I’m assuming your area has a high volume dual income families. Which then makes their earning power much greater. Google says dual income families make up around 70% of the households. Naturally you are going to be behind.
Which is exactly the same as it was in 1972. Get an education and move on to bigger and brighter things.
Because shit changes and isn’t always the same. The new Jimmy applied for a job and agreed to the compensation. Employment is a free market. Flat screen TVs are drastically cheaper from 20 years ago, Samsung isn’t crying about it.
Oooooor it could be because companies like Red Lobster aren't going to increase their wages to match inflation unless their arm is twisted into doing so. Especially for easy to replace shit jobs like dish washing.
www.zoocasa.com
Maybe it was 40% less valuable and the market just adjusted more recently… seeing how people still wash dishes for the given wage. In anything, something is worth what someone is willing to pay and/or receive. Basically the definition of value.
Maybe you should advocate for subsized housing so you and others can live within your means.Where a Median-Income Household Can Afford to Buy a House in Canada in 2023
As buyers look to get back into the real estate market in Canada they wonder where they can afford to buy a house. Here is where a median income could buy a home.
Median household income of $96.7K. I am comfortably higher than that. If someone like myself is in the rental pool, that squeezes out the middle class.
If large cities in North America are unfordable for the large majority of people this is going to be terrible for everyone. Sure, some people can move to live in other places - for the lower/middle class this isn't possible.
The minimum wage in the US in 1972 was $1.60. Average rent that year was about $120 a month, meaning that a worker could work 75 hours a month and make rent and have roughly $136 left over (before taxes) to pay for food and other necessities. Adjusted for inflation, the cost of rent should be $540. It’s at least twice that much in most states on average — $1100. That means on average a worker would have to work 152 hours a month (before taxes) and have just over $57 left over to pay for food and life necessities. You couldn’t feed one person for that even if they ate only Top Ramen for every meal. And you wouldn’t be able to cook it because you could not afford the utility bills (the average cost of utility bills [which used to be included in the rent] is more than $200, putting the average minimum wage renter well into the red just for basic survival.
www.aarp.org
I do? I advocate for higher density housing all the time. I live well. This isn't about me, this is about advocating about those that are less fortunate, nobody should care about anecdotal personal stories and I'm not asking for people to care about me.
What makes the American worker more productive? Are we just smarter people or has technology advances allowed the worker to work at a higher productive rate?The minimum wage in the US in 1972 was $1.60. Average rent that year was about $120 a month, meaning that a worker could work 75 hours a month and make rent and have roughly $136 left over (before taxes) to pay for food and other necessities. Adjusted for inflation, the cost of rent should be $540. It’s at least twice that much in most states on average — $1100. That means on average a worker would have to work 152 hours a month (before taxes) and have just over $57 left over to pay for food and life necessities. You couldn’t feed one person for that even if they ate only Top Ramen for every meal. And you wouldn’t be able to cook it because you could not afford the utility bills (the average cost of utility bills [which used to be included in the rent] is more than $200, putting the average minimum wage renter well into the red just for basic survival.
If minimum wage would have kept pace with PRODUCTIVITY since the 1970s, it would be more than $20 an hour. This is important because this is the floor for compensation which affects all wages. If minimum wage was $20, the lowest paid workers would make, conservatively, $3200 a month or $38,000 a year. That’s instead of $13,000.
Adjusted for inflation, $1.60 is worth $11.98 today, $4.73 an hour more than it is today. The real insult is that American workers are nearly twice as productive as they were in 1972 and are compensated at a lower adjusted rate than they would have in a vacuum of equal productivity.
Costs From 50 Years Ago: Surprising Bargains Today
Prices have changed dramatically since 1972, with inflation impacting costs. Some items are surprisingly cheaper today, while others have soared in price.
I disagree. I think dual incomes has pushed the market to where it is. Somewhere people started to realize a dual income is better than a single income and more families started doing which then lead to a gambit of supply/demand issues with housing. More income drives the price up.
Who else would it be on??? Holy shit dude lol.
Technology should make our lives easier, not harder.
Dual incomes are a response to stagnate wages. My wife would love to stay home and take care of our daughter. I would love that too. Us surviving on one income is completely untenable, even though we both have 4 year degrees, work full time, and live below our means.
Greed drives prices up. If capitalism is the metric on which you measure everything, you turn human beings into commodities. Being poor is the most expensive way to live and its desperation and exploitation that makes capitalism go.
So you are advocating for 16 year old dishwashers to be paid $15 to $20 an hour? That is dumb.
It's not dumb. It's the same exact thing they were being paid in the 70s. Just like they should have been making $5.40 in the 90s when you were working in fast food instead of $3.80.
It makes our lives easier, but sadly it makes our lives less valuable if that technology makes us less valuable. Prime example is the self check out.
I am disagreeing with your premise that a single person making less than $100,000 having to either get married or get into a cohabitant situation to afford a home should be raising alarm bells. If the majority of home buyers and renters are dual income families they will naturally have more money which will naturally raise the prices of buying or renting a home. I owned a few homes in my 20s that I could never have otherwise afforded if not married. I am not surprised at all have a single person making less than $100,000 has trouble affording property they deem suitable. But I know many single people who buy homes and then rent out the extra rooms that essentially pay their own mortgage and then some. I know many people in their 20s and 30s who still live with roommates and some even with their parents because it just makes better economical sense and I would probably do the same if I were single. Culturally we have this expectation that once we turn 18 we need to live on our own, if we just swallowed our pride a little people could live within their means without a spouse or a cohabitant.
When you hire someone they become a commodity. For example if I invest in technology and that tech has positive outcomes for my business I invest more money but look for ways to invest smart. Like when a purchasing agent buys toilet paper they try to find the best price for that same item to get that particular job done. If I buy something at wholesale for $30 and can sell it for $100 and sell a lot I am going to invest in that item but if I can find that item for $20 somewhere else I am going to buy it for $20. Same with labor. If I buy labor for $15 an hour but then I figure out I can get that same labor for $10 then I’m going to spend $10. Anyone that has ever paid a payroll knows this. If you haven’t ever paid a payroll you have no clue and just see employers as “the man” screwing everyone. The moment you realize labor is a commodity you either live with that idea or find something else to do to make money.
I preach work smarter, not harder. Working hard is for dummies. I preach to my kids all day to find a way to make as much money as you can in the least amount of hours you can. I make a great sum in just passive income. I’m a capitalist that owns property and probably helps drive up the price of real estate but I make a lot doing it. I worked to get here and lost a lot of money and made a lot of stupid mistakes but I have LEARNED and now make a great sum so my wife and probably even my children won’t have to work if they chose not to. I work 30 hours per for a company now because it pays well enough to get me off my ass and it’s only 30 hours a week that I choose to work.
Of course. Most business owners will try and keep wages as low as they can. Like I said it's a race to the bottom. This is exactly why mandatory minimum wage increases are needed. The line of thinking you just laid out is why labor is continually devalued.
God damn you're such a badass. Lazy poors just don't get it.
