LogFAQs > #883278569

I worked (mostly) min wage jobs till I graduated HS at 16 (from age 11), had to be under the table mostly due to my age. At 19 I worked a min wage graveyard job at Carls Jn while going to a vocational school during the day for 9 months (8 hours a day). This got me my electronic techs degree, and a job paying $11 an hour (about double min wage) initially. I got promoted to lead tech in 6 months (over everyone else due to being able to problem solve new pagers and the old lead teach leaving), and got a raise to $14 an hour (almost 3x min wage at that point).

I was both motivated, and smart, and had massive advantages over other people. There where other electronic techs (friends of mine eventually) who had worked there for years and were still making around $11 an hour (still decent back then). I was WAY younger then any other employee as well (most had to get an AA degree at least to qualify for the job).

I did that job for 2 years and moved on to running S&H for a company (Salaried position), making significantly more. Meanwhile they kept working that same job, or similar ones. Most people, if they find a job they can live on, especially if it pays more then minimum wage, keep the job, unless they hate it (and even sometimes even if they hate it).

I never worked any job I hated more then a month or two. That is not the norm, and I am very lucky, and I realize that.

Tons of people work jobs they do not like (which is part of the problem I think, you should find a way to like your job, or move on, I have only had 2 jobs I didn't like/couldn't find a way to like, and I left them both quickly (working as a cashier for Safeway and Selling TVs at Sears in Vancouver WA across the river from tax free Oregon).

Min wage, in my opinion, should be different then a living wage. Min wage should be the lowest amount you can pay a high school student or someone working less then 20 hours a week. Any job that is over 20 hours a week should be required to pay a living wage, which is determined in part by the cost to rent in the area (and updated yearly I would guess).

A living wage should be based on a 40 hour work week (Even if you have employees work more or less (over 20), and should be something like (ARP*2)/120 per hour (ARP is average rental price for a 1 bedroom in the area).


For instance, you can rent a 1 bedroom for about $900 here. That is about the cheapest you can get. So the living wage would 900*2=1800 divide that by 120 and you would get $15/hr.

Basically you would be able to pay your rent by working for 2 weeks at any job (even if it only gave you 30 hours a week).

In the bay area where the cheapest rent is $1500....you would make almost 22$ an hour, and could still basically pay your rent by workign 60 hours a month.

I personally think 60 hours of work should pay for a small place to live by yourself (1 bedroom apartment), minimum. It's crazy that in many places right now you need to work 80+ hours at min wage just to freaking rent a 1 bedroom yourself.
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