You won’t believe how little $8.25 an hour buys

[Freewill]

You won t believe how little 8.25 an hour buys Oxfam America First Person Blog
Disgusting that this is possible in the "richest country in the world"

Cleaning the movie theater is part of my daughter's duties. But does her job actually pay enough to live on? Photo: Mary Babic/Oxfam America
27Tweet

54Like

1+1

For my hard-working family and friends who earn just above the US minimum wage, a paycheck doesn’t go very far.

My daughter struck it lucky when she landed a job for $8.25 an hour at the local movie theater. They pay 25 cents more than the Massachusetts minimum wage (which is already 75 cents more than the federal wage); they don’t charge her for the monogrammed black polo shirt that constitutes her uniform (unlike some businesses); they let her know her hours a few days ahead; and they are, simply put, nice people: film nerds who enjoy keeping an independent theater alive, who don’t mind if she reads a book while sitting in the box office and waiting for the next rush.

Still, it’s a business. Her hours each week never mount up to the point where they’d be responsible for her healthcare (30 hours a week or more); her schedule varies widely; when it’s slow, they let her go (and it’s been a slow year for movies). And, to reiterate: they pay $8.25 an hour.

You can’t blame them; they’re generous at paying more than the legally required wage. But it is, even for my daughter, a measly wage. She lives at home, but she’s scraping together savings for college, living very simply, contributing to the household.

So what her earnings really translate to? I wondered, after seeing this helpful and harrowing piece on What Life Really Costs at $7.25 an Hour.

First, there’s transportation. After taxes, she brings home $7.62 an hour. Last week, after working for 27 hours (and commuting for about 8 hours), she got a check for $205.71. Just to get there and back: Slice the bus fare off the top (2.10 each way; 4.20 round trip; times four): 205.71 – 16.80 = 188.91.

A sandwich = one hour’s work. Some days, when her shift stretches longer than eight hours, she gets a plain chicken sandwich at the place next door: 7.43 (with tax). So she works a full hour to buy a sandwich. Without a drink.

A book = three hours. She loves books and music, and we visit the library every week. But sometimes she likes to buy the ones she loves the very most. Her favorite graphic novelist, Emily Carroll, just published a beautiful new book, Through the Woods. On Amazon, discounted, it’s $18.10. So she worked almost three hours to buy it.

Work shoes cost a day’s pay. We do most of our shopping at Goodwill, but every once in a while, she indulges. She really needed a good pair of shoes as she stands most of the time at work. She got a cheap pair of Nikes at around $50: Basically, a day’s pay.

And what about college tuition? Again, she got lucky: Smith College offered her a whopping scholarship, covering about half the cost. Which left her with a bill of (only) $24,000 for a year, not counting books, art supplies, etc.

So if she wants to cover one year of college – at this deeply discounted price – she’s going to work 3150 hours. Or 61 hours a week for a year. If she wants to go for the full four years… it would take 12,598 hours. Of course, she couldn’t eat. Or pay rent, take the bus, buy shoes, or get her hair cut. At least she can go to the movies…

So she’s lucky in some ways. But so many workers do not enjoy her luck. In fact, the vast majority of low-wage workers do not match this “Poster Child” profile of the minimum wage worker.

Source: the Economic Policy Institute.
Indeed, the average age of low-wage workers is 35. A third have dependent children at home. In our (extremely fortunate)Congressional district, 34,000 working families are using food stamps, and 71,000 are living below the poverty line .

Imagine working for minimum wage in the poorest countries of the world. I suggest she goes and learns a trade, gets a decent job, then completes college.

How do you propose a fulltime minimum wage worker pay for school?

I already said how. Learn a trade, get a decent job, and perhaps the job will pay for further education.

I will say this, the left wing has good intentions. It sounds good that we need to take care of poor people. In my opinion what we should be saying is we need to help poor people out of poverty. The job that this girl has is a dead end which could end at any minute. The people at the theater probably are paying as much as they can afford.

Here is one solution I think might help. Close the border. Give big tax breaks to companies that pay for employee education, if not already. Tax credits for those going to school and working, much like the EITC. Mostly something has to be done to reining never ending increase in tuition. It is outrageous how the education system and the Health care system takes advantage of the US. It is like they are a monopoly. Too bad Obama didn't do something about either.

Sorry but I am not going to feel real bad about a person who made the life choice to take a career job of reading books while playing movies.

 

[Wildman]

Here's an idea: get some education and training so you're not stuck at the bottom!

and if one finds themselves at the bottom they would be very surprised if they were to become conservative to find out how much $8.25 an hr. can buy till they get that education and training, see, that wasn't hard either.

 

[bedowin62]

i see two butthurt freakjobs that are getting their asses handed to them

and arent handling it very well

 

[Socialist]

You won t believe how little 8.25 an hour buys Oxfam America First Person Blog
Disgusting that this is possible in the "richest country in the world"

Cleaning the movie theater is part of my daughter's duties. But does her job actually pay enough to live on? Photo: Mary Babic/Oxfam America
27Tweet

54Like

1+1

For my hard-working family and friends who earn just above the US minimum wage, a paycheck doesn’t go very far.

My daughter struck it lucky when she landed a job for $8.25 an hour at the local movie theater. They pay 25 cents more than the Massachusetts minimum wage (which is already 75 cents more than the federal wage); they don’t charge her for the monogrammed black polo shirt that constitutes her uniform (unlike some businesses); they let her know her hours a few days ahead; and they are, simply put, nice people: film nerds who enjoy keeping an independent theater alive, who don’t mind if she reads a book while sitting in the box office and waiting for the next rush.

Still, it’s a business. Her hours each week never mount up to the point where they’d be responsible for her healthcare (30 hours a week or more); her schedule varies widely; when it’s slow, they let her go (and it’s been a slow year for movies). And, to reiterate: they pay $8.25 an hour.

You can’t blame them; they’re generous at paying more than the legally required wage. But it is, even for my daughter, a measly wage. She lives at home, but she’s scraping together savings for college, living very simply, contributing to the household.

So what her earnings really translate to? I wondered, after seeing this helpful and harrowing piece on What Life Really Costs at $7.25 an Hour.

First, there’s transportation. After taxes, she brings home $7.62 an hour. Last week, after working for 27 hours (and commuting for about 8 hours), she got a check for $205.71. Just to get there and back: Slice the bus fare off the top (2.10 each way; 4.20 round trip; times four): 205.71 – 16.80 = 188.91.

A sandwich = one hour’s work. Some days, when her shift stretches longer than eight hours, she gets a plain chicken sandwich at the place next door: 7.43 (with tax). So she works a full hour to buy a sandwich. Without a drink.

A book = three hours. She loves books and music, and we visit the library every week. But sometimes she likes to buy the ones she loves the very most. Her favorite graphic novelist, Emily Carroll, just published a beautiful new book, Through the Woods. On Amazon, discounted, it’s $18.10. So she worked almost three hours to buy it.

Work shoes cost a day’s pay. We do most of our shopping at Goodwill, but every once in a while, she indulges. She really needed a good pair of shoes as she stands most of the time at work. She got a cheap pair of Nikes at around $50: Basically, a day’s pay.

And what about college tuition? Again, she got lucky: Smith College offered her a whopping scholarship, covering about half the cost. Which left her with a bill of (only) $24,000 for a year, not counting books, art supplies, etc.

So if she wants to cover one year of college – at this deeply discounted price – she’s going to work 3150 hours. Or 61 hours a week for a year. If she wants to go for the full four years… it would take 12,598 hours. Of course, she couldn’t eat. Or pay rent, take the bus, buy shoes, or get her hair cut. At least she can go to the movies…

So she’s lucky in some ways. But so many workers do not enjoy her luck. In fact, the vast majority of low-wage workers do not match this “Poster Child” profile of the minimum wage worker.

Source: the Economic Policy Institute.
Indeed, the average age of low-wage workers is 35. A third have dependent children at home. In our (extremely fortunate)Congressional district, 34,000 working families are using food stamps, and 71,000 are living below the poverty line .

Imagine working for minimum wage in the poorest countries of the world. I suggest she goes and learns a trade, gets a decent job, then completes college.

How do you propose a fulltime minimum wage worker pay for school?

I already said how. Learn a trade, get a decent job, and perhaps the job will pay for further education.

I will say this, the left wing has good intentions. It sounds good that we need to take care of poor people. In my opinion what we should be saying is we need to help poor people out of poverty. The job that this girl has is a dead end which could end at any minute. The people at the theater probably are paying as much as they can afford.

Here is one solution I think might help. Close the border. Give big tax breaks to companies that pay for employee education, if not already. Tax credits for those going to school and working, much like the EITC. Mostly something has to be done to reining never ending increase in tuition. It is outrageous how the education system and the Health care system takes advantage of the US. It is like they are a monopoly. Too bad Obama didn't do something about either.

Sorry but I am not going to feel real bad about a person who made the life choice to take a career job of reading books while playing movies.

Dude, you assume learning a trade doesn't require any money, and that jobs are available that aren't for "leeches." "Perhaps the job..." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Now we see you rant about immigrants.

 

[bedowin62]

the Left just cant stop with its message of hoplessness to the people they claim to care about

 

[NYcarbineer]

"helping the poor" IS bad when the Left does it

it results in a fifty year high in the Poverty Rate

as has happened under obama

idiots and hypocrites

There is no cause and effect in your statement.

did you really think anybody expects you losers to admit you failed?

You've failed to show cause and effect. In fact you've really failed to show anything.

You want to make the usual comical argument that conservatives make which is that if we took all government help away from the poor,

poverty would decrease.

lol, what a joke you are.

 

[Socialist]

Here's an idea: get some education and training so you're not stuck at the bottom!

and if one finds themselves at the bottom they would be very surprised if they were to become conservative to find out how much $8.25 an hr. can buy till they get that education and training, see, that wasn't hard either.

I always hear those terms over and over again.. JUST GET EDUCATION AND TRAINING. Education costs money, and it keeps going up, training? I assume you mean education, which costs money. Idiots.

 

[bedowin62]

they cant stop posting

they are enraged

they see themselves and their failed ideology as saviors

 

[Socialist]

"helping the poor" IS bad when the Left does it

it results in a fifty year high in the Poverty Rate

as has happened under obama

idiots and hypocrites

There is no cause and effect in your statement.

did you really think anybody expects you losers to admit you failed?

You've failed to show cause and effect. In fact you've really failed to show anything.

You want to make the usual comical argument that conservatives make which is that if we took all government help away from the poor,

poverty would decrease.

lol, what a joke you are.

This usually happens when talking about poverty.. It's always the fault of those in poverty.. Fucking right wing "Christians."

 

[NYcarbineer]

"helping the poor" IS bad when the Left does it

it results in a fifty year high in the Poverty Rate

as has happened under obama

idiots and hypocrites

You do realize the "left" in America are basically the right wing party in every other country?

you DO realize that's irrelevant?

our left CREATE poor people to "help"

You would create poor people by taking away the help they get. Take a poor family's Medicaid away.

Do they stop being poor? Or are they poorer?

 

[Socialist]

they cant stop posting

they are enraged

they see themselves and their failed ideology as saviors

We're annihilating you idiots, who have yet to provide anything of substance apart from useless statements.

 

[bedowin62]

"helping the poor" IS bad when the Left does it

it results in a fifty year high in the Poverty Rate

as has happened under obama

idiots and hypocrites

There is no cause and effect in your statement.

did you really think anybody expects you losers to admit you failed?

You've failed to show cause and effect. In fact you've really failed to show anything.

You want to make the usual comical argument that conservatives make which is that if we took all government help away from the poor,

poverty would decrease.

lol, what a joke you are.

what a joke YOU are

i can show pages of cause and effect

idiot
what YOU cant show cause and effec of is the tired meme that Bush caused a global recession

because your own Party voted for and continued every one of yhis policies

the joke is YOU

 

[NYcarbineer]

they cant stop posting

they are enraged

they see themselves and their failed ideology as saviors

Ah, there's the first meltdown of the day I've induced.

 

[bedowin62]

IF YOU were anhilating anybody you could talk about your own white wrinkle candidates

try again

 

[NYcarbineer]

"helping the poor" IS bad when the Left does it

it results in a fifty year high in the Poverty Rate

as has happened under obama

idiots and hypocrites

There is no cause and effect in your statement.

did you really think anybody expects you losers to admit you failed?

You've failed to show cause and effect. In fact you've really failed to show anything.

You want to make the usual comical argument that conservatives make which is that if we took all government help away from the poor,

poverty would decrease.

lol, what a joke you are.

what a joke YOU are

i can show pages of cause and effect

idiot
what YOU cant show cause and effec of is the tired meme that Bush caused a global recession

because your own Party voted for and continued every one of yhis policies

the joke is YOU

Good. Show ONE page. Show how free public education to the poor makes them poorer.

 

[bedowin62]

YAWN



pretty sure i alrady induced meltdowns in 2 leftardz

 

[Wyatt earp]

And you assume I have a problem with that. I don't. That's more than I have right now.

What I have a problem with is with people in your position demanding career level pay for entry level jobs. I equate that with greed, not a need "to get by." I would be happy to get what I'm paid. I would put more effort into doing my job than demanding a pay raise. I see people making demands of people kind enough to give them any sort of employment as ingrates.

That is no excuse. To anyone else, this could be considered as exploitation. I see it that way. If I take government assistance, I'm taking her tax dollars. If I'm not on it, I'm still taking her money. That presents a major moral dilemma for me that I can't handle.

Of course it's a joke if you're just standing there complaining about it. It's all about effort.

I don't want career level pay, I believe wages should be adjusted to the cost of living on a state by state basis. Nothing is perfect. The contradictions of capital are coming out in full force, things are getting worse worldwide in terms of income inequality, resource waste, etc, etc.. Greed? The greedy ones are the capitalist dogs who moan and bitch about the end of days if taxes were raised b 2%, the dogs who mercilessly exploit the third world to sell cheap products in the first world, the ones who move jobs overseas to avoid paying decent wages or providing benefits.. This is starting to happen to service jobs now to.. Err, most people put effort into their job, after all, they're easily replaceable, I'd imagine they'd put forth more effort if they were paid a decent wage. How would anyone consider that exploitation? A moral dilemma? I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous.

Lmao, go ahead and adjust wages by a state to state level and watch more company's leave the blue city's, God you are dumb.

Greed works both ways, which came first the big box stores with low wages or Sam the butcher or Floyd barber shops with livable wages?

Americans wanted cheap crap they did it to themselves, the big capitalist gave you what you wanted.

But if you raise the minimum wage nationally, one state can't cannibalize workers from another state.

about time someone on the left here admitted that to me....

But guess what? The poor in New York city are still poor, while the MW workers in Oconee county, South Carolina will live like kings.

The poorest counties in America are almost all rural, and in red states. Explain that.

go back to school if you want a history lessen...

God damn it girl how many times do I have to post the South was traditionally poor? And the North was rich with industry?

Detroit at one time was the richest city in America, where are all these new offshore car plants setting up in America now?

The only thing that saves New York is wall street and Chicago is the mercantile exchange, if they didn't exist both city's would look like Detroit today.

 

[bedowin62]

obama's policies have resulted in more part time jobs created than would have been; particularly the ACA


now that leads to poverty level wages that allow you to still collect food stamps

thats why there are still 13 MILLION MORE ON FOOD STAMPS IN OBAMA'S SEVENTH YEAR

then there were under bush

try again

 

[Freewill]

You won t believe how little 8.25 an hour buys Oxfam America First Person Blog
Disgusting that this is possible in the "richest country in the world"

Cleaning the movie theater is part of my daughter's duties. But does her job actually pay enough to live on? Photo: Mary Babic/Oxfam America
27Tweet

54Like

1+1

For my hard-working family and friends who earn just above the US minimum wage, a paycheck doesn’t go very far.

My daughter struck it lucky when she landed a job for $8.25 an hour at the local movie theater. They pay 25 cents more than the Massachusetts minimum wage (which is already 75 cents more than the federal wage); they don’t charge her for the monogrammed black polo shirt that constitutes her uniform (unlike some businesses); they let her know her hours a few days ahead; and they are, simply put, nice people: film nerds who enjoy keeping an independent theater alive, who don’t mind if she reads a book while sitting in the box office and waiting for the next rush.

Still, it’s a business. Her hours each week never mount up to the point where they’d be responsible for her healthcare (30 hours a week or more); her schedule varies widely; when it’s slow, they let her go (and it’s been a slow year for movies). And, to reiterate: they pay $8.25 an hour.

You can’t blame them; they’re generous at paying more than the legally required wage. But it is, even for my daughter, a measly wage. She lives at home, but she’s scraping together savings for college, living very simply, contributing to the household.

So what her earnings really translate to? I wondered, after seeing this helpful and harrowing piece on What Life Really Costs at $7.25 an Hour.

First, there’s transportation. After taxes, she brings home $7.62 an hour. Last week, after working for 27 hours (and commuting for about 8 hours), she got a check for $205.71. Just to get there and back: Slice the bus fare off the top (2.10 each way; 4.20 round trip; times four): 205.71 – 16.80 = 188.91.

A sandwich = one hour’s work. Some days, when her shift stretches longer than eight hours, she gets a plain chicken sandwich at the place next door: 7.43 (with tax). So she works a full hour to buy a sandwich. Without a drink.

A book = three hours. She loves books and music, and we visit the library every week. But sometimes she likes to buy the ones she loves the very most. Her favorite graphic novelist, Emily Carroll, just published a beautiful new book, Through the Woods. On Amazon, discounted, it’s $18.10. So she worked almost three hours to buy it.

Work shoes cost a day’s pay. We do most of our shopping at Goodwill, but every once in a while, she indulges. She really needed a good pair of shoes as she stands most of the time at work. She got a cheap pair of Nikes at around $50: Basically, a day’s pay.

And what about college tuition? Again, she got lucky: Smith College offered her a whopping scholarship, covering about half the cost. Which left her with a bill of (only) $24,000 for a year, not counting books, art supplies, etc.

So if she wants to cover one year of college – at this deeply discounted price – she’s going to work 3150 hours. Or 61 hours a week for a year. If she wants to go for the full four years… it would take 12,598 hours. Of course, she couldn’t eat. Or pay rent, take the bus, buy shoes, or get her hair cut. At least she can go to the movies…

So she’s lucky in some ways. But so many workers do not enjoy her luck. In fact, the vast majority of low-wage workers do not match this “Poster Child” profile of the minimum wage worker.

Source: the Economic Policy Institute.
Indeed, the average age of low-wage workers is 35. A third have dependent children at home. In our (extremely fortunate)Congressional district, 34,000 working families are using food stamps, and 71,000 are living below the poverty line .

Imagine working for minimum wage in the poorest countries of the world. I suggest she goes and learns a trade, gets a decent job, then completes college.

How do you propose a fulltime minimum wage worker pay for school?

I already said how. Learn a trade, get a decent job, and perhaps the job will pay for further education.

I will say this, the left wing has good intentions. It sounds good that we need to take care of poor people. In my opinion what we should be saying is we need to help poor people out of poverty. The job that this girl has is a dead end which could end at any minute. The people at the theater probably are paying as much as they can afford.

Here is one solution I think might help. Close the border. Give big tax breaks to companies that pay for employee education, if not already. Tax credits for those going to school and working, much like the EITC. Mostly something has to be done to reining never ending increase in tuition. It is outrageous how the education system and the Health care system takes advantage of the US. It is like they are a monopoly. Too bad Obama didn't do something about either.

Sorry but I am not going to feel real bad about a person who made the life choice to take a career job of reading books while playing movies.

Dude, you assume learning a trade doesn't require any money, and that jobs are available that aren't for "leeches." "Perhaps the job..." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Now we see you rant about immigrants.

You dude, seem to think that there are not educational programs out there to help the poor. You dude don't realize that these government programs are self destructive. They RAISE the price of education to the point where a person goes broke trying to educate themselves without the government help.

You see no correlation between allowing unbridled influx of unskilled, uneducated labor and the depression of wages for unskilled, uneducated jobs? Really?

 

[BlackSand]

Packing a lunch and walking would more than double her take-home ... Stupid Yankees.

.