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[W:254] What is a "living wage?"

I dont think there is such a thing as some kind of a standard or acceptable living wage. I think it all just depends on the standard of living you want for yourself, where you live, how you like to spend your money, the expectations that you have, and how much work you put into having those things and that life. I don't think that all jobs are literally meant to be able to make a living on though. I think many of those jobs are just meant as stepping stones to better jobs for people that are just entering the workforce or looking for some extra income as part of a seasonal or temporary job.
 
highroller said:
That’s a pretty good calculator.
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It would make more sense if called a living "income" calculator.
Employers don't take into account family size, nor should they, when hiring an employee.
If anything at all should be garnered from that calculator, it would be the total income an individual should be earning before taking on the responsibility of a non-working spouse, and/or adding a child to the family.
 
Maccabee said:
If the company can afford it, sure, why not? But really, the minimum wage should be tied to inflation like it was when it was first implemented. If we do that, we should actually have a $20+ MW by now. Are you suggesting the MW should remain stagnant forever?



No, but they should.


Historically, that has never been the case. Almost every time the minimum wage is increased, more jobs are created and people have more money to spend.
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IF, the minimum wage had been tied to inflation when it was first implemented, the minimum wage in 2020 would have been $4.58 with negative inflation included, or $4.69 with negative inflation excluded.
 
Individual said:
It would make more sense if called a living "income" calculator.
Employers don't take into account family size, nor should they, when hiring an employee.
If anything at all should be garnered from that calculator, it would be the total income an individual should be earning before taking on the responsibility of a non-working spouse, and/or adding a child to the family.
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I thought it was a good calculator because it came up with the exact number I was thinking that would be the minimum I would work for.
 
Individual said:
It would make more sense if called a living "income" calculator.
Employers don't take into account family size, nor should they, when hiring an employee.
If anything at all should be garnered from that calculator, it would be the total income an individual should be earning before taking on the responsibility of a non-working spouse, and/or adding a child to the family.
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Thank you. The phrase "living wage" implies that somehow if you are not earning enough to support your family single-handedly, REGARDLESS of your family circumstances and personal skillset, you are somehow being cheated out of a living wage. But your income really should be seen as more of a guide to what you can afford -- if you earn $X per hour, you probably can't afford 3 kids; if you earn $Y, your spouse needs to work too; etc. How many kids one has and whether one shares household expenses with another adult are not neutral decisions, they need to be based on what the person can actually afford.
 
Grizzly Adams said:
I've seen this term a lot over the years, but it's never been properly defined. What is it? Give me a number. If it's variable (across time or geography), give me a principle by which the number is determined. The principle(s) must be objective and not as squishy like the initial "living wage" term you're trying to define.
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The term is intentionally nebulous, so as never to be solved and to keep it as constant political wedge issue for the left. Whatever it is, you can never reach it. It's similar to the also undefined all-encompassing phony 'racism' charge.
 
Mashmont said:
The term is intentionally nebulous, so as never to be solved and to keep it as constant political wedge issue for the left. Whatever it is, you can never reach it. It's similar to the also undefined all-encompassing phony 'racism' charge.
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It's as individual as a person's DNA. When I worked on my 1st job for minimum wage - the LAST thing I considered was how to make this job pay more - it was what do I need to learn to more forward from here.
 
Citizen said:
You can say a whole lot of stuff, but that does not mean it is true. Now who do you know that lives independently on 7.25 an hour.
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I don't "know" any minimum wage workers. They're not the kind of people I would hang around because the topics of my conversations do not revolve around sex, beer, dope and sports.

I do know of people who live on the federal minimum wage in Kentucky and the State minimum wage in Ohio.

You do understand that no one has a right or is entitled to live "independently" right?

If you have to share an apartment or house, then that is what you do. I did it. It didn't kill me, but it did get me 2 additional undergraduate degrees, an MA and PhD.

That was about 15 years ago. In the graduate program, I got a stipend of $10,000/year and worked a part-time job for less than minimum wage (I waited tables). I had my own apartment near campus.
 
Basically a living wage is what you are capable of earning. HOW you live on it varies from person to person.
 
Mircea said:
I don't "know" any minimum wage workers. They're not the kind of people I would hang around because the topics of my conversations do not revolve around sex, beer, dope and sports.

I do know of people who live on the federal minimum wage in Kentucky and the State minimum wage in Ohio.

You do understand that no one has a right or is entitled to live "independently" right?

If you have to share an apartment or house, then that is what you do. I did it. It didn't kill me, but it did get me 2 additional undergraduate degrees, an MA and PhD.

That was about 15 years ago. In the graduate program, I got a stipend of $10,000/year and worked a part-time job for less than minimum wage (I waited tables). I had my own apartment near campus.
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You can't say that you don't know, but then you do know. That makes absolutely no sense at all. If you got a stipend, then you did not live off of MW. And to demonize people who do is mighty asinine of you. You got yours and put down everyone who can't.
 
Citizen said:
You can't say that you don't know, but then you do know. That makes absolutely no sense at all. If you got a stipend, then you did not live off of MW. And to demonize people who do is mighty asinine of you. You got yours and put down everyone who can't.
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These are the people that believe they never got any help from anyone, they got where they are all by themselves, that taxes are theft of their hard earned money, helping or supporting others is wasting taxes on lazy people who won't work, that $7.25 is a livable wage, that if people want more pay they should just get a better job, that the poor don't deserve affordable health insurance, assistance turns people into parasites and if they can pull themselves up by the boot straps without help so can everybody else.
 
Citizen said:
You can't say that you don't know, but then you do know. That makes absolutely no sense at all. If you got a stipend, then you did not live off of MW. And to demonize people who do is mighty asinine of you.
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You're right....had I gotten minimum wage I would have made $10,712 so I actually got $712 less than the federal minimum wage (in 2004)

Citizen said:
You got yours and put down everyone who can't.
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And I got mine on my own without any help from the government.

Instead of screaming and ranting that people should pay for my housing so I can live independently by myself, I shared a house with 4 people for 3 years and then an apartment with a room-mate for a year and I saved enough money to live independently in my own apartment so's I could write my dissertation.

Instead of screaming and ranting that other people should pay for my college, I paid for it by working full-time and part-time.

So, no, I have no pity for people unwilling to do what they need to do.
 
Mircea said:
You're right....had I gotten minimum wage I would have made $10,712 so I actually got $712 less than the federal minimum wage (in 2004)
And I got mine on my own without any help from the government.
Instead of screaming and ranting that people should pay for my housing so I can live independently by myself, I shared a house with 4 people for 3 years and then an apartment with a room-mate for a year and I saved enough money to live independently in my own apartment so's I could write my dissertation.
Instead of screaming and ranting that other people should pay for my college, I paid for it by working full-time and part-time.
So, no, I have no pity for people unwilling to do what they need to do.
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Your tuition was low and affordable because the state subsidizes college tuition. Your grant was partially paid for by federal programs to state universities. The professors that took an interest in your dissertation topic helped you. And the roommates that put up with your selfishness for 3 years helped you. Everybody gets help going through life, most intelligent people acknowledge their help.
 
Mircea said:
You're right....had I gotten minimum wage I would have made $10,712 so I actually got $712 less than the federal minimum wage (in 2004)



And I got mine on my own without any help from the government.

Instead of screaming and ranting that people should pay for my housing so I can live independently by myself, I shared a house with 4 people for 3 years and then an apartment with a room-mate for a year and I saved enough money to live independently in my own apartment so's I could write my dissertation.

Instead of screaming and ranting that other people should pay for my college, I paid for it by working full-time and part-time.

So, no, I have no pity for people unwilling to do what they need to do.
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weaver2 said:
Your tuition was low and affordable because the state subsidizes college tuition. Your grant was partially paid for by federal programs to state universities. The professors that took an interest in your dissertation topic helped you. And the roommates that put up with your selfishness for 3 years helped you. Everybody gets help going through life, most intelligent people acknowledge their help.
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Mircea said:
You're right....had I gotten minimum wage I would have made $10,712 so I actually got $712 less than the federal minimum wage (in 2004)



And I got mine on my own without any help from the government.

Instead of screaming and ranting that people should pay for my housing so I can live independently by myself, I shared a house with 4 people for 3 years and then an apartment with a room-mate for a year and I saved enough money to live independently in my own apartment so's I could write my dissertation.

Instead of screaming and ranting that other people should pay for my college, I paid for it by working full-time and part-time.

So, no, I have no pity for people unwilling to do what they need to do.
Click to expand...

Mircea said:
You're right....had I gotten minimum wage I would have made $10,712 so I actually got $712 less than the federal minimum wage (in 2004)



And I got mine on my own without any help from the government.

Instead of screaming and ranting that people should pay for my housing so I can live independently by myself, I shared a house with 4 people for 3 years and then an apartment with a room-mate for a year and I saved enough money to live independently in my own apartment so's I could write my dissertation.

Instead of screaming and ranting that other people should pay for my college, I paid for it by working full-time and part-time.

So, no, I have no pity for people unwilling to do what they need to do.
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You did not get yours on your own. You got help as you indicated with your college stipends.
 
weaver2 said:
Your tuition was low and affordable because the state subsidizes college tuition. Your grant was partially paid for by federal programs to state universities. The professors that took an interest in your dissertation topic helped you. And the roommates that put up with your selfishness for 3 years helped you. Everybody gets help going through life, most intelligent people acknowledge their help.
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Prove it or what you posted is false.
 
Citizen said:
You did not get yours on your own. You got help as you indicated with your college stipends.
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Of course he got his on his own.....do you think you get these stipends automatically when you enroll in college?

Hell you don't even know where he went to school, for how long, how much it was etc, but you are just automatically saying, you didn't do everything yourself.....

Maybe I missed this....but seeking out opportunities and help....is getting on his own....do you think people just magically appeared and said, here, let me help you?
 
sjmay said:
Of course he got his on his own.....do you think you get these stipends automatically when you enroll in college?

Hell you don't even know where he went to school, for how long, how much it was etc, but you are just automatically saying, you didn't do everything yourself.....

Maybe I missed this....but seeking out opportunities and help....is getting on his own....do you think people just magically appeared and said, here, let me help you?
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He said he didn't get any hand outs from the government. The stipend he got was state or federally subsidized. And most PhD. students are automatically subsidized by their university. If he had been really good he would have been a TA and better paid than a waiter. TA would have looked better on his resume rather than waiter.

Seeking out help and getting it is getting help from others. Everybody gets help some acknowledge those who helped them. Some do not.
 
weaver2 said:
He said he didn't get any hand outs from the government. The stipend he got was state or federally subsidized. And most PhD. students are automatically subsidized by their university. If he had been really good he would have been a TA and better paid than a waiter. TA would have looked better on his resume rather than waiter.

Seeking out help and getting it is getting help from others. Everybody gets help some acknowledge those who helped them. Some do not.
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You have NO idea what that stipend was.....why are you making assumptions? I got a stipend too...guess what, it wasn't from the government.....and on top of that you want to criticize his choice of jobs.....

Making a shit ton of assumptions like you did, is asinine.
 
sjmay said:
You have NO idea what that stipend was.....why are you making assumptions? I got a stipend too...guess what, it wasn't from the government.....and on top of that you want to criticize his choice of jobs.....

Making a shit ton of assumptions like you did, is asinine.
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If you went to a state university your stipend was supported by state funding to the university. That would make a stipend government supported assistance.
 
Grizzly Adams said:
I've seen this term a lot over the years, but it's never been properly defined. What is it? Give me a number. If it's variable (across time or geography), give me a principle by which the number is determined. The principle(s) must be objective and not as squishy like the initial "living wage" term you're trying to define.
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Generally, it is around 70% of an area's median wage.
 
weaver2 said:
If you went to a state university your stipend was supported by state funding to the university. That would make a stipend government supported assistance.
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Who says I went to a State University? Who says he did?
 
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