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{"id":947,"date":"2013-07-16T15:57:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T15:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2013\/07\/minimum-wage-to-be-fleshed-out-later.html"},"modified":"2013-07-16T15:57:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T15:57:00","slug":"minimum-wage-to-be-fleshed-out-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2013\/07\/minimum-wage-to-be-fleshed-out-later.html","title":{"rendered":"Minimum wage (to be fleshed out later)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So a friend of mine linked, on facebook, to this page, McDonald\u2019s suggested budget shows just how impossible it is to get by on minimum wage<\/a>, which itself links to a website where McDonalds and Visa provide advice on how to develop and live on a budget:\u00a0 calculate your monthly income, subtract out your monthly\u00a0bills (e.g., rent, car payments\/monthly transit pass, anything that\u2019s a fixed monthly expense), work out how much you have left, and record how much you actually spend.\u00a0 The page itself, and my friend\u2019s facebook comments, pick apart how realistic or unrealistic the sample budget is.\u00a0 (Biggest sticking point:\u00a0 it implies working 70+ hours at two jobs; surely this is based on the expectation of spouses\/cohabitating partners sharing expenses, and not a single individual working that many hours.)\u00a0 Then the comments move on to hashing out whether anyone can really live on minimum wage.<\/p>\n

To answer that question, there\u2019s a handy Living Wage Calculator<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s actually interesting to play around with it, and see that, in many locations, they say that two adults, both working and sharing expenses, can make a go of it.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

But the bigger issue is always the complaints that it\u2019s impossible to support a family on minimum wage \u2014 and the reality is that no one should expect to be able to start a family if you have no skills that qualify you for anything other than entry-level minimum wage jobs.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

[Note to self:\u00a0 later on, look at the methodology and assumptions behind the calculator!]<\/p>\n

[Update to self:\u00a0 a quick look showed some flaws with this calculator \u2014 to begin with, they amounts budgeted for transportation must be averages, not minimums, which, in large cities, ought to be set at the cost of a monthly bus pass.]<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"