Also, its silly to say that "any state worth a damn has a higher minimum wage", your 8$/hr in California is probably worth less than out 6$/hr in Tennessee.
Originally posted by: Cellulose
Originally posted by: rikadik
As an ATOTer living in the UK I can confirm that although our minimum wage of £5.52 / $10.89 seems good the cost of living is getting higher and higher.
For example, I filled my car up for £1.19 a litre the other day - that's almost $9 per US gallon.
I think £1.19 is closer to $11 per gallon.
Originally posted by: PricklyPete
Originally posted by: rikadik
As an ATOTer living in the UK I can confirm that although our minimum wage of £5.52 / $10.89 seems good the cost of living is getting higher and higher.
For example, I filled my car up for £1.19 a litre the other day - that's almost $9 per US gallon.
I filled up my diesel a few weeks ago at 1.31 a litre... I felt dirty and ashamed after the experience.
Originally posted by: Topic Summary:
Their minimum wage is $10.90 compared to $5.85 here
Originally posted by: BoomerD
http://www.getrichslowly.org/b...arns-the-minimum-wage/
"According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the median annual income of a U.S. worker is $32,140. Federal minimum wage is currently $5.85 an hour, or about $11,500 per year ? just above the poverty line. Of the 76.5 million people paid by the hour in the United States in 2006, 2.2% make minimum wage or less. Here are some generalizations we can make about minimum wage workers:
Most minimum wage earners are young. While 2.2% of all hourly workers earn minimum wage or less, just 1.4% of workers over the age of 25 are paid at or below the Federal minimum wage. More than half (51.2%) of minimum wage workers are between 16 and 24 years old. Another 21.2% are between 25 and 34.
Most minimum wage earners work in food service. Nearly two-thirds of those paid minimum wage (or less) are food service workers. Many of these people receive supplemental income in the form of tips, which the government does not track.
Most minimum wage earners never attended college. Just 1.2% of college graduates are paid the minimum wage. If you only have a high school degree, you?re more likely (1.9%) to be paid minimum wage. Those without a high school degree are nearly three times as likely (3.7%) to earn minimum wage. 59.8% of all minimum wage workers have no advanced education.
Finally, as you might expect, part-time workers are five times more likely to be paid the minimum wage than full-time workers. "
"Many workers begin their post-school careers in jobs paying the minimum or something close to it, but?the vast majority of workers move on to higher paying jobs as they accumulate experience.
However, there is a nontrivial fraction of workers who spend substantial portions of their early careers consistently working in minimum wage jobs. [...] Less educated persons, blacks, women with young children, and workers who reside outside of urban areas are much more likely to have such minimum wage careers."
According to those numbers, 2.2% of 76.5 million workers earn the Federal Minimum wage or less...that's 1,683,000. NOT an insignificant number.
Originally posted by: mugs
2/3 of them work in foodservice though, so they actually make well over minimum wage after tips. And over half are young people, most of whom don't support themselves. I don't know how any adult could possibly make only minimum wage unless they have some kind of special circumstances like a disability. I worked foodservice and retail jobs for years in high school and college, and everyone at those jobs made more than minimum wage. And if you don't mind working hard, you can make a lot more doing construction.
Originally posted by: BoomerD
Originally posted by: mugs
2/3 of them work in foodservice though, so they actually make well over minimum wage after tips. And over half are young people, most of whom don't support themselves. I don't know how any adult could possibly make only minimum wage unless they have some kind of special circumstances like a disability. I worked foodservice and retail jobs for years in high school and college, and everyone at those jobs made more than minimum wage. And if you don't mind working hard, you can make a lot more doing construction.
True, many minimum wage earners can earn tips on top of their wages, but in many states, their tips make up the difference between the sub-minimum wage and the REAL minimum wage, so their earning power is substantially reduced. They don't see any "benefit" of the tips until after they've earned enough to offset the nearly $4/hr they lose by being "tippable employees."
If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the minimum hourly wage of $5.85 per hour effective July 24, 2007; $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008; and $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009; the employer must make up the difference.
Originally posted by: BoomerD
Originally posted by: mugs
2/3 of them work in foodservice though, so they actually make well over minimum wage after tips. And over half are young people, most of whom don't support themselves. I don't know how any adult could possibly make only minimum wage unless they have some kind of special circumstances like a disability. I worked foodservice and retail jobs for years in high school and college, and everyone at those jobs made more than minimum wage. And if you don't mind working hard, you can make a lot more doing construction.
True, many minimum wage earners can earn tips on top of their wages, but in many states, their tips make up the difference between the sub-minimum wage and the REAL minimum wage, so their earning power is substantially reduced. They don't see any "benefit" of the tips until after they've earned enough to offset the nearly $4/hr they lose by being "tippable employees."
As for working construction, yes, it can be a VERY good way to make a good living. I worked construction for over 30 years, and most of the last 10 years, made well over $75K. (yes, I was a union hand) I'm not sure I'd recommend construction for a totally unskilled person however, unless they went into a union apprenticeship. Many of the unskilled construction hands here only make $10-$12/hour, and their RATCO bosses work them like dogs...which is part of the reason there are so many illegal Mexicans doing the work. Low pay and poor treatment keep the white kids away, while the illegals are willing to put up with the crappy pay and treatment.
Originally posted by: onlyCOpunk
Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
Originally posted by: onlyCOpunk
Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
$5.85? Wow, that's pretty bad. Minimum wage in NZ is $12.00 and will probably rise soon. $5.85 is pretty shitty for a very wealthy country Probably there are less people (per capita) on minimum wage in USA though.
Well yeah, when you have to pay $70 for a Volcom tshirt that would otherwise cost $15 in the States, $12.00 seems a pretty viable minimum wage.
$12.00? I don't think that'd be a good idea. If people can make a comfortable living off minimum wage what incentive is there for them to go to or finish high school, seek out higher education or advanced skills, and generally improve themselves beyond a 3rd grade education? How would be we able to compete globally with countries that are much more educated?
The mimimum wage isn't supposed to be something people aspire to; it's supposed to be a temporary income while you work towards getting a career job.
Minimum wage is also based off cost of living, and it costs a lot more to live in NZ, hence the high wage. I was making $17/hour at a temp office job. And what temp do you know in the states gets paid $17/hour aside from specialized positions?
The cost of living in New Zealand is lower than in most other western countries.
According to the 2004 World Competitiveness Yearbook (the latest available), a basket of goods and services (excluding housing) that would cost US$100 in New York City would cost $61.95 in New Zealand, $62.46 in Australia, $76.45 in France and $81.77 in the United Kingdom.
Mercer Human Resource Consulting also carries out an annual cost of living survey of 144 cities across six continents. The survey measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
New Zealand cities ranked at the cheaper end of the scale of the 144 cities surveyed in 2006. Moscow is the world?s most expensive city, followed by Seoul and Tokyo. New Zealand?s cities Auckland and Wellington ranked 100th and 105th respectively. London ranked 5th, Sydney 19th and Los Angeles 29th.
New Zealand manufactures a wide range of competitively priced consumer goods of a similar style and standard to those found overseas. The items we do import such as motor vehicles, electrical and computer equipment and petroleum products are on a par and, in many cases, cheaper than other comparable countries.
Originally posted by: BoomerD
Are you some kind of elitist? LOTS of people besides high school kids work for minimum wage.
Originally posted by: Lothar
A Big Mac sandwich that costs $3 here in the US costs $11 in Sweden(or Switzerland?), and almost $7-8 in France.
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
yup, the downward spiral of devaluing jobs by flooding the market with illegals. people on the left who normally would protect workers are too afraid of being called racist to stand up to it
Originally posted by: tfinch2
I was surprised at the advertisement for new employee wage at In-N-Out the other day, $10.50/hr.
Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
You're wrong.
The cost of living in New Zealand is lower than in most other western countries.
According to the 2004 World Competitiveness Yearbook (the latest available), a basket of goods and services (excluding housing) that would cost US$100 in New York City would cost $61.95 in New Zealand, $62.46 in Australia, $76.45 in France and $81.77 in the United Kingdom.
Mercer Human Resource Consulting also carries out an annual cost of living survey of 144 cities across six continents. The survey measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
New Zealand cities ranked at the cheaper end of the scale of the 144 cities surveyed in 2006. Moscow is the world?s most expensive city, followed by Seoul and Tokyo. New Zealand?s cities Auckland and Wellington ranked 100th and 105th respectively. London ranked 5th, Sydney 19th and Los Angeles 29th.
New Zealand manufactures a wide range of competitively priced consumer goods of a similar style and standard to those found overseas. The items we do import such as motor vehicles, electrical and computer equipment and petroleum products are on a par and, in many cases, cheaper than other comparable countries.
Source
Originally posted by: BassBomb
Ontario Minimum wage keeps getting bumped up (8.25) last I checked.
It is kindof odd because now young kids (15-18) seem to have huge buying power whether it be food or clothing. People will spend alot on clothes which keeps the prices up.
Originally posted by: JLee
Originally posted by: BoomerD
Are you some kind of elitist? LOTS of people besides high school kids work for minimum wage.
I've never worked for minimum wage- even when working part-time bagging groceries..
Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
You're wrong.
The cost of living in New Zealand is lower than in most other western countries.
According to the 2004 World Competitiveness Yearbook (the latest available), a basket of goods and services (excluding housing) that would cost US$100 in New York City would cost $61.95 in New Zealand, $62.46 in Australia, $76.45 in France and $81.77 in the United Kingdom.
Mercer Human Resource Consulting also carries out an annual cost of living survey of 144 cities across six continents. The survey measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
New Zealand cities ranked at the cheaper end of the scale of the 144 cities surveyed in 2006. Moscow is the world?s most expensive city, followed by Seoul and Tokyo. New Zealand?s cities Auckland and Wellington ranked 100th and 105th respectively. London ranked 5th, Sydney 19th and Los Angeles 29th.
New Zealand manufactures a wide range of competitively priced consumer goods of a similar style and standard to those found overseas. The items we do import such as motor vehicles, electrical and computer equipment and petroleum products are on a par and, in many cases, cheaper than other comparable countries.
Source
Good job, you're comparing New York City, one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Why not compare the USA on average or Texas.
Originally posted by: potato28
Originally posted by: JLee
Originally posted by: BoomerD
Are you some kind of elitist? LOTS of people besides high school kids work for minimum wage.
I've never worked for minimum wage- even when working part-time bagging groceries..
I've never worked min wages either, around here everyone just pays the extra 25 cents. And Ontariah's minimum wage is $8.75.
Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
Originally posted by: QTPie
To OP, it's $8/hr as of Jan 2008 in California. I don't know where you get that $5.85 figure from.
He might be thinking the Federal minimum wage, which is still quite low... probably around $6.00/hr or so. Most states worth a damn pay well above that though.
Originally posted by: LyricRequiem
Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
Originally posted by: QTPie
To OP, it's $8/hr as of Jan 2008 in California. I don't know where you get that $5.85 figure from.
He might be thinking the Federal minimum wage, which is still quite low... probably around $6.00/hr or so. Most states worth a damn pay well above that though.
Virginia still sticks with federal min. wage. RIDICULOUS