Triple G

There are many other reasons. In rural America where manufacturing jobs are the predominant income source, there is abundant housing based on the wages of the residents. You’ll find bungalows, trailer houses and apartments designed for their needs. The manufacturing here is all related to boating on our beautiful waterways and other predominant jobs are in the tourist hospitality sectors. Neither of those industries have starting wages at $15/hour. But with the booming housing demand for apartments due to new industries and distribution centers and C***d migration, the cost of housing as a percent of income has risen dramatically. Without wholesale wage correction, there is a huge lag time before wages catch up. Newly graduated Mfg workers looking to establish on their own are already priced out of nearby housing and they’re moving farther out, but now have increased t***sportation costs. The recent shortages of cars has increased their cost by 10% in just a month.

People can be quick to judge that everyone should be able to live on $15/hour but that is very dependent upon other factors such as available childcare, health conditions and insurance coverage, familial obligations such as looking after aging parents, etc. One not so major uncovered health crisis forever derails many workers. Not everyone is mobile enough to move out of a high cost area nor move from a low wage area to a higher one. The playing field has changed drastically in the past 40 years.

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/compensation/pages/americas-pay-gap-is-widening.aspx

https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2019/

Employees have not been rewarded in higher wages commensurate with their role in higher productivity.
https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

Bunko.T Loc: Western Australia.

What a doom & gloom outlook. You’d be scared to get out of bed of a morning.
They’ll all get used to change, as the world has done throughout history.

usnpilot Loc: Ft Myers Fl

$2.99 at our Publix. Your problem with your finances is where you chose to live. We have beautiful two bedroom two bath condominium in a gated community in Fort Myers Florida and live extremely comfortably on $70,000 a year take home.

Triple G

True.

Many retirees who live solely on SS income are making less than minimum wage and barely squeaking by. Some of them have built up equity and investment income, but many have not. It would be difficult for anyone just starting out now to do it on that income with housing, t***sportation and education costs added in the expenses. It’s a factor in generational poverty that people are still in the minimum wage earning range from one generation to the next.

https://urbanventures.org/facts-about-poverty

dave.speeking Loc: Brooklyn OH

I hope you don't think employers are going to eat that $15 per hour.
They will pass it on to their customers, you and me.

Triple G

Interesting discussion study.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/historical/frbchi/workingpapers/frbchi_workingpaper_2000-20.pdf

If higher wages decreases the need for aid (less increase rate in taxes), there are pluses and minuses.

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

Tell you what. I'll happily pay an extra $1.00 for a pizza if it means the guy making it can afford to take care of his kids.

Leo_B Loc: Houston suburb

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.

trainspotter Loc: Oregon

Reading "books" written by people that don't LIVE anywhere near your situation doesn't help....How can a "money bagger living in a gated waterfront yacht community" in Florida HELP someone living in a small mid-valley town in Montana? I WON'T buy it...

trainspotter Loc: Oregon

So.....how much does sheep shearing pay these days?

Wuligal Loc: Slippery Rock, Pa.

Ahhh, a voice of reason! Good for you.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

$70,000 a year take home is pretty good money. It's easy to move to move somewhere cheaper if one doesn't need to work for a living. There are few places I could go and expect to make half as much as I currently do.

travelwp Loc: New Jersey

OH BUT WE DO: Your dad owned a new car, a 4 bedroom home, and raised 5 children. YOU have trouble making ends meet.

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

When he did, a new car was $3,000.00 and a new home started at 20K. That house today would cost you 250-300K and a new car, starts at 20K and up.
You can't compare numbers from when you were a child and there were only 13 states to what we have today.
Why do you want younger people to suffer?
Please, tell me that.

Wuligal Loc: Slippery Rock, Pa.

I'm not the brightest star in the sky but I noticed this early on........I would never get ahead if I had to pay someone else to use their money. I figured the trick was to get them to pay me to use my money. It worked!