change my mind: can't pay a living wage to all

[Anonymous]

Change my mind, maybe I am wrong:
Everyone in every job cannot make a wage that allows them to not:
-seek education and/or training to advance into something that pays more
-live with roommates or family
-be in a position where they cannot raise kids on their one salary or with someone with an equivalent salary

https://wtop.com/local/2023/09/health-care-workers-in-dc-area-authorize-strike-against-kaiser-permanente-joining-thousands-across-the-nation/

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/16l5zjp/why_we_are_striking_at_ford_motor_company/

the COVID-era low skilled worker wage raises seems to have created a sort wage-price spiral--$15 was the request, then $17, but it will never be enough if all low-wage workers make the same thing.

[Anonymous]

agred, just wish every state would become a right to work state. we need to make easier to fire people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Change my mind, maybe I am wrong:
Everyone in every job cannot make a wage that allows them to not:
-seek education and/or training to advance into something that pays more
-live with roommates or family
-be in a position where they cannot raise kids on their one salary or with someone with an equivalent salary

https://wtop.com/local/2023/09/health-care-workers-in-dc-area-authorize-strike-against-kaiser-permanente-joining-thousands-across-the-nation/

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/16l5zjp/why_we_are_striking_at_ford_motor_company/

the COVID-era low skilled worker wage raises seems to have created a sort wage-price spiral--$15 was the request, then $17, but it will never be enough if all low-wage workers make the same thing.

Of course. Two people working the drive thru at McDonalds are not mean to raise two kids in a 3br townhome in Burke. That is not meant to be a forever job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Change my mind, maybe I am wrong:
Everyone in every job cannot make a wage that allows them to not:
-seek education and/or training to advance into something that pays more
-live with roommates or family
-be in a position where they cannot raise kids on their one salary or with someone with an equivalent salary

https://wtop.com/local/2023/09/health-care-workers-in-dc-area-authorize-strike-against-kaiser-permanente-joining-thousands-across-the-nation/

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/16l5zjp/why_we_are_striking_at_ford_motor_company/

the COVID-era low skilled worker wage raises seems to have created a sort wage-price spiral--$15 was the request, then $17, but it will never be enough if all low-wage workers make the same thing.

What about careers that do require education and training (i.e., teachers, social workers, professors, scientists, nurses, EMTs, etc)? Should they be able to receive a living wage? Not everyone can or wants to work in tech or big law. And you know, we need these professionals in order for society to function.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Change my mind, maybe I am wrong:
Everyone in every job cannot make a wage that allows them to not:
-seek education and/or training to advance into something that pays more
-live with roommates or family
-be in a position where they cannot raise kids on their one salary or with someone with an equivalent salary

https://wtop.com/local/2023/09/health-care-workers-in-dc-area-authorize-strike-against-kaiser-permanente-joining-thousands-across-the-nation/

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/16l5zjp/why_we_are_striking_at_ford_motor_company/

the COVID-era low skilled worker wage raises seems to have created a sort wage-price spiral--$15 was the request, then $17, but it will never be enough if all low-wage workers make the same thing.

What about careers that do require education and training (i.e., teachers, social workers, professors, scientists, nurses, EMTs, etc)? Should they be able to receive a living wage? Not everyone can or wants to work in tech or big law. And you know, we need these professionals in order for society to function.

Only if it can be private funded, I am not willing to pay more taxes just so the so called DR.Jill can go on a 3 month vacation doing the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Change my mind, maybe I am wrong:
Everyone in every job cannot make a wage that allows them to not:
-seek education and/or training to advance into something that pays more
-live with roommates or family
-be in a position where they cannot raise kids on their one salary or with someone with an equivalent salary

https://wtop.com/local/2023/09/health-care-workers-in-dc-area-authorize-strike-against-kaiser-permanente-joining-thousands-across-the-nation/

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/16l5zjp/why_we_are_striking_at_ford_motor_company/

the COVID-era low skilled worker wage raises seems to have created a sort wage-price spiral--$15 was the request, then $17, but it will never be enough if all low-wage workers make the same thing.

What about careers that do require education and training (i.e., teachers, social workers, professors, scientists, nurses, EMTs, etc)? Should they be able to receive a living wage? Not everyone can or wants to work in tech or big law. And you know, we need these professionals in order for society to function.

Those jobs DO pay a living wage. "Living wage" does not equal a SFH in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

I think people should be able to live in safe housing and eat without any job at all, so I guess I disagree with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people should be able to live in safe housing and eat without any job at all, so I guess I disagree with you.

Even if they are able-bodied and mentally sound? Then yeah we definitely disagree.

[Anonymous]

If true, we need universal basic income and very robust social services so that people in jobs that do not pay a living wage have access to housing, healthcare, and other basic necessities of life. Otherwise we deal with all the externalities of having a large, desperate underclass -- crime, homelessness, substance abuse, civil unrest, etc.

Pick your poison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If true, we need universal basic income and very robust social services so that people in jobs that do not pay a living wage have access to housing, healthcare, and other basic necessities of life. Otherwise we deal with all the externalities of having a large, desperate underclass -- crime, homelessness, substance abuse, civil unrest, etc.

Pick your poison.

"Access to housing" does not mean no roommates and a bedroom for every child.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, you lost me in the double negative in the first part of your capitalist manifesto. What are you trying to say?

[Anonymous]

I do not believe you have a right to live in your own apartment. Sorry. Most of us lived with roommates for years.

I also don't believe that one salary is enough to raise kids on. Sorry but it's just not. It takes two salaries (and also two people to conceive a baby). If you only have one salary, then you need a SAHM, otherwise you have to throw more money at aftercare and other flexibility type accommodations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not believe you have a right to live in your own apartment. Sorry. Most of us lived with roommates for years.

I also don't believe that one salary is enough to raise kids on. Sorry but it's just not. It takes two salaries (and also two people to conceive a baby). If you only have one salary, then you need a SAHM, otherwise you have to throw more money at aftercare and other flexibility type accommodations.

Correct. 1 minimum wage job should not be enough to raise kids on. That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

You have too many negatives in one statement. Wish I could figure out what you are trying to say. I would love to discuss it all.
I have worked minimum wage jobs most of my life and even below minimum because of long hours and nobody forced the minimum wage or it didn't exist back then. At some point, my health simply gave up because of the long hours without a break.
I wish it was minimum wage always (I have made $20 for 10 hour shift many times) and then I simply live with friends, roommates, relative to claw out of it or get a better paying job or two. ( I have had 3 at once, but still minimum).
Several of us ended up in ER from work - that's how brutal it was even for 20-something people. One co-worker collapsed on the street and got a cab to ER. That day put her in negative $400 which was one weeks pay.
There are jobs that don't even pay minimum. I have $0 in my social security statement for two years I worked. The business owes me and IRS tens of thousands.
I have had two jobs that cost me more to go to work than to stay home. Neither paid minimum.
I would tell you how to climb out of DC minimum wage job, but it's much harder to climb out of below minimum that I was put through.

[Anonymous]

I agree with you. It's an impossible goal. If we raise wages to try to give everyone a living wage, prices go up, and some wages then fall below the living wage standard. The cycle goes on and on. Some jobs will never pay enough to live alone, buy a home, or raise a family.