The problem with liveable wage vs minimum wage is that you cannot pay basic necessiities with minimum wage. My husband works fulltime at $8.25/hour. With 50.32 hours he made $415.15 after FICA and MEDFICA witholdings of $31.76 his take home for this week was $383.38. Since he usually works 35 hours or less we take home around $300 per paycheck. Thats $1200 a month. $900 of that goes to rent, another $200 in utilities leaving $100 a month if we are lucky for food, gas, medical insurance, car insurance, diapers/toiletries etc... If I worked and made the same for a grand total of $2400 take home pay a month it still wouldnt cover necessities. $1100 in just the basics, then $80 in car insurance, and $20 chepo cell phone his income is wiped out. $200 per week for food with 5 people brings us to $2000 gone and $400 left over. Daycare for a one year old runs $100-$3000 per week. And we are flat broke. No health care, no gas for thw car/regular maintanance (which is cheaper than $5 per day for a bus), no toiletries/diapers/wipes etc. If we cramed our kids into a one bedroom and paid $500 in rent and saved an extra $500 a month including utility savings its still not enough to cover insurance for just the kids, $150 a month in gas, and even if we just scraped by in a cramped space, any unexpected expense would bankrupt us leave us homeless, or without. Now take into account that my husbands check is biweekly and those were the actual numbers for his check even though he is or was a fulltime employee. He is looking dor a second job or another job but it took him 6 months to find this job and his schedule makes it very improbable for him to hold two jobs at once. This is why the American people need help. He worked for a ckmpany for 6 years befire being hired fulltime with benefits and was making 8.75/hour when he left despite yearly raises. Its not a liveable wage.
