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I'm sure it's simply because almost everyone lives off unreported, cash income. Let's be honest: 60K per year is poverty, it's picking between living in a place

I'm sure it's simply because almost everyone lives off unreported, cash income. Let's be honest: 60K per year is poverty, it's picking between living in a place without roaches vs eating out in a crappy place once per week. UK is not a poor country. I know plenty of people earning around a median wage but no one who actually lives on that little. When you get median wage, or two, or three, you still need someone else to pay your bills. My employees get 2-4x median wages and they do NOT live on that money alone (almost all of them moonlight elsewhere), and they are almost all struggling. I am far in top 1% and when i saw what is the asking rent now i said to myself - "wow if i had to move now, that'll be a predicament". Ask any landlord if they are getting paid through the bank. Many won't even accept bank payment. They are paid in cash - and that cash hasn't been in the bank since many circulation loops ago. People are not poor. They are buying everything like crazy, economy is running so hot it can blow up any moment. They just don't report the money they make.

pastage 3y ago
Sarcasm? 60k GBP per year is what an IT director get in the UK, that can not be poverty.
- rcarr 3y ago
  This (original comment, not parent) is what happens when you conflate London and the Home Counties with the UK as a whole.
FirmwareBurner 3y ago
>UK is not a poor country. Pretty much yeah. Yes, it's having challenges due to de-industrialization and Brexit, but it's still one of the best job markets in Europe. Alarmist articles make it sound like the UK is Africa or something.
ghaff 3y ago
There are two income households. Also, I live in the US not the UK, but I'd question whether most people in the median income range and certainly as you rise materially above that not only have significant non-salary money coming in but it's of a nature that isn't reported.
awesomeMilou 3y ago
I can't imagine the cognitive dissonance required to call 60K/year poverty. That's a decent salary where I live, and a comfortable income in most parts of the world.
rcarr 3y ago
You need to take a trip up north and/or to coastal UK towns if you think this is the reality. 60k a year would be a well paying job up here. At my previous job, 60k is what the Technical Development Manager was on, who was in charge of multiple development teams. Senior devs were typically on 40k - 55k, mid level devs on 28k-35k and junior devs 22k-28k. And this was an international company (UK mainly but recently opened in the US) which was raking in over a billion in revenue. The UK is a very unequal place.
refactor_master 3y ago
There’s always the option of downsizing to a smaller mansion, or selling the second Rolls Royce, if 4x the median wage (120k GBP/yr) doesn’t cover it.

pastage 3y ago

Sarcasm? 60k GBP per year is what an IT director get in the UK, that can not be poverty.

rcarr 3y ago
This (original comment, not parent) is what happens when you conflate London and the Home Counties with the UK as a whole.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago

>UK is not a poor country. Pretty much yeah. Yes, it's having challenges due to de-industrialization and Brexit, but it's still one of the best job markets in Europe. Alarmist articles make it sound like the UK is Africa or something.

ghaff 3y ago

There are two income households. Also, I live in the US not the UK, but I'd question whether most people in the median income range and certainly as you rise materially above that not only have significant non-salary money coming in but it's of a nature that isn't reported.

awesomeMilou 3y ago

I can't imagine the cognitive dissonance required to call 60K/year poverty. That's a decent salary where I live, and a comfortable income in most parts of the world.

rcarr 3y ago

You need to take a trip up north and/or to coastal UK towns if you think this is the reality. 60k a year would be a well paying job up here. At my previous job, 60k is what the Technical Development Manager was on, who was in charge of multiple development teams. Senior devs were typically on 40k - 55k, mid level devs on 28k-35k and junior devs 22k-28k. And this was an international company (UK mainly but recently opened in the US) which was raking in over a billion in revenue. The UK is a very unequal place.

refactor_master 3y ago

There’s always the option of downsizing to a smaller mansion, or selling the second Rolls Royce, if 4x the median wage (120k GBP/yr) doesn’t cover it.