Social Minimum Wage now at $20 an hour in California

[LangfordBarrow]

You keep repeating livable wage but what exactly is a livable wage? Does it just mean you have the ability to feed yourself and live in a place with multiple roommates? So essentially survival?Cause that's all $20 an hour is going to get you in all but the most undesirable locations in California. Even in the worst areas you're at best going to be able to afford a studio and probably won't be able to save any money.

It's good for them in the moment but let's stop pretending that this is going to lead to anyone thriving or that grown adults should be looking at these low skilled labor jobs as some kind of career path.

Yes, a livable wage, you can pay your rent and utilities and buy food. You guys are complaining that it isn't enough so obviously it's a step in the right direction.

 

[LangfordBarrow]

"Hey cool now I make $20 bucks an hour, My life is going to be so much better"


Two Weeks Later...

"Man I cant even afford to eat where I work, We need the government to raise our wages again!!!!"

Really? You aren't exaggerating? What was the minimum wage before?

 

[Morning Star]

Yes, a livable wage, you can pay your rent and utilities and buy food. You guys are complaining that it isn't enough so obviously it's a step in the right direction.

I'm not trying to ask a gotcha question. But livable wage to me has never been defined. It's a campaign slogan with no clearly set goal.

In California $20/hr it isn't enough to afford your own place it's essentially the median price of rent. It certainly isn't in the stratosphere to allowing you to buy your own place, it doesn't allow you to save for your future, or be able to go on a vacation or even do activities, unless you want to go into debt. It's simply enough to survive in a really unsafe area or highly undesirable area at best if you're extremely good with money, or if you have multiple roommates. Raising the minimum is a way to pat yourself on the back without resolving the underlying problem in unaffordable housing and cost of living.

 

[helltoupee]

"Hey cool now I make $20 bucks an hour, My life is going to be so much better"


Two Weeks Later...

"Man I cant even afford to eat where I work, We need the government to raise our wages again!!!!"

"Hey cool now the CEO/officers/shareholders makes 10 million a year instead of 20 million/yr, his life is going to be so much worse now"

Two weeks later...

"Man that CEO can't afford a 3rd vacation home, we need to make sure our employees can't even afford to pay rent so it's time to lower everyone's wages"

 

[Kingz]

There are people working construction for less than twenty an hour? I made fifteen an hour doing that thirty years ago.

Yes. I won’t say majority but it’s pretty common especially for people starting to start at the very bottom. Im speaking mainly to homebuilding. It might vary by region or state but in California there is no premium of new construction or people willing to do the jobs for whatever the minimum wage is.

I don’t want to derail the thread specifically about this minimum wage law but sub contracting jobs in California have increasingly become among “the jobs Americans won’t do”. Atleast in the private sector. If you work for the state or are connected to a company(typically union) that gets state contracts then it’s still like the old days.

It used to be people could live off laying tile, painting, drywall, roofing, concrete, wiring, plumbing, etc. Those days are long over in California.

as recent as 30 years ago construction jobs were what young drug dealers lied about having to explain a sudden influx of a lot of money lol. People knew they paid well. Nobody’s buying that shit anymore. If you’re roofing in California people assume you’re broke and most likely an illegal immigrant.

I just think it’s weird California decided fast food is the job that people need to at minimum make a living wage at. Not other jobs. Of course, most of it is just building more tax dollars from corporations that can endure it. Most home builders are owned by massive corps like Blackrock as well, but sub contractors can’t endure this style of law.

 

[LangfordBarrow]

I'm not trying to ask a gotcha question. But livable wage to me has never been defined. It's a campaign slogan with no clearly set goal.

In California $20/hr it isn't enough to afford your own place it's essentially the median price of rent. It certainly isn't in the stratosphere to allowing you to buy your own place, it doesn't allow you to save for your future, or be able to go on a vacation or even do activities, unless you want to go into debt. It's simply enough to survive in a really unsafe area or highly undesirable area at best if you're extremely good with money, or if you have multiple roommates. Raising the minimum is a way to pat yourself on the back without resolving the underlying problem in unaffordable housing and cost of living.

How would you combat those problems of cost of living and affordable housing? Even by your argument now a couple or having 1 roommate gives you a "livable wage". Obviously you need to take employers into account and can't just make it $40 or $50 an hour but $20 seems like a step in the right direction to me.

 

[TrueBias]

I'm honestly interested in this because I immediately can understand how this can majorly hurt small businesses and hurt big companies on a lesser scale. Wage though...how or when else would it be raised?

California, which cmon, is so much goofier than Florida, has all these taxes, so why not get rid of them? It's so expensive to live there, so....reduce cost of living?

 

[plataoplombo]

Since you libs are too stupid to comprehend. It's not about paying 50 cents its about making it sound like minimum wage increase is great for the people meanwhile the corporations just raise their prices. So the people being paid the minimum wage increase......are just paying more for their food etc......

Doesn't matter sherbro. Lines have been drawn and minds won't be changed no matter how much evidence is presented. Not all though, some here are open to reasoning.

 

[Super_Nintendo]

let's see here...

-big companies can take the impact of these changes, small businesses can't
-prices go up everywhere anyway nullifying the wage increase
-employees face reduced hours and lost jobs

big business win, small business lose, and everyone sees higher prices. leftists please correct us illiterates if we're wrong.

 

[NoSmilez]

Lol still nobody is reading the article. Anyways Healthcare workers are getting a minimum wage bump soon.


Personally I don't think it doesn't really change anything. Roughly ten percent of people in California are making minimum wage. The fast food industry is one of them. They have been going back and forth for a while. The fast food industry union gave up benefits and certain rights away for those 4 dollars. They are still getting screwed.

 

[Two Crows]

Los Angeles

March 29th:

April 1st:

Mostly +$0.50 - $1.80, except the Fish at $4 and the Whopper, Jr. at $0!

(I'm guessing the Jr is their "value" item and they estimate increasing the cost would disproportionately affect either sales or traffic.)

 

[Morning Star]

How would you combat those problems of cost of living and affordable housing? Even by your argument now a couple or having 1 roommate gives you a "livable wage". Obviously you need to take employers into account and can't just make it $40 or $50 an hour but $20 seems like a step in the right direction to me.

There's so many issues I don't think it's something you can fix easily. There's a reason California is always at or near the very top in financial inequity in the country.

#1 you need a car in California, most areas aren't walkable and public transportation is poor and inconvenient or simply not available. So paying hundreds of dollars extra on gas, insurance, and a car payment isn't helping liveability, neither is paying for Uber which could take a majority of your pay for the day, if not the whole thing depending on distance if you're only making $20 an hour. Fixing public transportation would be a huge help but it's California who sucks at infrastructure projects so good luck with that.

#2 you would probably have to do rent control. Incentivise building of cheap highrises and low income housing. And stop letting foreign investors and corporations buy up property. Again good luck.

#3 lower taxes for those making under a certain amount or straight up do not tax lower income individuals. Plenty of States have lower or no income taxes.

The honest truth is you're not going to have a high quality life living in California unless you're making minimum $150-200K+. So someone making $41k before taxes should probably leave for somewhere more affordable or make sure they are developing skills to get out of food service. You can say it's a step in the right direction but it's not meaningfully changing someone's lot in life and it's not propelling them forward. Maybe if you work at Inn N Out where they pay medical and help pay for college but they were already getting $20 or near it.

 

[Sinister]

I'm not trying to ask a gotcha question. But livable wage to me has never been defined. It's a campaign slogan with no clearly set goal.

In California $20/hr it isn't enough to afford your own place it's essentially the median price of rent. It certainly isn't in the stratosphere to allowing you to buy your own place, it doesn't allow you to save for your future, or be able to go on a vacation or even do activities, unless you want to go into debt. It's simply enough to survive in a really unsafe area or highly undesirable area at best if you're extremely good with money, or if you have multiple roommates. Raising the minimum is a way to pat yourself on the back without resolving the underlying problem in unaffordable housing and cost of living.

The term "living wage" cannot be a flat amount because cost of living is different in various States and Cities. But the intention of the minimum wage has been clearly defined since its inception:

"The term living wage refers to a theoretical minimum income level that allows individuals or families to afford adequate shelter, food, and other necessities. The goal of a living wage is to allow employees to earn enough income for a satisfactory standard of living and prevent them from falling into poverty."

 

[plataoplombo]

Have we even figured out "liveable " means when people say liveable wage? Let's assume for arguments sake that someone making minimum wage should be able to live off that. What is the baseline when we say liveable?

- where can they live? Ghetto, middle class, or upper class neighborhoods?

- How much is needed for things like utilities, food, and other expenses minus entertainment?

As one poster mentioned, a mid level apartment was like $2700. Let's add utilities, transportation, and food an extra $1500 for a total of $4200 per month just to live. Wouldn't a liveable wage be somewhere around $40hr. What will happen then?

 

[avenue94]

Have we even figured out "liveable " means when people say liveable wage? Let's assume for arguments sake that someone making minimum wage should be able to live off that. What is the baseline when we say liveable?

- where can they live? Ghetto, middle class, or upper class neighborhoods?

- How much is needed for things like utilities, food, and other expenses minus entertainment?

As one poster mentioned, a mid level apartment was like $2700. Let's add utilities, transportation, and food an extra $1500 for a total of $4200 per month just to live. Wouldn't a liveable wage be somewhere around $40hr. What will happen then?

The implication is that people share apartments. I don't think most folks arguing for a livable wage expect it to cover a studio even.

 

[Morning Star]

The term "living wage" cannot be a flat amount because cost of living is different in various States and Cities. But the intention of the minimum wage has been clearly defined since its inception:

"The term living wage refers to a theoretical minimum income level that allows individuals or families to afford adequate shelter, food, and other necessities. The goal of a living wage is to allow employees to earn enough income for a satisfactory standard of living and prevent them from falling into poverty."

Thanks. Figured food and housing but unsure how far it extended. Shared housing or independent housing, whether safety of said housing plays a part or just any housing period. Essentially whether it means just to meet ends meat or to have some cushion for life events.

 

[LangfordBarrow]

There's so many issues I don't think it's something you can fix easily. There's a reason California is always at or near the very top in financial inequity in the country.

#1 you need a car in California, most areas aren't walkable and public transportation is poor and inconvenient or simply not available. So paying hundreds of dollars extra on gas, insurance, and a car payment isn't helping liveability, neither is paying for Uber which could take a majority of your pay for the day, if not the whole thing depending on distance if you're only making $20 an hour. Fixing public transportation would be a huge help but it's California who sucks at infrastructure projects so good luck with that.

#2 you would probably have to do rent control. Incentivise building of cheap highrises and low income housing. And stop letting foreign investors and corporations buy up property. Again good luck.

#3 lower taxes for those making under a certain amount or straight up do not tax lower income individuals. Plenty of States have lower or no income taxes.

The honest truth is you're not going to have a high quality life living in California unless you're making minimum $150-200K+. So someone making $41k before taxes should probably leave for somewhere more affordable or make sure they are developing skills to get out of food service. You can say it's a step in the right direction but it's not meaningfully changing someone's lot in life and it's not propelling them forward. Maybe if you work at Inn N Out where they pay medical and help pay for college but they were already getting $20 or near it.

How about a wealth tax or increased taxes for the top earners?

 

[MLarson]

His $8 coffee was now 8.50. It’s an outrage! The cost of these workers getting a livable wage is too high

Is that even a livable wage in Cali?

 

[LangfordBarrow]

Have we even figured out "liveable " means when people say liveable wage? Let's assume for arguments sake that someone making minimum wage should be able to live off that. What is the baseline when we say liveable?

- where can they live? Ghetto, middle class, or upper class neighborhoods?

- How much is needed for things like utilities, food, and other expenses minus entertainment?

As one poster mentioned, a mid level apartment was like $2700. Let's add utilities, transportation, and food an extra $1500 for a total of $4200 per month just to live. Wouldn't a liveable wage be somewhere around $40hr. What will happen then?

A livable wage in the ghetto. You can't make a minimum wage so everyone can be in the middle class. The problem is minimum wage doesn't allow you to even pay for the basics in some places.

 

[LangfordBarrow]

Is that even a livable wage in Cali?

Should it be raised to $25?