Walmart is hiring 50,000 more workers before May

[RAMOSS]

From what I find, the minimum wage from 1956 to 1960 was $1.00/hr and reached $2.30/hr in 1976. I was taking home $37/wk in the early 60's.

And, if you adjust for inflation, that's 12 bucks an hour. If you adjust for productivity, it's 18 bucks an hour.

 

[RAMOSS]

I’m asking what people think a “livable wage” is since I see that term thrown out quite a bit.

It's enough money to pay rent, food, cloths and transportation. child services and health care.

 

[Cope]

No argument from me on pretty much any point you're making.
I heartily agree that we need to mount a "Space Race" style effort at getting this generation up to par on ALL STEM, and anything else that does prepare them for better careers.
We're on the same page on that score, and probably close on a lot of other issues.

I'm sixty-five years old, not some angry kid on a college campus screeching about gender studies.

I'm 49, but the gender studies things was just to highlight the degrees you can get that don't pay. And then complain that the debt they have is back breaking meanwhile asking for the government and the rest of the populace to pay for them.

My background is technical, and I majored in English and minored in History because I had originally intended to be in broadcasting as talent, but went into the production side instead.
When it comes to social work however, I do see a need for social workers, if they can apply what they learn to healing some of the damage wrought by the last two decades.

Social work is underpaid, and understaffed. As I believe the same of teachers, the caveat is that those professions need to be under constant scrutiny but paid well.

Not expecting a miracle but we do have a bumper crop of "messed up people" and they will need help, and if they're unable to get any, society will feel the effects of that deficit, as
we are already right now.

We have been 'helping' for generations, and that is what got us here. Government and the "We" that excuse them have created this dependence on the government, likely as intended.

 

[Cope]

It's enough money to pay rent, food, cloths and transportation. child services and health care.

So, 2 people making $12/hr is sufficient to live on and have a windfall !!!
I suggest you get both parents to work, while raising a family and they will be A-ok!
If $12/hr is the adjusted for inflation rate, then that is what it needs to be at and tie the damn thing to inflation so it goes up every year instead of fighting about it every decade.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

We have been 'helping' for generations, and that is what got us here. Government and the "We" that excuse them have created this dependence on the government, likely as intended.

Slight disagreement there. The "help" has been somewhat questionable but beyond that, it gets too complicated to not be and it deserves its own thread.
And last but not least, I don't think "dependence on government" is the issue when it comes to making sound investments in students.
Other countries make sound investments that pay off, with generations of well prepared students who can take on new types of jobs.

The quality of investments we taxpayers are making right now is indeed open to question, but I don't think making sound investments is "dependence on government"...
because it's not quite that simple or cut and dried...or binary.

 

[Cope]

Slight disagreement there. The "help" has been somewhat questionable but beyond that, it gets too complicated to not be View attachment 67380827 and it deserves its own thread.
And last but not least, I don't think "dependence on government" is the issue when it comes to making sound investments in students.

No, but the teachers unions certainly haven't been helping, and neither have the teachers who just pass students along to the next grade, nor the administration who allows it. The government hasn't curtailed that because they find excuses, like identity politics.

Other countries make sound investments that pay off, with generations of well prepared students who can take on new types of jobs.

Agreed, we should attempt to emulate them. Do they have teachers unions or administrations that would rather politic than look out for the good of the country like we do here?

The quality of investments we taxpayers are making right now is indeed open to question, but I don't think making sound investments is "dependence on government"...
because it's not quite that simple or cut and dried...or binary.

All of the help we give, has resulted in dependence. When we tell someone it's not their fault, we are lying to them. When we excuse bad behavior resulting in a lifetime of poverty, we are lying to them. When our government would rather play identity politics and excuses any and all of THEIR voters because it keeps them in power.
We fail to hold people responsible, well, for everything these days. It all started at the top.

 

[RAMOSS]

So, 2 people making $12/hr is sufficient to live on and have a windfall !!!
I suggest you get both parents to work, while raising a family and they will be A-ok!
If $12/hr is the adjusted for inflation rate, then that is what it needs to be at and tie the damn thing to inflation so it goes up every year instead of fighting about it every decade.

Of course, when it comes to daycare, the price of daycare is 250 dollars a week , if it's cheap. That mans that if you 12 dollars an hour, for 40 hours, you get 480 dollars, minus taxes, minus ss, minus other cloths, and minus transportation. ..
And that 250 for each child.

Doh. That means you are too poor to work!

 

[Lursa]

Of course, when it comes to daycare, the price of daycare is 250 dollars a week , if it's cheap. That mans that if you 12 dollars an hour, for 40 hours, you get 480 dollars, minus taxes, minus ss, minus other cloths, and minus transportation. ..
And that 250 for each child.

Doh. That means you are too poor to work!

It's a 'living wage' if you dont have kids. No one says you should be paid more just to enable you to have kids. IMO you shouldnt have kids until you achieve skills and some stability. (I'm not referring to 'you.')

OTOH, I'm not referring to people that lose their jobs or get sick/have accidents, fall on hard times, etc and already have kids. But public assistance IMO is designed for that. As a safety net.

 

[The AntiDonald]

Why single out Walmart? If the problem is that “safety net” benefits are being used (abused?) to subsidize employers then raise the federal MW to $25/hour ($52K/year assuming a 40 hour per week schedule) and see what happens to mom & pop businesses.

At that rate, most moms and pops would go get a job at Walmart. All the responsibility and headache of owning your own business is gone. And it doesn't take any business sense to work at Walmart.

 

[Carjosse]

It's a 'living wage' if you dont have kids. No one says you should be paid more just to enable you to have kids. IMO you shouldnt have kids until you achieve skills and some stability. (I'm not referring to 'you.')

OTOH, I'm not referring to people that lose their jobs or get sick/have accidents, fall on hard times, etc and already have kids. But public assistance IMO is designed for that. As a safety net.

Childcare can be a large expense even for middle income earners, why a lot of countries have subsidized or universal childcare now. Available and affordable childcare benefits all income levels.

 

[Lursa]

Childcare can be a large expense even for middle income earners, why a lot of countries have subsidized or universal childcare now.

Dont have kids. Or, develop a lifestyle in a location where you can make do with one income earner. It's possible.

Available and affordable childcare benefits all income levels.

It does. I pay for their public schooling too. "It benefits all society." I dont have to like it.

 

[Carjosse]

Dont have kids. Or, develop a lifestyle in a location where you can make do with one income earner. It's possible.



It does. I pay for their public schooling too. "It benefits all society." I dont have to like it.

Not having kids is not great for the economy nor society. It is also just part of the larger cost of living crisis.

 

[Lursa]

Not having kids is not great for the economy nor society.

It would be just fine. There are hundreds of thousands that would love to legally immigrate here and work. And add to the diversity of society.

 

[Individual]

And, if you adjust for inflation, that's 12 bucks an hour. If you adjust for productivity, it's 18 bucks an hour.

And if adjusted for total lack of productivity? Or apply the same inflation rate to $0.
When JFK used the aphorism "A rising tide lifts all boats", my first thought was "How does it lift those that are sunk?"

 

[Peter]

Why are Walmart hiring now when the US has suddenly shifted into being a socialistic hellhole with a crumbling economy under Biden?
Surely they should water for the glorious return of Trump when the economy will explode due to his not even slightly insane tweets, pitty tour about his election loss that was totally stolen and continual payback of anyone who said anything mean about him.

Stupid Walmart CEO's.

 

[Individual]

I’m asking what people think a “livable wage” is since I see that term thrown out quite a bit.

Same here, but there is no one correct answer. The reality is there is a wage paid by an employer to perform a function, If that wage is inadequate, two options exist, find other employment that pays an adequate wage OR find additional employment that when combined provides an adequate wage.