The minimum wage in this country is set ridiculously low and no one making this little could have a hope for sustaining themselves without assistance or working multiple jobs. At $7.25 an hr. a person working full-time, 40 hrs/week would only be making $1160.00 a month before taxes. So let’s break that down. The tax rate for this amount of income is 12% which would be roughly $139. $1160-$139 = $1020. The average rent for a 1 br apartment in this country is around $1100 but let’s be generous and say this person got lucky and found a room for rent for $600. $1020-$600 = $420. On average, Americans spend about $20 a day on food between eating out and groceries. Again, let’s be generous and say this person is eating ramen every other meal and only spends $14/day. This averages out to about $427 a month. $420-$427 = $-7.00. So our minimum wage worker, after being extremely lucky in finding such a cheap place to stay and somehow coming in under budget on food cost is in the hole ($7.00). This is before calculating the cost of a vehicle $300/mo or public transportation $100-$150/mo. ($307.00) - ($107-$157), utilities $250/mo, ($557), gas $150 ($707). So, without accounting for entertainment, healthcare, cell phone, clothing etc., our hypothetical worker is in the hole $700 which should make it pretty clear that the minimum wage is not even close to a living wage. Adding in these other categories brings our monthly deficit to roughly -$1400/mo. which is more money in debt per month than is earned in wages. So essentially this person would be spending 162% of what they make. Income = $1160. Expenses = $2560. Income - expenses = deficit. $1160-$2560 = (-$1400). This was a guesstimate based on national averages of people’s monthly spending habits which I purposefully decreased in each category so the numbers were on the low end of average. And still, despite assuming this is the luckiest minimum wage worker in the country, they are still unable to afford basic needs and certainly can’t afford any quality of life.
@9GTBY3Y 6mos6MO
People making minimum wages don't pay taxes, as a matter of fact, 57% of households don't pay federal income tax at all. Never have I lived in a minimum wage household, so maybe I'm a bit naive, but raising minimum wage only makes goods and services more expensive, inflating the economy, which is not something that I want.
@Devroe 6mos6MO
I disagree with this pretty much in its entirety. I’m not sure where your statistics came from but a quick google search will tell you that the number of households who don’t pay income tax is about 40%. Also, this information doesn’t add anything to this particular discussion. I, unlike you, have lived in a minimum wage household as well as worked minimum wage jobs myself. I can assure you I paid income tax. I was able to get the majority of that refunded come tax time, but it was still income that would have served me better throughout the year versus in a lump sum at the end. Read more
@9GTCJK96mos6MO
Minimum wage jobs aren't meant for a person to live off of, and if the minimum wage was increased, big companies would fire more people and unemployment would increase.
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