Current Events > Should someone who makes minimum wage be able to afford an apartment?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Lets say they work 40 hours per week
Minimum wage job

Should they be able to afford at least a basic apartment on their wage?

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Everyone should be able to afford an apartment if they're working 40 hours a week.

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Yes, but not everywhere - land is not "on demand" and customized as quickly as something like a car. The people who own those properties have to eat too.

Yes. I've said this in another topic, and I'll repeat it here. Minimum wage should be enough for the bare minimum necessities of life. Food, water, shelter, healthcare, education, safety. Some of these should be covered by taxes, and the rest should be able to be covered on a minimum wage.

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Depends where. You're not going to be able to get even the tiniest studio in Hawaii. In the boonies of some flyover state, yeah, probably.

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Nah, minimum wage should be representative of the lowest skilled part time workers, including the elderly, low skill teens, and the mentally handicapped. The number of people who work full time jobs on minimum wage is pretty much nil, so trying to make it a baseline is silly.

Yes, in every state the minimum wage should at least cover a studio apartment, food, healthcare, etc. Yknow like a minimum wage should do.

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nemu posted...

Nah, minimum wage should be representative of the lowest skilled part time workers, including the elderly, low skill teens, and the mentally handicapped. The number of people who work full time jobs on minimum wage is pretty much nil, so trying to make it a baseline is silly.

Shut the fuck up

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inloveanddeath0 posted...

Shut the fuck up

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slmcknett posted...

Everyone should be able to afford an apartment if they're working 40 hours a week.

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Housing should be free and provided by the government.

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2nd post nailed it.

They need to lower the cost of rent down, because mostly what is hiring are minimum wage jobs. People shouldn't have to be roommates with other people if they are working 8 hours a day.

If you want a house, or home you should be making maximum wage for that.

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Yes, wtf

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Dark_SilverX posted...

2nd post nailed it.

They need to lower the cost of rent down, because mostly what is hiring are minimum wage jobs. People shouldn't have to be roommates with other people if they are working 8 hours a day.

If you want a house, or home you should be making maximum wage for that.

1% of full time workers make minimum wage, so I don't think that's an accurate reflection of reality. There's way too much data for something I don't have that much interest in, but I'd bet that accounts mostly for waitstaff.

nemu posted...

1% of full time workers make minimum wage, so I don't think that's an accurate reflection of reality. There's way too much data for something I don't have that much interest in, but I'd bet that accounts mostly for waitstaff.

Yknow if you make 7.26 you suddenly aren't making minimum wage anymore right.

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IllegalAlien posted...

Yknow if you make 7.26 you suddenly aren't making minimum wage anymore right.

Exactly. Many individuals make slightly above min wage. Can't afford rent. Period

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AlephZero posted...

Housing should be free and provided by the government.

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IllegalAlien posted...

Yknow if you make 7.26 you suddenly aren't making minimum wage anymore right.

And what percentage of full time workers are making between $7.26 and $8.00 in that case?

nemu posted...

And what percentage of full time workers are making between $7.26 and $8.00 in that case?

What exactly is your argument lol. Like I understand the 2nd grade logic you're trying to argue but damn dude can't you google yourself?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/203183/percentage-distribution-of-household-income-in-the-us/

Something like 30% of households when combined would fit into that range. It's muddied by the fact that there are different costs of living.

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nemu posted...

And what percentage of full time workers are making between $7.26 and $8.00 in that case?

So what if they can afford rent at that point? There's many other bills to pay each month even weekely

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IllegalAlien posted...

What exactly is your argument lol. Like I understand the 2nd grade logic you're trying to argue but damn dude can't you google yourself?

https://www.statista.com/statistics/203183/percentage-distribution-of-household-income-in-the-us/

Something like 30% of households when combined would fit into that range. It's muddied by the fact that there are different costs of living.

Because taking a near non-issue and extrapolating it is just peak internet slacktivism. Median household income is not the same as someone relying on near-minimum wage for a full time job.

nemu posted...

Because taking a near non-issue and extrapolating it is just peak internet slacktivism. Median household income is not the same as someone relying on near-minimum wage for a full time job.

saying words that form a sentence does not mean what you're saying is a good argument. I just posted evidence that ~30% of households would easily fall into federal minimum wage. What if it was 15% is that still a non-issue? what makes it an issue for you? obviously nothing as you'll move the goalposts.

btw my household income is ~$100/hr but I'm not a fucking sociopath so I care if other people can live life as well.

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I think minimum wage should be like $20-30 an hour. Corporations should pay taxes and then we can all have nice things

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nemu posted...

Because taking a near non-issue and extrapolating it is just peak internet slacktivism. Median household income is not the same as someone relying on near-minimum wage for a full time job.

Yes, 30% of households (probably more considering something like $13-15/hr isn't even enough for some un-safe neighborhoods) not being able to afford housing to a minimum level is an issue. If you don't think so, then you're just out of touch, simple as that. Leave the discussion to people who are actually living in the world

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IllegalAlien posted...

saying words that form a sentence does not mean what you're saying is a good argument. I just posted evidence that ~30% of households would easily fall into federal minimum wage. What if it was 15% is that still a non-issue? what makes it an issue for you? obviously nothing as you'll move the goalposts.

btw my household income is ~$100/hr but I'm not a fucking sociopath so I care if other people can live life as well.

How many of those households have people working full time? How many of them are on government assistance due to disability? How many of them are single mothers unable to work full time? How many of them simply are unable to find stable work? The last three are issues people in this country face, but they're not issues directly correlating to minimum wage. There are arguments to be made about wages, but I feel people have greatly deluded themselves if they think raising minimum wage is some instant fix it button.

slmcknett posted...

Everyone should be able to afford an apartment if they're working 40 hours a week.

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nemu posted...

How many of those households have people working full time? How many of them are on government assistance due to disability? How many of them are single mothers unable to work full time? How many of them simply are unable to find stable work? The last three are issues people in this country face, but they're not issues directly correlating to minimum wage. There are arguments to be made about wages, but I feel people have greatly deluded themselves if they think raising minimum wage is some instant fix it button.

Why don't you do some research, compile these stats and then post them here. Otherwise you're letting your biases affect your "statistical" """interpretation""", and it shows.

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3PiesAndAFork posted...

Yes. I've said this in another topic, and I'll repeat it here. Minimum wage should be enough for the bare minimum necessities of life. Food, water, shelter, healthcare, education, safety. Some of these should be covered by taxes, and the rest should be able to be covered on a minimum wage.

agreed. minimum wage should mean the minimum wage needed to live.

Yes and it already does.

like you keep flipping the argument to try and get me to do research for your conjectures. Why should I, they're your own bull shit conjectures not mine.

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Depends on where. Downtown in a major city, probably not

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People should be paid a market rate for their labor like they would any other good or service.

If we redistributed Bozo Bezos wealth we could afford to pay every American a minimum wage of $100k a year for life.

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IllegalAlien posted...

Why don't you do some research, compile these stats and then post them here. Otherwise you're letting your biases affect your "statistical" """interpretation""", and it shows.

Someone claiming there is a problem should show the problem. Saying something can be fixed but not knowing the actual extent of the problem means the resulting solution to the problem is muddled and incorrect. This seems to be the "ban guns" argument of wage issues, which doesn't take actual real life factors in this country into account.

housing should be considered a right, period.

nemu posted...

Someone claiming there is a problem should show the problem. Saying something can be fixed but not knowing the actual extent of the problem means the resulting solution to the problem is muddled and incorrect. This seems to be the "ban guns" argument of wage issues, which doesn't take actual real life factors in this country into account.

lol

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btw I did find it cute how you indeed moved the goalposts literally 1 post after I said you would.

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What do people think will happen in a society where people who are working still can't afford a place to live?

I mean, seriously. You may not see it directly, but one way or another, you're inefficiently paying to fix that problem.

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What? About the household statistics? I can't really do much if you just push off the questions. Introducing an unknown variable to muddle the discussion is a pointless deflection. If the main problem for those households is the inability to find stable fulltime work, then it's not an issue of minimum wage. It's an issue of job availability. If most of those households are from a particular area of the country, then it's a regional issue.

3PiesAndAFork posted...

Yes. I've said this in another topic, and I'll repeat it here. Minimum wage should be enough for the bare minimum necessities of life. Food, water, shelter, healthcare, education, safety. Some of these should be covered by taxes, and the rest should be able to be covered on a minimum wage.

This is why planned economies always collapse. People who have no clue what they're talking about trying to build a utopia.

FrankJaegr posted...

Yes, but not everywhere - land is not "on demand" and customized as quickly as something like a car. The people who own those properties have to eat too.

then they should get a job

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only if they are willing to share it with someone else

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Broseph_Stalin posted...

This is why planned economies always collapse. People who have no clue what they're talking about trying to build a utopia.

Right, so enlighten me. What's so good about people not having their basic needs met even while putting in an honest weeks work? These jobs that pay minimum, somebody's still gotta do them. You can't have the entire world working a decent paying office job.

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There is literally no point in a full-time job if you can't at least live alone in an apartment on it. Our society is bullshit

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Sure - as long as the rest of it scales too. So someone making 100k a year should be able to buy a 3 car garage house then in a nice area

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REMercsChamp posted...

Sure - as long as the rest of it scales too. So someone making 100k a year should be able to buy a 3 car garage house then in a nice area

You don't need to scale. You just have a baseline and then anyone with more money can buy nicer things.

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REMercsChamp posted...

Sure - as long as the rest of it scales too. So someone making 100k a year should be able to buy a 3 car garage house then in a nice area

I feel like that is the point. Minimum wage needs to go up as the cost of living does. That would also mean adjusting higher paying jobs as well.

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KStateKing17 posted...

I feel like that is the point. Minimum wage needs to go up as the cost of living does. That would also mean adjusting higher paying jobs as well.

That's cool. If I get my mansion it's all good. No need to worry about supply and demand or economic realities.

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Yeah.

Not like a luxury apartment downtown or something, just something up to code that puts a roof over your head.

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