Minimum wage in the U.S.

Minimum wage in the U.S. is going up from the current rate of $5.15 an hour
to $7.15 by 2006, but it is still not a livable rate. The average wage needed to rent to a two bedroom apartment is $15.37, which means the average worker making minimum wage would have to work nearly 120 hours a week just to afford the rent on that small apartment. The government pours money into many programs to make it possible for many to meet the rent requirements, but what about food, clothes,utilities and other basic needs?

Here is a map of states and their current miminum wage some are higher than the national level of $5.15 some don't have a minimum.
www.dol.gov...

an article about the above subject.
www.msnbc.msn.com...

I don't know what the solution should be, but I do know more and more students are staying home with their parents until they finish their education.
The government also keeps building more low income housing which brings the value of areas surounding these housing developments down. The emphasis is on furthering your education to get a higher paying job, however for a good portion or these people, an education is out of reach because they have no credit to obtain the loans needed to pay for schooling, and no guarantee they could ever pay them back. For many in this situation it is a no win situation!

Originally posted by jeeze louise
Minimum wage in the U.S. is going up from the current rate of $5.15 an hour
to $7.15 by 2006, but it is still not a livable rate. The average wage needed to rent to a two bedroom apartment is $15.37, which means the average worker making minimum wage would have to work nearly 120 hours a week just to afford the rent on that small apartment. The government pours money into many programs to make it possible for many to meet the rent requirements, but what about food, clothes,utilities and other basic needs?

I don't know what the solution should be, but I do know more and more students are staying home with their parents until they finish their education.
The government also keeps building more low income housing which brings the value of areas surounding these housing developments down. The emphasis is on furthering your education to get a higher paying job, however for a good portion or these people, an education is out of reach because they have no credit to obtain the loans needed to pay for schooling, and no guarantee they could ever pay them back. For many in this situation it is a no win situation!

1st of all, I am opposed to the minimum wage. The minimum wage is just the government telling business that, that is all you are worth. You mentioned that the minimum wage is going to $7.15 in 2006, but that is still not a livable wage. Well minimum wage is not supposed to be a livable wage. It is for high school or college kids just starting out in the work force. Then again if $7.15 is not enough why not just make the minimum $10.00 an hour, why stop there? Make it $20.00 an hour! I just hope you enjoy 20% unemployment and $10.00 Big Macs.

Interesting link I found out my state already has a $ 7.10 Minimum wage I didnt know that pretty good compared to other states.

One question about your numbers you state the price for a two bedroom apartment but then compare it to a single worker. Whats the average wage needed to afford a single bedroom apartment? Wouldnt that be a better comparsion.

Hey Carseller, know why your sales are down? Because you live in an uncivilized country where the elite are so unsavvy economically that they don't realize that if they don't pay the underlings, we don't buy anything. Civilized countries know that citizens with cash to spend buy things (what a concept). That's why Lyndon Johnson was all for the dole (aka The Great Society). Civilized nations make sure that even those worthless entry level workers (sarcasm) have a 'decent' standard of living. And health care (so they don't infect the rich).

Ah-choo.

[edit on 20-12-2004 by Chakotay]

people can't even live on 10 dollars an hour. how is 7 gonna help? please!
i'm a nurse now...only make 19 an hour....have 2 kids. go figure!

Originally posted by psychosgirl
people can't even live on 10 dollars an hour. how is 7 gonna help? please!
i'm a nurse now...only make 19 an hour....have 2 kids. go figure!

We live in a lopsided world where it is not only OK but unquestioned and acceptable that we pay sport figures, models and CEO's of big companies millions, yet the real builders of our society, nurses and teachers. policeman & fireman among others a barely livble wage!

Welcome to capitalism

In a capitalistic society Sport figures and Models produce millions for company or team thus they get the bigger paychecks.You cant expect to pay nurses, teachers, policeman millions. But if you think everyone should have equal wages and nobody should make millions its communism and noone has got it to work and I doubt they ever will.

the minimun wage needs to go up. for sum people thats just not enough to live on .really come who can live on those kinds of wages anyways.even in canada here we need to boost up wages as companies everywhere are getting richer and the poor are getting way poorer.how many millions are enough to keep poor 800 million.or wait how about 3 or 4 billion.where are those price freezes to keep us having food on our plate in 2005?....flukemol

crap!!!! where would we be without nurses? doctors? teachers? if we can pay stars millions...then we can pay public servants more!

shadow XIX you are right, we are a capatalistic world, but I do not think that every one should be paid the same,

I am just saying that some professions are more important than others. Playing football or smiling at a camera cannot equal what a nurse or fireman does on a daily basis, they hold our very lives in their hands.

Do you not agree that a profession like that is worth more than a quarterback tossing a football?

As far a minimum wage goes if you work full time you should be paid enough to feed and house your family, the sad point is if you don't work government benefits give you more than a hard days work would!

Originally posted by psychosgirl
crap!!!! where would we be without nurses? doctors? teachers? if we can pay stars millions...then we can pay public servants more!

Doctors make enough you dont have to worry about them be more concerned with nurses and teachers.

Originally posted by jeeze louise
The emphasis is on furthering your education to get a higher paying job, however for a good portion or these people, an education is out of reach because they have no credit to obtain the loans needed to pay for schooling, and no guarantee they could ever pay them back. For many in this situation it is a no win situation!

I hate to say it but the credit excuse doesn't fly. We had credit so bad that we were told filing bankruptcy would improve our situation. I mean BAD credit. And even with that we had no problem getting student loans. Between student loans and grants schooling required no up front money. And it even resulted in us having money to live on during school.

Originally posted by jeeze louise
shadow XIX you are right, we are a capatalistic world, but I do not think that every one should be paid the same,

I am just saying that some professions are more important than others. Playing football or smiling at a camera cannot equal what a nurse or fireman does on a daily basis, they hold our very lives in their hands.

Do you not agree that a profession like that is worth more than a quarterback tossing a football?

You are making a good point But I do think football players in particular should make good money. The average career in the NFL is like 4yrs According to research by gamesover.org, 78 percent of NFL players are unemployed, bankrupt or divorced within two years after playing their last game. The lifespan of a average NFL player is much lower then a average person. There is also only about 1020 players in the NFL.

Im a big NFL fan so I help feed the league , really if it wasnt for people like me they wouldnt be making the big bucks in the first place.

Not that what they do is more important then nurses or firemen but I think as long as they pack the stadium bring in good TV ratings and sell NFL gear they should make the big bucks.

Why rent an apartment? the wise thing to do is buy a house, or get a loan to buy a house.Renting has no future benifit for anyone except the landlord.Also those prices are bull, my monthly house payment is 325$ for a 3 bed,2 bath ranchhouse.Water AND electricity never breaks over the 100$ mark either.The phone is 30$ a month(and it comes with internet hookup as well).Cable,Sat,highspeed modems and such are not nessesities, or eating at resturants non stop.That article I find to be highly inacurate at best.If you cant live off minimum wage then you must think you are some kind of king or queen who deserves the stars.Money does not bring happiness unless your a fool.

Where do you live that everything is so low, I can tell you the most of the country is much higher, in this area the rent for a two bedroom apartment cannot be found for less than $425.00 per month,mortgage are higher too, although it is much lower here than in other parts of the country!I would be curious to find out how other parts of the country stand on rent prices and mortgages!

Originally posted by LordBaskettIV
Why rent an apartment? the wise thing to do is buy a house, or get a loan to buy a house.Renting has no future benifit for anyone except the landlord.Also those prices are bull, my monthly house payment is 325$ for a 3 bed,2 bath ranchhouse.Water AND electricity never breaks over the 100$ mark either.The phone is 30$ a month(and it comes with internet hookup as well).Cable,Sat,highspeed modems and such are not nessesities, or eating at resturants non stop.That article I find to be highly inacurate at best.If you cant live off minimum wage then you must think you are some kind of king or queen who deserves the stars.Money does not bring happiness unless your a fool.

I've been looking for something for my son in the papers, I can't find ANYTHING as far as apartments under $350, that's one bedroom, or efficiency....and most are well over $400. Our electricity will probably run us close to $300 this winter, so I don't think it is that far out of the ballpark that he'd be paying around $100 or more for heat and electiricity, if it's not included in the rent. If it is, well, you can forget about paying less than $400 for it. Add another $100 to $150 for food for the month...ot would probably be more really. Add to that transportation costs, either car payment and insurance or taxi, gas for carpool, bus or whatever. (We'd be stuck with taxis out here. )

And, well, I think we've gone beyond exhausting whatever wage he could earn around here in any job that he would be qualified for. Gee, I didn't even add a phone!!! We'll guess he could wake his neighbor up 5 am if he was sick and had to call in or walk on down to the payphone, right?

And, if one were to move to NY City, well, you could probably double many of the expenses that I have listed.
One of the problems with having a national minimum or living wage, or even state, if that the cost of living varies so much from area to area. This also kind of throws off the effects of our social service system. If your living in a rather depressed portion of a otherwise economically healthy county well, that depressed economy has to adapt to the fact that the government is willing to pay more for the rent, heat ect. that what is prevalent in that area. Thus your rent will go up, as well as your heat, ect. We move to help the needy, and pump money into the area, but in the meantime, we are also increasing the need of that area. Without some sort of widerange control on those expenses to bring some sort of uniformity to it, well, I think we are creating a monster with our policies. And, then feeding it more each year to keep it running.

Originally posted by jeeze louise

Originally posted by psychosgirl
people can't even live on 10 dollars an hour. how is 7 gonna help? please!
i'm a nurse now...only make 19 an hour....have 2 kids. go figure!

We live in a lopsided world where it is not only OK but unquestioned and acceptable that we pay sport figures, models and CEO's of big companies millions, yet the real builders of our society, nurses and teachers. policeman & fireman among others a barely livble wage!

When was the last time you paid to see a teacher teach?

Originally posted by Chakotay
Hey Carseller, know why your sales are down?
Ah-choo.

[edit on 20-12-2004 by Chakotay]

Sales may be down on new vehicles nationwide. But I sell mostly used, and I had one of my best years ever. Oh and God bless you! (for the sneeze)

AHHHH.... Bullsh...

I lived on $10 an hour and supported a wife and a child....

we didn't have the best of things, but we had rent money, food and could still enjoy a movie and dinner from time to time.

I also had money to golf, and do other things.

I think the minimum raising to $7 is a good thing and if you don't want it, then don't take it, someone else will.

I started working when minimum was $3.25 per hour and was happy to get it. I worked hard and tried to learn as much as possible on my job so that I could advance and make more money.

I've done that on every job that I've had, and it works.

Originally posted by LordBaskettIV
Why rent an apartment? the wise thing to do is buy a house, or get a loan to buy a house.Renting has no future benifit for anyone except the landlord.Also those prices are bull, my monthly house payment is 325$ for a 3 bed,2 bath ranchhouse.Water AND electricity never breaks over the 100$ mark either.The phone is 30$ a month(and it comes with internet hookup as well).Cable,Sat,highspeed modems and such are not nessesities, or eating at resturants non stop.That article I find to be highly inacurate at best.If you cant live off minimum wage then you must think you are some kind of king or queen who deserves the stars.Money does not bring happiness unless your a fool.

Lord I find your figures very hard to believe.

Just where to you live general area is all one needs.

How many hours a week do you work? Does your employer pay your medical insurance?