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From the article: "Nearly a third of the US workforce makes less than fifteen dollars an hour—40 percent of female workers, 47 percent of Black workers, and 57

From the article: "Nearly a third of the US workforce makes less than fifteen dollars an hour—40 percent of female workers, 47 percent of Black workers, and 57 percent of working single parents."

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
PostOnce 3y ago
A good thing in to keep in mind when it feels like everyone on HN claims to make 250K a year working 3 hours a day 4 days a week.
AnthonyMouse 3y ago
That sounds about right from the number of people who live in lower cost of living areas. People have a poor intuitive understanding of this -- they can't understand how someone could live on less than $15/hour because they live in New York City or San Francisco where that would be unreasonable. But it's much less unreasonable in Memphis or El Paso where things cost a lot less. The real problem is that things, especially housing, still cost too much everywhere -- much worse in San Francisco, but not great no matter where you are in the US. Which requires higher wages to make a living, which puts pressure on employers to cut labor costs by making people do more with less. And then you get problems. But employers can't just raise wages unilaterally -- if they paid more (and thereby raised prices), first of all that increases the cost of living even more, second of all the people who are already hurting because of the high cost of living are going to switch to any competitor who can offer a lower price, so the employers who do this lose to any that don't. What we really need to do is lower the cost of living.
- soupfordummies 3y ago
  15/hr is about 1900/mo after taxes (assuming you get full 40 hours a week which is pretty rare in most hourly jobs where overtime for your employees is avoided like the plague.) Where in the US is LCOL enough for that?
  - mattmcknight 3y ago
    Well, Wichita Kansas is maybe the biggest one? You can rent a place there for 500/month. Here's the thing though- if you raise wages, the prices for the finite quantities of housing get bid up. The goal should be bringing the cost of living down.
  - leetcrew 3y ago
    lots of places, if you're willing to live like a college student. for example, you can find 3BRs around baltimore for ~$2000/month. split 3-4 ways (sometimes there's an additional room with a door that doesn't technically count as a bedroom), your share is $500-700. main issues are going to be health insurance and a car if you can't find $15/hr work within walking distance.
    - whoknowsidont 3y ago
      >lots of places Well you see that's exactly the problem. There are in fact, not a lot of places.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - naniwaduni 3y ago
    NYC, apparently, if you'd accept the "international grad student" standard of living.

From the article: "Nearly a third of the US workforce makes less than fifteen dollars an hour—40 percent of female workers, 47 percent of Black workers, and 57 percent of working single parents."

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

PostOnce 3y ago

A good thing in to keep in mind when it feels like everyone on HN claims to make 250K a year working 3 hours a day 4 days a week.

AnthonyMouse 3y ago

That sounds about right from the number of people who live in lower cost of living areas. People have a poor intuitive understanding of this -- they can't understand how someone could live on less than $15/hour because they live in New York City or San Francisco where that would be unreasonable. But it's much less unreasonable in Memphis or El Paso where things cost a lot less. The real problem is that things, especially housing, still cost too much everywhere -- much worse in San Francisco, but not great no matter where you are in the US. Which requires higher wages to make a living, which puts pressure on employers to cut labor costs by making people do more with less. And then you get problems. But employers can't just raise wages unilaterally -- if they paid more (and thereby raised prices), first of all that increases the cost of living even more, second of all the people who are already hurting because of the high cost of living are going to switch to any competitor who can offer a lower price, so the employers who do this lose to any that don't. What we really need to do is lower the cost of living.

soupfordummies 3y ago
15/hr is about 1900/mo after taxes (assuming you get full 40 hours a week which is pretty rare in most hourly jobs where overtime for your employees is avoided like the plague.) Where in the US is LCOL enough for that?
- mattmcknight 3y ago
  Well, Wichita Kansas is maybe the biggest one? You can rent a place there for 500/month. Here's the thing though- if you raise wages, the prices for the finite quantities of housing get bid up. The goal should be bringing the cost of living down.
- leetcrew 3y ago
  lots of places, if you're willing to live like a college student. for example, you can find 3BRs around baltimore for ~$2000/month. split 3-4 ways (sometimes there's an additional room with a door that doesn't technically count as a bedroom), your share is $500-700. main issues are going to be health insurance and a car if you can't find $15/hr work within walking distance.
  - whoknowsidont 3y ago
    >lots of places Well you see that's exactly the problem. There are in fact, not a lot of places.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- naniwaduni 3y ago
  NYC, apparently, if you'd accept the "international grad student" standard of living.