for anyone in the US.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
I know people in the suburban southeast who make $12-15/hr doing manufacturing jobs. Despite having more mouths to feed per income they're living a lot more comfortably and securely than the people in the urban northeast I know who are making $15/16/17/hr doing service jobs.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  Tax credits are a huge deal for low wage workers. People who have a few kids can get like 50% of their wages in tax credits.
endisneigh 5y ago
I don’t disagree but has the minimum wage ever been a comfortable wage?
niij 5y ago
There are many rural areas where it absolutely is.
parkingrift 5y ago
MIT has a living wage calculator to attempt to answer this question. https://livingwage.mit.edu https://livingwage.mit.edu I would guess that $15/hr is above the "living wage" in a majority of counties in the United States. Perhaps your perspective is skewed by your experience in expensive urban areas?
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  Perhaps the problem is what the definition of "living" is? There is a gap between economic serfdom and comfortable/economic physiological safety.
  - parkingrift 5y ago
    Their definition of "living" is fairly simple. "The tool helps individuals, communities, and employers determine a local wage rate that allows residents to meet minimum standards of living." For the purposes of this calculator that's enough income for food, housing, transportation, civic duties, and medical care. Their overall methodology is located here: https://livingwage.mit.edu/resources/Living-Wage-Users-Guide-Technical-Documentation-2021-12-28.pdf https://livingwage.mit.edu/resources/Living-Wage-Users-Guide...
- ydlr 5y ago
  And how many people are living in those counties only because they van't afford to move?
  - parkingrift 5y ago
    How could anyone possibly know that? You could suppose the opposite is also true, but what's the point?
- PenguinCoder 5y ago
  Why are you guessing if there's readily available data? Every single state (as a whole) on that MIT page, states a living wage that is greater than the listed minimum wage, for even a _single_ person with 0 dependents. $15/hr is on par or within $2/hr to a living wage EVERYWHERE according to MITs living wage. Perhaps your perspective is skewed by thinking this is the 1990's still.
  - parkingrift 5y ago
    I'm sorry, but what are you talking about? I didn't say anything about minimum wage.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

I know people in the suburban southeast who make $12-15/hr doing manufacturing jobs. Despite having more mouths to feed per income they're living a lot more comfortably and securely than the people in the urban northeast I know who are making $15/16/17/hr doing service jobs.

mywittyname 5y ago
Tax credits are a huge deal for low wage workers. People who have a few kids can get like 50% of their wages in tax credits.

endisneigh 5y ago

I don’t disagree but has the minimum wage ever been a comfortable wage?

niij 5y ago

There are many rural areas where it absolutely is.

parkingrift 5y ago

MIT has a living wage calculator to attempt to answer this question. https://livingwage.mit.edu https://livingwage.mit.edu I would guess that $15/hr is above the "living wage" in a majority of counties in the United States. Perhaps your perspective is skewed by your experience in expensive urban areas?

toomuchtodo 5y ago
Perhaps the problem is what the definition of "living" is? There is a gap between economic serfdom and comfortable/economic physiological safety.
- parkingrift 5y ago
  Their definition of "living" is fairly simple. "The tool helps individuals, communities, and employers determine a local wage rate that allows residents to meet minimum standards of living." For the purposes of this calculator that's enough income for food, housing, transportation, civic duties, and medical care. Their overall methodology is located here: https://livingwage.mit.edu/resources/Living-Wage-Users-Guide-Technical-Documentation-2021-12-28.pdf https://livingwage.mit.edu/resources/Living-Wage-Users-Guide...
ydlr 5y ago
And how many people are living in those counties only because they van't afford to move?
- parkingrift 5y ago
  How could anyone possibly know that? You could suppose the opposite is also true, but what's the point?
PenguinCoder 5y ago
Why are you guessing if there's readily available data? Every single state (as a whole) on that MIT page, states a living wage that is greater than the listed minimum wage, for even a _single_ person with 0 dependents. $15/hr is on par or within $2/hr to a living wage EVERYWHERE according to MITs living wage. Perhaps your perspective is skewed by thinking this is the 1990's still.
- parkingrift 5y ago
  I'm sorry, but what are you talking about? I didn't say anything about minimum wage.