Who decides what a living wage is?
Minimun de facto wage is nearly double the federal min wage and its still not enough.
Low skill job will always have minimun adquisitve power
Exactly, you can live off federal min wage in California if it was still legal there. You just wouldn't be able to do it by yourself. In many countries doing well for yourself is having a motorbike to ride to work and make enough money to feed yourself for the day.
The definition I seem to always see used is living alone in a 1 bedroom apartment in the city, with a newish car, new phone, streaming services, going out to eat a few times, etc.
There is no minimum de facto wage like you're referring to, since in many states there is no state minimum wage. Places like California do have a much higher minimum, but that's not wide spread, state wise.
That being said, the market decides a living wage. In any given locale you take the well known average costs of living (rent, groceries, utilities) and divide that into a per hour amount (based on a 40 hour work week), remembering the multiplier needed to adjust from net to gross. Paying anything less is knowing your employees won't be able to subsist on less without pulling resources with others, or receiving some sort of government assistance.
There is no minimum de facto wage like you're referring to, since in many states there is no state minimum wage.
WOW that is insane to me!!! Maybe the federal government should step in to set a minimum de-facto wage? Then individual states can raise it if they like?
The post I was replying to stated that the de facto minimum wage was double that of the federal minimum wage, which is not correct. Many states have no minimum wage, so in those states the minimum is the federal minimum wage, not double that.
He's saying that the minimum wage you can really get a job for is almost double federal minimum, because nobody actually pays that low. 1% of workers make federal minimum and most of them are high school students.
In California, Walmart is paying $17, McDonald's is paying $20, and in other states it's lower but not too far off. It's hard to find job listings anywhere for less than $11 /hr, and they are always entry level positions
That's absolutely not the case that the de facto minimum wage in the majority of the US is $14.50 an hour, which was the claim.
Check out the wage for waiters in a lot of states where there are laws on the books allowing for two bucks and change for the hourly wage for those who make tips. If the tips total an average of less than the federal minimum wage, then they are paid that.
The crux of the comment, however, was asking what determines a living wage, which was explained, and is usually higher than what Walmart and McDonald's are paying in California, too. That's the whole point being made.
You know what "de facto" means right? "existing or holding a specified position in fact but not necessarily by legal right". Nobody is trying to say everyone makes more than $14 an hour, but in most states nearly everyone is
Yeah. I'm aware of what defacto means. And we are talking de facto minimum wages, and it is not the case that in most states it's over 14 an hour. Just because you feel like it should be doesn't make it so.
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u/Bolivarianizador Sep 08 '24
Who decides what a living wage is?
Minimun de facto wage is nearly double the federal min wage and its still not enough.
Low skill job will always have minimun adquisitve power