4 ms·

There are already people in the comments complaining that $15/hr is "plenty" (people who, I'll hazard to wager, make at least twice that). I made $15/hr working

There are already people in the comments complaining that $15/hr is "plenty" (people who, I'll hazard to wager, make at least twice that). I made $15/hr working at Best Buy, and that was a job where I was paid to move around the store, interact (mostly positively) with customers and coworkers, perform a variety of relatively engaging tasks, and got benefits/paid breaks/etc. It was not enough to live on; I dipped into savings every month. $15 to sit on a computer, labeling photos, in 2023, sounds much less an agreeable situation. And I should know: I also did a temp data entry contract, sitting in a room by myself for 8 hours, doing the same thing over and over, for ~$12/hr (essentially the same pay wrt inflation). Likewise, I was not making ends meet and dipping into savings for the 2 months I was doing that job. I'd really like people who are comparatively better-off to stop telling us what's "enough". $15/hr was a good wage to shoot for when the "raise the wage" movement started more than a decade (!) ago. It's been almost 15 years of near-zero interest rates and the attendant inflation, exacerbated by several crises that required money-printing to keep the economy out of a recession. Maybe some assets could stand to be devalued to allow workers to receive what is actually a living wage today (which would be north of $20/hr).

ITB 3y ago
If there are enough people willing to do it, then it’s the market rate. Regardless of whether it’s enough by one standard or another.
- kevingadd 3y ago
  This seems entirely separate from the comment you're replying to, though.
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  GP said nothing about market rate. A reply talking about the market rate is like a Christian telling a bunch of Jews that it's okay that they ate pork because Jesus forgives their sins.
junofan 3y ago
The guy in the article says it’s one of the things that got him out of homelessness. Yeah sure we could all make more money, but seems like for this guy it was a good opportunity.
- amelius 3y ago
  That's ... quite a low bar.
  - WeylandYutani 3y ago
    Well yeah not everyone is lucky in life. Most of this planet wasn't born in a nice middle clas white family living in a leafy suburb. Even in my ostensibly rich as sin European socialist country there are paupers. Minimum wage is something like 12 euro.
    - bugglebeetle 3y ago
      I highly doubt that anyone in “rich as sin European socialist” countries is forced to choose between labeling child abuse content or homelessness. And even if we assume they were, the level of labor protections they would have in that role would far outstrip the effectively zero they have in the US.
      - CamperBob2 3y ago
        The worker didn't say he was "forced." He took the job of his own free will and made the most of it. Got a problem with that?
        bugglebeetle 3y ago
        Ah yes, the American economy, in its majestic equality, offers both the rich and the poor the opportunity to label child abuse material for $15 per hour.
        3y ago
WeylandYutani 3y ago
It's better than working in the service industry and dealing with people. Or working at an airport handling luggage.
pessimizer 3y ago
> I'd really like people who are comparatively better-off to stop telling us what's "enough". I'd think that a better idea would be to make clear good faith arguments for your case, and listen to arguments from people making the opposite case. Disqualifying people from speaking is not constructive, and with the way power works, any disqualification would be of the people too close to the issue i.e. the people whose livelihoods depend on that $15. It is absolutely bizarre that people who claim to speak for the marginalized think that removing people from the discussion won't start with the people with the least power. related: if there's any job that's going to be completely eradicated by LLMs, it's customer service/telephone work. That's almost all of the shitty office jobs other than data entry. If the Philippines loses customer service, that's going to cause a major employment hole that's going to need to be filled. Not to mention India, but at least there are more opportunities in India.
1lint 3y ago
I think some of the disagreement comes from lack of context. $15 is certainly not a good wage in the Bay Area which I presume is disproportionately represented on this site, but it is a lot better in other parts of the country (subject of story lives in Kansas). After all a good chunk of the world population lives sustainably (by the standards of human history) on single digit dollar income per day
readthenotes1 3y ago
My annual budget maps to about $17/hour for 2000 hours work a year and i live pretty darn well of it. I could live of $15/hr easily if I wanted to. But i had the capacity to choose to live in a town with a moderate cost of living and have few material needs or desires

ITB 3y ago

If there are enough people willing to do it, then it’s the market rate. Regardless of whether it’s enough by one standard or another.

kevingadd 3y ago
This seems entirely separate from the comment you're replying to, though.
anonymouskimmer 3y ago
GP said nothing about market rate. A reply talking about the market rate is like a Christian telling a bunch of Jews that it's okay that they ate pork because Jesus forgives their sins.

junofan 3y ago

The guy in the article says it’s one of the things that got him out of homelessness. Yeah sure we could all make more money, but seems like for this guy it was a good opportunity.

amelius 3y ago
That's ... quite a low bar.
- WeylandYutani 3y ago
  Well yeah not everyone is lucky in life. Most of this planet wasn't born in a nice middle clas white family living in a leafy suburb. Even in my ostensibly rich as sin European socialist country there are paupers. Minimum wage is something like 12 euro.
  - bugglebeetle 3y ago
    I highly doubt that anyone in “rich as sin European socialist” countries is forced to choose between labeling child abuse content or homelessness. And even if we assume they were, the level of labor protections they would have in that role would far outstrip the effectively zero they have in the US.
    - CamperBob2 3y ago
      The worker didn't say he was "forced." He took the job of his own free will and made the most of it. Got a problem with that?
      - bugglebeetle 3y ago
        Ah yes, the American economy, in its majestic equality, offers both the rich and the poor the opportunity to label child abuse material for $15 per hour.
        3y ago

WeylandYutani 3y ago

It's better than working in the service industry and dealing with people. Or working at an airport handling luggage.

pessimizer 3y ago

> I'd really like people who are comparatively better-off to stop telling us what's "enough". I'd think that a better idea would be to make clear good faith arguments for your case, and listen to arguments from people making the opposite case. Disqualifying people from speaking is not constructive, and with the way power works, any disqualification would be of the people too close to the issue i.e. the people whose livelihoods depend on that $15. It is absolutely bizarre that people who claim to speak for the marginalized think that removing people from the discussion won't start with the people with the least power. related: if there's any job that's going to be completely eradicated by LLMs, it's customer service/telephone work. That's almost all of the shitty office jobs other than data entry. If the Philippines loses customer service, that's going to cause a major employment hole that's going to need to be filled. Not to mention India, but at least there are more opportunities in India.

1lint 3y ago

I think some of the disagreement comes from lack of context. $15 is certainly not a good wage in the Bay Area which I presume is disproportionately represented on this site, but it is a lot better in other parts of the country (subject of story lives in Kansas). After all a good chunk of the world population lives sustainably (by the standards of human history) on single digit dollar income per day

readthenotes1 3y ago

My annual budget maps to about $17/hour for 2000 hours work a year and i live pretty darn well of it. I could live of $15/hr easily if I wanted to. But i had the capacity to choose to live in a town with a moderate cost of living and have few material needs or desires