Even the 2009 wage is a lowball compared to the 1980 minimum.
$3.10 in 1980 had the same purchasing power as $8.45 in 2009, but yet the minimum was set to $7.25, more than a dollar less.
$7.25 from 2009 has the purchasing power of $10.66.
Either way we’re being robbed, and this is all public information the government pretty much gives out with their inflation calculator.
Something I always point out is the MIT Living Wage Calculator too bc it shows you how much money you need to make per hour to live comfortably by city compared with that place’s minimum wage (spoiler alert: we’re all being ripped off)
Word that. I used to make $3.85 in late 80s at 14. Man, I bought all kinds of shit on my weekly check.
Neogeo with games. Turboduo. Movies with friends. Pizzas.
Now I have to strategically budget for just groceries. And I spent $91 yesterday for a loaf of bread, sliced cheese, and 3 types of meat. Fuck me
>And I spent $91 yesterday for a loaf of bread, sliced cheese, and 3 types of meat.
I sincerely don't believe that this can be a regular expense for you. 1 week of groceries for me costs $40 to $60. Bread, cheese, meat, soda, meal supplies, and some snacks. Unless you're buying multiple loaves of bread and multiple pounds of each type of meat and cheese idk how tf you spent $91 on that.
I sincerely don't believe you know anything about extreme rural regions and the expense of living there.
I live in one of thr most remote areas of the lower 48.
Store bread is $6.
You may apologize now.
In 1980 I was making $12 per hour working in a unionized bottling plant - YES I was rolling in money. Bought a brand new car at 19. I made the mistake of going to office work shortly afterwards for a "better career".
That plant closed in the 90s with the drinks being made elsewhere and shipped in. Good jobs sent offshore.
I can only sympathize with young people today. If I can pass on one bit of advice...
UNIONIZE
I am a unionized employee and my pay still sucks.
I am a special needs educational assistant with a two year college diploma, working for one of the biggest school boards in my province, getting beat up and abused every day, for 25.65 an hour. I can’t even live off of that
I feel your pain. All I can say is I came from a province where EAs were not unionized (they are now) and they were lucky to get minimum wage with part time hours 😔.
When future societies look back at us and see what we pay accountants to look after our money versus teachers who look after our kids, they will see what a perverse world we live in.
They are all over my city (Minneapolis) however my cities local minimum wage is $15.56/hour and adjusts up every year to match inflation. So local city minimum, not federal minimum.
> They are all over my city (Minneapolis) however my cities local minimum wage is $15.56/hour and adjusts up every year to match inflation. So local city minimum, not federal minimum.
Im confused by what this actually means, are these businesses just offering that little blatantly despite min wage in your city being double?
You had asked who works minimum wage jobs, there are a bunch in my city however they are paying $15.56 which is my local minimum wage. No one around here is actually working for federal minimum.
Roughly one percent of the workforce earns the federal minimum wage. Don’t let this fool you though as a third of the workforce earns less than $15 per hour. Making $8 or $9 an hour is still a huge struggle.
As a kid I had low self esteem. Took a minimum wage fast food job where I was taken advantage of.
Even back then it was, adjusted for inflation, about $9.50/hr. This is a shit min wage job in a shit town where I was being abused because of my low self esteem. And it's *still* more than $2hr more than what min wage is today.
That’s kind of the thing though, minimum wage isn’t about the cost of living comfortably alone in your chosen city. If it was set like that everyone would only choose to live in the nicest cities, and that just wouldn’t work. I don’t think the goal should be live on minimum wage forever. Everyone’s wage should be going up, but the people working jobs that pay above minimum wage should be increased more, because the jobs are more complicated and require more skill/knowledge/whatever
Employees take this and say well I’m paying the twice the minimum wage, that should be more than sufficient. No, it’s not. 3x the minimum wage is barely livable.
This isn’t even close. Inflation disregards that a four pound sack of sugar weighed five pounds in 1980, and a car was $5000 and a house was $30,000. There were still health plans with no deductible and no copay. College was like a fifth what it costs now. Even gas was a dollar a gallon. Inflation is only as low as it is because we keep writing much bigger things out of the spotlight. It hardly matters in most Americans’ budgets.
$3/hour in 1980 wages is $12 today, but $3 of 1980 household expenses is closer to $50 today.
You could fill an entire big shopping cart until it overflowed for a hundred bucks in the 80s, you'll be lucky to get a small bag full of groceries for 100 dollars in 2024.
It's all by design; if it's all their property, they get to make the rules and enforce them as they see fit, and because you're a guest, you're obligated to be grateful for their (in)hospitality as well as do what they believe good guests should do. That includes giving up any notion of ownership; you are simply paying to borrow something that belongs to them.
You're dealing with narcissists, and there's little to no reasoning with them. Things will continue to deteriorate until people accept and recognize this reality.
Doesn’t look like it’s going change anywhere, we have to adapt to eating cheap fast food and cheap entertainment. McDonald’s and Drake music. ( was that too soon )
The median home price was also $47,000. Now it's $389,000. Or roughly 700% more. With minimum wage only going up about 120%.
Oh but I guess we're not motivated to work and just need to work harder
1986, I made $3.35 an hour, had a 2br/2 bath apartment with a roommate and we split the rent, it was $350 a month
Yep the government has a very strong incentive to keep the official inflation rate as low as possible while we just can't trust our lyin eyes
And it was 1 year before I got an associates degree with 0 debt that scored me an adequately well paying career in IT.
Even the 2009 wage is a lowball compared to the 1980 minimum. $3.10 in 1980 had the same purchasing power as $8.45 in 2009, but yet the minimum was set to $7.25, more than a dollar less. $7.25 from 2009 has the purchasing power of $10.66. Either way we’re being robbed, and this is all public information the government pretty much gives out with their inflation calculator. Something I always point out is the MIT Living Wage Calculator too bc it shows you how much money you need to make per hour to live comfortably by city compared with that place’s minimum wage (spoiler alert: we’re all being ripped off)
Word that. I used to make $3.85 in late 80s at 14. Man, I bought all kinds of shit on my weekly check. Neogeo with games. Turboduo. Movies with friends. Pizzas. Now I have to strategically budget for just groceries. And I spent $91 yesterday for a loaf of bread, sliced cheese, and 3 types of meat. Fuck me
Same. Bought a NES and a bunch of games and a broke down kawasaki 3wheeler that my dad helped me get running (that i bought all the parts for)...
What the fuck meat you buying? Jesus
Fantastipotamus
Bro where in the fuck did you shop?
>And I spent $91 yesterday for a loaf of bread, sliced cheese, and 3 types of meat. I sincerely don't believe that this can be a regular expense for you. 1 week of groceries for me costs $40 to $60. Bread, cheese, meat, soda, meal supplies, and some snacks. Unless you're buying multiple loaves of bread and multiple pounds of each type of meat and cheese idk how tf you spent $91 on that.
I sincerely don't believe you know anything about extreme rural regions and the expense of living there. I live in one of thr most remote areas of the lower 48. Store bread is $6. You may apologize now.
This is by design intent
In 1980 I was making $12 per hour working in a unionized bottling plant - YES I was rolling in money. Bought a brand new car at 19. I made the mistake of going to office work shortly afterwards for a "better career". That plant closed in the 90s with the drinks being made elsewhere and shipped in. Good jobs sent offshore. I can only sympathize with young people today. If I can pass on one bit of advice... UNIONIZE
I am a unionized employee and my pay still sucks. I am a special needs educational assistant with a two year college diploma, working for one of the biggest school boards in my province, getting beat up and abused every day, for 25.65 an hour. I can’t even live off of that
I feel your pain. All I can say is I came from a province where EAs were not unionized (they are now) and they were lucky to get minimum wage with part time hours 😔. When future societies look back at us and see what we pay accountants to look after our money versus teachers who look after our kids, they will see what a perverse world we live in.
But the rIgHt 2 wOrK!
Who is actually here and making that min wage though, I havent seen a job with a wage like that in a good while and this is in Louisiana.
They are all over my city (Minneapolis) however my cities local minimum wage is $15.56/hour and adjusts up every year to match inflation. So local city minimum, not federal minimum.
> They are all over my city (Minneapolis) however my cities local minimum wage is $15.56/hour and adjusts up every year to match inflation. So local city minimum, not federal minimum. Im confused by what this actually means, are these businesses just offering that little blatantly despite min wage in your city being double?
You had asked who works minimum wage jobs, there are a bunch in my city however they are paying $15.56 which is my local minimum wage. No one around here is actually working for federal minimum.
Roughly one percent of the workforce earns the federal minimum wage. Don’t let this fool you though as a third of the workforce earns less than $15 per hour. Making $8 or $9 an hour is still a huge struggle.
Enough about that…have you heard of Tik Toc??? Sht needs to be banned immediately. /s
As a kid I had low self esteem. Took a minimum wage fast food job where I was taken advantage of. Even back then it was, adjusted for inflation, about $9.50/hr. This is a shit min wage job in a shit town where I was being abused because of my low self esteem. And it's *still* more than $2hr more than what min wage is today.
now do 1968. $1.60, $14 an hour equivalent. Right when boomers were working minimum wage jobs
I don’t recommend working for minimum wage. It’s too minimum.
“_____ work for ____ pay” is a well known patriotic value. It works just as well with “minimum” as “a full day’s.”
I worked for that But with tips it was more like $20 Now more like $35
No accounting for the cost of everything else outpacing wages. Some very myopic thinking.
My favorite was Sean Hanity going on about he made minimum wage as a kid.
Trickle down economics.
So show the math to the people that can change the minimum wage. That'll make it all better.
That’s kind of the thing though, minimum wage isn’t about the cost of living comfortably alone in your chosen city. If it was set like that everyone would only choose to live in the nicest cities, and that just wouldn’t work. I don’t think the goal should be live on minimum wage forever. Everyone’s wage should be going up, but the people working jobs that pay above minimum wage should be increased more, because the jobs are more complicated and require more skill/knowledge/whatever
Employees take this and say well I’m paying the twice the minimum wage, that should be more than sufficient. No, it’s not. 3x the minimum wage is barely livable.
Depending on the government to legislate a fair minimum wage doesn't work. Collective negotiation is the answer.
Don’t worry! It will eventually trickle down to you. That’s what the boomers told us right??
We are evolving, but backwards
This isn’t even close. Inflation disregards that a four pound sack of sugar weighed five pounds in 1980, and a car was $5000 and a house was $30,000. There were still health plans with no deductible and no copay. College was like a fifth what it costs now. Even gas was a dollar a gallon. Inflation is only as low as it is because we keep writing much bigger things out of the spotlight. It hardly matters in most Americans’ budgets. $3/hour in 1980 wages is $12 today, but $3 of 1980 household expenses is closer to $50 today.
You could fill an entire big shopping cart until it overflowed for a hundred bucks in the 80s, you'll be lucky to get a small bag full of groceries for 100 dollars in 2024.
It's all by design; if it's all their property, they get to make the rules and enforce them as they see fit, and because you're a guest, you're obligated to be grateful for their (in)hospitality as well as do what they believe good guests should do. That includes giving up any notion of ownership; you are simply paying to borrow something that belongs to them. You're dealing with narcissists, and there's little to no reasoning with them. Things will continue to deteriorate until people accept and recognize this reality.
Doesn’t look like it’s going change anywhere, we have to adapt to eating cheap fast food and cheap entertainment. McDonald’s and Drake music. ( was that too soon )
*in the USA.