How do people survive on minimum wage?

[buckeye45_73]

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If you choose to be satisfied with a minimum wage job, you can certainly survive. Move back in with your family, move in with friends, share an apartment with others. No, your lifestyle may not be what you would like it to be, and hopefully that will motivate you to do a good job at work and advance, and/or take classes and/or get training on a better paying position.

There are plenty of people who do that, and no one is holding a gun to their head to do it. It's their choice because they want a better lifestyle.

Some want to paint minimum wage earners as permanent "victims" when they are not. They are people who are where they are right now, but who can make a decision to do what it takes to create a better existence for themselves. Unless they suffer from a physical and/or mental condition, it's up to them.

Regardless of what they are told by those who "care" so much about them.

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Ummm... most people who are in minimum wage jobs lack the resources to further themselves. They have a family to provide for, bills to pay, kids that they need to spend time with. All that while juggling one and more often two and sometimes three jobs to make ends meet.

It's not due to a lack of effort.

Plus, you guys act like there's countless jobs that can completely replace all the low wage jobs. Everybody can get a better paying job, they just don't try hard enough! There's over a hundred million and more of them!

Min wage jobs are low skilled jobs for teenagers or people to pick up part time work. They're not to provide for a family. They help you get work experience to get a "real" job. I'm sorry but Busboys, retail clerks, ect dont need to make that much, because they're not high skilled. and I did both as a teenager, then I got a factory job and actually made a bit of money and I learned computers and am now in networking, making good money, but I'll be dammed if entry level jobs need to be paid "living" wages, they're not for that reason.

 

[The T]

---(They don't they just exist after 3 years they become zombies)----

Article> One of my clients recently reported getting a job at a fast-food restaurant. Since she's been unemployed and desperately looking for work for nearly a year, I was thrilled for her. She was very excited that she'll be making $7.50 an hour -– a whole quarter more than minimum wage.



After she left my office, I got out a calculator. I've never worked for minimum wage, so I didn't know exactly how much -- or how little -- money that is.



Assuming 80 hours per pay period, my client will be bringing home around $462 every two weeks. That's with no health insurance or retirement contributions.



If I brought home $924 a month, would I even be able to survive? I decided to find out.

read more How do people survive on minimum wage?- MSN Money

They qualify for almost every government assistance out there.

Although without Government intrusion on so many levels almost NONE of it would be necessary.

 

[Lovebears65]

Also get a second job if you cant make it on your first..

 

[Lovebears65]

WOW. You don't have to work for minimum wage. You can work for 10 bucks an hour. 40 hours, $400.00 entire dollars a week. Except that taxes are taken out, so now you have 350. dollars a week. Grocerys, 100 a week, rent is 500 a month, so take out 125 a week, gas to get to work is 45. dollars. Utilties are about 35 a week in the summer. More in winter.

So, for my weeks work and covering my expenses I get to keep roughly 45 dollars a week. If everything goes right. And I don't mind not having auto insurance or health insurance. Or a cell phone. Or the ability to handle a crisis or mishap. Notice I didn't even try to have a car payment.

Sure, you can live on 10 bucks an hour. If you call that "living". Survival sounds more like it.


But to those that want to try it, just to show us non Rethugs how its done, I say have at it. Show how to live the good life on 10 bucks an hour.

BTW. Paying a rethug more than minimum wage is a true waste of money. They just aren't worth it.
Won't work. Can't teach em anything cause they know it all. Full of bull shit. You end up having to send them home.

get a second part time job...

 

[The T]

Also get a second job if you cant make it on your first..

Amazing what WORK will do for one's soul...

 

[Google]

If you wanted significant overtime hours in a wage job you should have joined a union. Or you could just whine and blame "big government".

You go from one extreme to another. Forcing an employer to pay an unsustainable pension plan and unrealistic hours only hurts the workers in the long run.

No one forces anyone to pay an unsustainable pension plan. We live in a free country where parties have wide latitude to make whatever contracts they like with one another. If a business signs a contract against their interest then it is their own fault. We call that personal responsibility in the land of the free.

This is the central issue of the auto bailouts. The government, under a more than willing Obama administration, didn't bailout the GD auto industry, they bailed out the auto workers union. Without the union's strangle hold on GM they would have never reached the point of insolvency.

America auto manufacturers failed because they insisted on pursuing a production and marketing model based around big ass gas guzzlers in the fact of increasing gasoline prices. To suggest this massive strategic failure was the fault of the factory worker and not the management is to absolve management of all responsibility for anything.

EDIT:

IF it weren't for the unions our armature and chief would have been more than willing to let American auto industry perish.

AND? You think that would have been a GOOD thing if hundreds of thousands MORE lost their jobs? Fucks sake, whose side are you on? Its abundantly evident you WANT people to lose their jobs. We've known that about the right for a while now - any amount of suffering by American workers and their families is justified so long as it gets big government evil OBAMA out of office.

What I'm saying is that unions decimated America's auto industry. Why is unemployment lower in right to work states?

 

[The T]

You go from one extreme to another. Forcing an employer to pay an unsustainable pension plan and unrealistic hours only hurts the workers in the long run.

No one forces anyone to pay an unsustainable pension plan. We live in a free country where parties have wide latitude to make whatever contracts they like with one another. If a business signs a contract against their interest then it is their own fault. We call that personal responsibility in the land of the free.



America auto manufacturers failed because they insisted on pursuing a production and marketing model based around big ass gas guzzlers in the fact of increasing gasoline prices. To suggest this massive strategic failure was the fault of the factory worker and not the management is to absolve management of all responsibility for anything.

EDIT:

IF it weren't for the unions our armature and chief would have been more than willing to let American auto industry perish.

AND? You think that would have been a GOOD thing if hundreds of thousands MORE lost their jobs? Fucks sake, whose side are you on? Its abundantly evident you WANT people to lose their jobs. We've known that about the right for a while now - any amount of suffering by American workers and their families is justified so long as it gets big government evil OBAMA out of office.

What I'm saying is that unions decimated America's auto industry. Why is unemployment lower in right to work states?

Inquiring minds already KNOW

 

[Google]

The American Auto Workers Unions is out to demonize and kick Toyota out of America because they won't let its worker unionize--yet they are hiring more workers than GM.

 

[zeke]

get a second part time job...

And there is the answer to the problems of paying low wages. You have to work two jobs to get by.
The geat American dream. Work not one but two minimum wage jobs to pay your bills. And still struggle.

And when you need help with paying rent or utilities or health care, you get to listen to rethugs tell you what a piece of shit you are for wanting or needing "guvmint" help. Even though you may be working two jobs, you are still a POS if you need help.

Sure makes you want to get out there and get those two jobs.

But I thought there was a job shortage. How is it that minimum wage earners can find not one, but two jobs? Must be the special skill set they bring. Like the willingness to work for 7.25 an hour.

Working two jobs to survive sure will make it easier to get the skills necessary to move up to, maybe, a 12 dollar an hour job.

Are the working poor allowed to sleep. Or are they to busy "living the dream"?

 

[The T]

get a second part time job...

And there is the answer to the problems of paying low wages. You have to work two jobs to get by.
The geat American dream. Work not one but two minimum wage jobs to pay your bills. And still struggle.

And when you need help with paying rent or utilities or health care, you get to listen to rethugs tell you what a piece of shit you are for wanting or needing "guvmint" help. Even though you may be working two jobs, you are still a POS if you need help.

Sure makes you want to get out there and get those two jobs.

But I thought there was a job shortage. How is it that minimum wage earners can find not one, but two jobs? Must be the special skill set they bring. Like the willingness to work for 7.25 an hour.

Working two jobs to survive sure will make it easier to get the skills necessary to move up to, maybe, a 12 dollar an hour job.

Are the working poor allowed to sleep. Or are they to busy "living the dream"?

In summation? WE are entirely TAXED TOO DAMNED MUCH as is Business from Government from every fucking angle imaginable.

Government needs to BUTT OUT if this economy is to roar back to LIFE...

Would you not agree?

 

[The T]

IF the taxes weren't so GD high? BOTH parents wouldn't have to work...ONE could pay attention to the children...and there wouldn't BE any need for another fucking job.

WHAT is so hard to understand of this folks?

 

[Google]

get a second part time job...

And there is the answer to the problems of paying low wages. You have to work two jobs to get by.
The geat American dream. Work not one but two minimum wage jobs to pay your bills. And still struggle.

And when you need help with paying rent or utilities or health care, you get to listen to rethugs tell you what a piece of shit you are for wanting or needing "guvmint" help. Even though you may be working two jobs, you are still a POS if you need help.

Sure makes you want to get out there and get those two jobs.

But I thought there was a job shortage. How is it that minimum wage earners can find not one, but two jobs? Must be the special skill set they bring. Like the willingness to work for 7.25 an hour.

Working two jobs to survive sure will make it easier to get the skills necessary to move up to, maybe, a 12 dollar an hour job.

Are the working poor allowed to sleep. Or are they to busy "living the dream"?

I'm curious, have you ever had to work two minimum wage paying jobs? Have you ever had a minimum wage job?

Once again, you are either purposely misrepresenting the facts or don't know them.

2.2% of American workers are paid minimum wage. Of that 2.2% how many fit into your horse shot example?

 

[rdean]

Many businesses see "Food Stamps" as a "business subsidy". Without food stamps, they would have to cut back on their number of employees. 50% of those on food stamps are children. The majority of those on food stamps are white. The idea that people on food stamps are lazy and don't work is simply one more Republican lie they spew to hurt even their own people Go figure.

 

[The T]

Many businesses see "Food Stamps" as a "business subsidy". Without food stamps, they would have to cut back on their number of employees. 50% of those on food stamps are children. The majority of those on food stamps are white. The idea that people on food stamps are lazy and don't work is simply one more Republican lie they spew to hurt even their own people Go figure.

What the FUCK are you babbling about deany?

 

[rdean]

Many businesses see "Food Stamps" as a "business subsidy". Without food stamps, they would have to cut back on their number of employees. 50% of those on food stamps are children. The majority of those on food stamps are white. The idea that people on food stamps are lazy and don't work is simply one more Republican lie they spew to hurt even their own people Go figure.

What the FUCK are you babbling about deany?

Sad, you can't understand the truth even when it's spelled out in simple English. Even "simple" is simply too "complex" for you. Pity.

 

[The T]

Many businesses see "Food Stamps" as a "business subsidy". Without food stamps, they would have to cut back on their number of employees. 50% of those on food stamps are children. The majority of those on food stamps are white. The idea that people on food stamps are lazy and don't work is simply one more Republican lie they spew to hurt even their own people Go figure.

What the FUCK are you babbling about deany?

Sad, you can't understand the truth even when it's spelled out in simple English. Even "simple" is simply too "complex" for you. Pity.

Nothing SAD about it on MY part as it is YOURS.

Race baiting...Wealth Envy WHORE that YOU are son.

Trust me?

JUMP from the highest structure you can find before the elction NOW.

It will save YOU from the agony later.

 

[Clementine]

---(They don't they just exist after 3 years they become zombies)----

Article> One of my clients recently reported getting a job at a fast-food restaurant. Since she's been unemployed and desperately looking for work for nearly a year, I was thrilled for her. She was very excited that she'll be making $7.50 an hour -– a whole quarter more than minimum wage.



After she left my office, I got out a calculator. I've never worked for minimum wage, so I didn't know exactly how much -- or how little -- money that is.



Assuming 80 hours per pay period, my client will be bringing home around $462 every two weeks. That's with no health insurance or retirement contributions.



If I brought home $924 a month, would I even be able to survive? I decided to find out.

read more How do people survive on minimum wage?- MSN Money

Minimum wage jobs are best for kids beginning in the work force and they are the first step. They are also great for a person wanting a part time job or second job. If a person doesn't have an education, they may never rise above minimum wage. Most minimum wage workers who have families receive welfare and do okay. If one can have their rent, utilities and food subsidized, they often have more disposable income than people making $50,000 a year.

My aunt survived on a measley $800 a month social security check. She worked her entire adult life and paid more into SS than she ever got out of it. She was able to keep her good insurance because she had saved money over the years and had a nice retirement nest egg. In other words, she relied mainly on herself rather than fully depend on government to ensure her retirement.

Many of us began with minimum wage jobs and climbed from there. If a person with a big family is still working at a low paying job after many years, I have to ask what went wrong with the person's life that they can only get an unskilled job. If they dropped out of school or are a convicted felon, they have made choices that limited their opportunities and it's not really fair to expect the tax payers to pick up the slack. There are consequences to our actions and that alone can cause a person to make better decision, but when the government puts out the message that tax payers will subsidize them, where is the incentive for people to be personally responsible for their own future?

Of course, these days the good jobs are continuing to disappear, which makes it much harder to increase one's standard of living.

If companies have to pay more for minimum wage jobs, the number of jobs tend to decrease. Even Walmart is talking about not hiring any more greeters and doing away with those jobs. They were great jobs for seniors who wanted to suppliment their social security income.

Prices will rise if minimum wage is increased because the business needs to cover their additional expenses.

It's just best to keep your nose clean and go for the better job rather than rely on big giverment to come through for you.

 

[Wry Catcher]

What is a 'living wage'? Given that if a business increases what it pays its workers, it generally has to increase the price to its customers... therefore the cost of living goes up, which means the 'living wage' is no longer a 'living wage' which means it needs to be increased... which leads to increased prices to customers, which leads to an increase in the cost of living, which leads to an increase in the 'living wage', which leads to.... I think you get where I'm going with this. There is no simple answer... and people really should recognize that and stop expecting simple answers.

So, what is the complex answer?

The callous conservative answer is, "it's all about personal responsibility"; and that CG is a simple answer and a simple solution solved by saying or thinking, "I got mine, screw the rest of them".

The progressive response is to force the ants that planned ahead to provide for the grasshopper. You should spend more time reading Aesop and less time reading Marx.

The Ants and the Grasshopper

Marx? I learned these values in Catechism at St. Anne's.

 

[Againsheila]

They don't, they can't, I've been saying that for years, more than 75% of those working for minimum wage are adults and minimum wage currently has the lowest spending power in history. In the richest country in the world, the poorest worker should make a living wage.

What is a 'living wage'? Given that if a business increases what it pays its workers, it generally has to increase the price to its customers... therefore the cost of living goes up, which means the 'living wage' is no longer a 'living wage' which means it needs to be increased... which leads to increased prices to customers, which leads to an increase in the cost of living, which leads to an increase in the 'living wage', which leads to.... I think you get where I'm going with this. There is no simple answer... and people really should recognize that and stop expecting simple answers.

The cost that goes up is spread out so that it's goes up for EVERYBODY, not just the minimum wage worker, so in the end, yeah the MW worker is ahead. The middle class and rich lose ground. So what? We have the biggest income gap in the industrialized nations and it's an embarrassment. We cannot possibly survive if we don't reduce that income gap.

 

[Againsheila]

The question should be is WHY anyone would tolerate Government picking winnders and losers.

WHY is thier a minimumwage? Because it Gives UNIONS room to jack UP thier prices for thier money laundering with politicians.

Certain Statists ARE correct on these boards...'Free Market' Doesn't exist...because we have Politicians making sure it doesn't.

YOU get paid for what you're worth.

Bulcrap, do you really believe CEO's are worth the $millions they are paid when they are FIRED???