The real value of a $15 minimum wage depends on where you live

[Wyatt earp]

As we were saying let the states decided on their minimum wage and I will never understand why poor people in blue States vote against their own self interest .


What is a $15 wage really worth? Depends where you live | Pew Research Center

A $15 hourly wage yields $17.10 worth of purchasing power for a worker at Amazon’s Spartanburg, South Carolina, warehouse, for example, but only $13.57 for a worker at the warehouse in Kent, Washington, a Seattle suburb about 20 miles south of the company’s headquarters.




*Snip*


These estimates are calculated by using data on “regional price parities,” or RPPs, for the nation’s 382 metropolitan statistical areas. The RPPs, developed by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, measure the difference in local price levels of goods and services across the country, relative to the overall national price level (set at 100). So, on average, prices in the Seattle metro area (RPP of 110.5) are 10.5% higher than the nationwide average, while prices in Spartanburg (RPP of 87.7) are 12.3% below average.

 

[william the wie]

State and local taxes not involved in purchases such as tolls and real estate seem to be omitted due to added complexity of computation so the resulting numbers probably understate how bad the differentials really are.

 

[ThunderKiss1965]

I never understood the stupidity of Liberals who willingly vote themselves out of a job. Of course the people they vote for keep telling them not to worry the Government will take care of you.

Seattle's $15 Minimum Wage: Jobs Down, Unemployment Up. This Isn't Working, Is It?

 

[william the wie]

As jobs migrate to lower cost jurisdictions rinse and repeat kicks in.

 

[shockedcanadian]

As we were saying let the states decided on their minimum wage and I will never understand why poor people in blue States vote against their own self interest .


What is a $15 wage really worth? Depends where you live | Pew Research Center



View attachment 221856



A $15 hourly wage yields $17.10 worth of purchasing power for a worker at Amazon’s Spartanburg, South Carolina, warehouse, for example, but only $13.57 for a worker at the warehouse in Kent, Washington, a Seattle suburb about 20 miles south of the company’s headquarters.




*Snip*


These estimates are calculated by using data on “regional price parities,” or RPPs, for the nation’s 382 metropolitan statistical areas. The RPPs, developed by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, measure the difference in local price levels of goods and services across the country, relative to the overall national price level (set at 100). So, on average, prices in the Seattle metro area (RPP of 110.5) are 10.5% higher than the nationwide average, while prices in Spartanburg (RPP of 87.7) are 12.3% below average.




View attachment 221857

I've always felt the same about this subject. Realistically, if you had a National minimum wage of $15 an hour, it would be incumbent on people to live in the cheapest areas of the nation possible, and $15 an hour would have more value than someone making $25 an hour in some cases if that second person lived in Manhattan for instance.

Now of course, if someone can earn $125k a year, even in a higher cost area, they will earn, save, invest much more over their lifetime, within a reasonable higher cost of living. Someone making $20 an hour though in a major city hub, compared to someone living in a rural community? Much better to pay $300 a month rent near farm land than than $1500.

There were guys I heard of who made real money playing online poker in Canada, 10's of thousands a month in some cases. I always wondered why such a person at age 24 would live in Vancouver or Toronto when he could move just a couple of hundred clicks outside the city and earn the same but pay a fraction of the costs. Yes, they'd have less recreational activities, but they'd bank so much more. It's literally about getting the cheapest overhead possible as long as they have an internet connection.

 

[Wyatt earp]

As jobs migrate to lower cost jurisdictions rinse and repeat kicks in.

Unfortunately they bring with them "why can't this place be more like ....."

Instead of just enjoying it and try to fit in

.

 

[william the wie]

True. AL for example has been turning around since roughly 1980. Upstate NY, Rochester north, has also been turning around and not for the better in the same time period. I get regular updates from my relatives in AL and my in-laws from NY. Calis really hate FL the ocean water is too warm for them and all of their earthquake knowledge is counterproductive in FL. Likewise for their driving skills.