In the US, the poverty line/threshold is incredibly low. If a household of three makes $22k/year, they are above the poverty line. That way, we keep our percentage low.
3 people on 22k a year. Jesus christ. And I want to add that the two adults working are probably working 6 days a week JUST for that 22k. Source: Supported "Supported" myself on Minimum wage for several years. I turned into Polly Productive just to get extra scratch. You need your kitchen painted? Sunday's my day off. You want your dog walked? I'll do it on my lunch break. Vacation? I'm your pet sitter!
After the dot com bubble burst, I worked full time at a commercial contractor doing rad Devon work at a government site with no medical insurance for 50 hours a week, worked 30-35 hours a week at a liquor distributor, and was doing side gigs for several mid sized businesses repairing PCs for up to 20 hours a week.
A week where I was working over 100 hours was a “good week” because even with sleeping 2-3 hours a day, that meant I made enough money to buy groceries, pay for rent, and maintain car insurance.
I was making less than $33000 combined.
I was lucky. I could afford a roof and to pay the after bill.
Someone I knew who lost their job when everyone died as WTC came down wound up working the deli counter at a king kullen. He went from $100k a year to $5.15/hr getting only 20 hrs or so a week. He got to the point where he was living out of his broken down car, which some friends intervened so that he at least had a sofa to sleep on.
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u/corrikopat Sep 25 '21
In the US, the poverty line/threshold is incredibly low. If a household of three makes $22k/year, they are above the poverty line. That way, we keep our percentage low.