"one in four U.S. workers earns $8.70 an hour or less"

[laura888]

From today's Washington Post Outlook section:

"Four Myths, 30 Million Potential Votes"

By Beth Shulman

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1224-2003Aug15.html

<snip>

The shameful reality of low-wage work in America should be on every Democrat's cue card as a potential weapon to be used against the Republicans' rosy economic scenario. But so far it isn't. Why not? One reason may be four long-standing myths that have for years drowned out a rational discussion of what should be a national call to conscience...


</snip>

[Julien Sorel]

1. Super piece.

I want to see how much buzz her book gets, and if anyone on the left picks some of this stuff up as talking points.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. This gal makes $7.50 an hour

and that's considered a good wage in this part of AR. I know people who work at a factory that has been cited again and again for OSHA violations that make $7 an hour. Since Levis left, a sizable number of people, mostly women, have lost good paying jobs (around $10 an hour), and have been forced to take much lower paying jobs (Wal-Mart, for example).

And now there is talk of substantially raising state and local taxes. These people who got that huge tax cut from Bush (mine worked out to be three bucks a paycheck, which is going to the Democratic candidate of my choice)may finally see that the net effect will be to make them poorer than ever.

[laura888]

6. thanks for sharing your story...

...in Washington DC where I live, the cheaper one-bedroom apartments cost $850/month.

If you're a single mother with 2 kids making $7.50/hour, living in a one-bedroom would leave you no $ left over for anything else. And there are plenty of people making that around here.

[guajira]

21. In my Central Florida County - $8.70 is good (except for Medical jobs)!

Retirement heaven - and the laborers who work service jobs for the retirees!!

[demnan]

3. Amen to that

and welcome to DU (in case you haven't gotten a welcome yet) :hi:

[DuctapeFatwa]

4. It would not be in the interest of either party

There is another however many million who earn less than that.

If low-income workers voted in large numbers, the "issues" would be a Living Wage, REAL health care, child care, a Right to Housing - none of which would benefit the corporations that fund the campaigns.

Nor would such measures be popular with the affluent voting classes of either party.

[ikojo]

5. The corporate money

given to both polical parties is what keeps the Democrats from raising issues of concern to working people. One in four translates into 25% of the American workforce earning less than $8.70 per hour. That is not a living wage for ONE person let alone a family even if both parents earn $8.70 an hour.

Anyone who is fortunate enough to ask a candidate a question should raise this issue as well as the issue surrounding the changes in overtime rules. It is because so many make so little that when there is a chance to work overtime it is appreciated even if it means more time away from friends and family.

[nuxvomica]

9. Gephardt wants to raise the minimum wage

I think this may be a Kucinich issue as well.

This is from http://www.dickgephardt2004.com/plugin/template/gephardt/34:

But as the first step in this fight, a Gephardt Administration will immediately seek to increase the U.S. minimum wage, which has failed to keep pace with inflation and which does not allow full-time workers to provide a decent standard of living for themselves and their families. No worker who is employed full-time should have to face the decisions that far too many Americans face. It's time to ensure that the minimum wage provides a sustainable standard of living upon which Americans can build for the future.

[Rose Siding]

13. Dean did it in VT

· Governor Dean's roots with organized labor are deep. As a state legislator, he had a 100 percent pro-labor voting record. As governor, he raised the state's minimum wage twice and stood with nurses and other workers seeking to form unions.

http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7033

[BiggJawn]

7. Great article. Spot-on, too.

My personal experience on the way "up" was that myths 1 and 2 are spot-on. Back when I was a young worker, they called the chump-change jobs "Entry Level", because you were supposed to work your way up. They don't do that anymore, do they?

After my factory job went away back in '82, thanks to Ronald Ray-Gun (damn his eyes) They told me I needed "better skills" (at this time, I was supporting a wife and kid on $2.30 an hour, minimum wage back then)So 2 years and 10 Kilobuck's worth of student loans later, I had "Better skills". I was also stripping furniture, a dirty, smelly job for $7 an hour. The best job I could find after I graduated was $7.50 an hour, but at least I wasn't working with liver-destroying solvents anymore...

Things did NOT start to look up until the Man from Hope took the oath of President. Igot a few lucky breaks, the Economy boomed, and I benefited.

[Deja Q]

8. They don't

Corporations don't give a fuck about the workers. They're peons; robots; indispensible.

There is no way up.

[jafap]

25. my take was that workers are treated like toilet paper

you wipe up crap with them, then you flush them away.

I currently make $10.95 an hour, but since I only get 22 hours a week, I am below the 8.70 person in some ways. Also, for a year or two I had a temp job that paid about $9 an hour, but provided no benefits (except for those resulting from a 12 hour shift).

The last time I checked (in 2000) there were over a million adults working for the minimum wage (less than $6 per hour). Also, "The Nation" quoted a CSS study which said that 1 in 10 people in NYC making less than $8.10 per hour had a college degree. The same article also said this:
"When Michael Harrington published The Other America in 1962, mainstream culture was still willing to accept some responsibility for the plight of the poor and to listen to them in trying to craft potential solutions. Today, however, conservative ideologues have managed to shape the assumptions of the debate so effectively that the problem of poverty has been decided--as if by decree--to be one exclusively of character, thereby absolving the rest of us of any responsibility."

[greenwow]

10. This is a positive stat for the repugs...

Almost 3/4 of the country makes more than $8.70 per hour! I don't know many people who make more than that. I would have never guessed most people were that well-off right now. Maybe this stat isn't to our benefit because it shows people are much better off than many of us would have guessed.

[SoCalDem]

12. 75% make more than 8.70.. They set the ceiling too low

Someone should research and publish a "sample family budget"..A REAL ONE...

Mom working 30hrs @$7.00 hr (no benefits)
Dad working 30 hrs @ $10.00 hr (no benefits..no overtime)


It needs to focus on the TAKE HOME PAY... THAT is all we really can count on having for day to day expenses anyway.. Using the Gross is bogus..


Just a lowball budget would tell the tale..


rent .................$700.00
food..................$400.00
gasoline..............$100.00
utilities.............$150.00
car payment...........$300.00
car insurance 2 cars..$.75.00
phone.................$.40.00
water & trash.........$.30.00
medical insurance.....$300.00
childcare.............$300.00

Mom's pay = 210.00
fica .....<12.60>
fwh...10%.<21.00>
swh....5%.<10.50>
sdi.......<.1.61>

Take home pay is $164.29 per week

Dad's pay - $300.00
fica......<18.00>
fwh 10 %..<30.00>
swh 5 % ..<15.00>
sdi.......<.2.30>

Take home pay is $234.70 per week..

Combined weekly pay is.....................398.99 x 4 =1,595.96
a few months have 5 paydays, so those months would be great for this family :)


1595.96 minus bills leaves a DEFICIT of $799.04 PER MONTH

any questions????

[redeye]

14. Haele did that a while ago...

...and concluded that living wage in San Diego, whose cost of living I believe is pretty close to the average, was around 7.70 an hour. Her study was based on assuming that mortgage shouldn't be more than 1/3 of a family's expenditure and that housing prices and taxes were such that 7.70 an hour provided a living wage, altough I don't remember if it's for one person, for a parent and a child, or for a family of four.

[sandnsea]

17. Housing & taxes - $400???

I'm not sure the point of your post but I don't think the math adds up. You can buy a house in San Diego for $400 a month?

[greenwow]

19. Your costs are very high!

My wife and I make less than the numbers you gave, and we make ends meet just fine. The prices you gave for many of the expenses were exorbitant.

> Rent .................$700.00

If you don't make much, why would you spend $700/month to live somewhere that nice and/or large? I live in a small house for $300/month. Too often when I hear people complain about not being able to make ends meet, they live somewhere much nicer than they can afford. Most of the single guys I work with live in apartments or houses with 3 bedrooms (along with having a new car), then I have to listen to them complain. That's bad if you can't afford it.

> food..................$400.00

Food is only that expensive if you eat-out or don't know how to shop (assuming you're talking about buying for 2 adults and 2 young children). If you're a young couple and spending that much on food, start clipping coupons, buy generic brands, and buying in bulk. You can really save money if you do your homework. Also, there is nothing wrong with buying expired meat (at 50% or more off of the original price) if you cook it the same or next day. I do some volunteer finance counseling and tax return help, and I see people that spend $200/week that don't eat that much better than those that spend $50/week.

> gasoline..............$100.00

With a 30 MPG car and $1.30/gallon gas, that's over 2,300 miles of driving per month (27.6k/year)! My wife and I spend about $15/month together. Again, if you can't afford it, you don't do things like driving a long distance just to go somewhere for fun.

> utilities.............$150.00

I agree with that estimate if it includes cable, which you shouldn't waste money on if you can't afford it (unlike many people do). I spend an average of $40 on power per month, but I know most people won't keep their places that uncomfortable of a temperature.

> car payment...........$300.00

OK, why would someone on a budget buy such an expensive car? The lease payments on my new small pick-up are $129/month. I'm assuming you usually have one newer car you make payments on and have an older car that you've finished making payments on. If you're careful, you can end-up having two newer (less than 8 years-old) cars without ever having to make more than one payment at a time. When you finish paying on the newer car, then you can buy/lease one to replace the older one.

> car insurance 2 cars..$.75.00

That's about what I'm paying. I know some people that pay two to three times that much for insurance, but that is their own fault for not driving carefully or getting a DUI.

> phone.................$.40.00

Residential phone lines here are about $12.50 per month. If you don't get all of the high-profit garbage for your phone lines like caller ID and call waiting, you can get away with spending much less than that. Of course, if you have relatives out of town, then your $40/ estimate is probably close when you include long-distance. When counseling, one of the first things I do is ask for a copy of their phone bill. You'd be surprised at how much you can save someone by getting rid of a few services from the phone company.

> water & trash.........$.30.00

I actually spend more than that.

> medical insurance.....$300.00

No idea on what that costs. The last time we had health insurance, my wife and I were spending $25/month, just to let you know how long ago that was.

> childcare.............$300.00

Around here, you can get someone full-time in your house that will also clean for about 25% more than that (assuming you pay in cash). I spent $500/month for someone to stay at home with my kids, cook for them, and clean when I lived just outside of NYC. $300/month for just daycare is high.

Our monthly budget is $1,100 per month, and that leaves us with enough left-over for unexpected expenses, like car repairs last month or replacing our washing machine (which also ruined a lot of our clothes, which cost more to replace than the machine did!). We're saving about $250/month while each making about $200/week net plus overtime. I work 7 days a week with a minimum of 10 hours a day, but I'm not including the overtime pay since every penny of it goes towards our retirement since neither my wife nor I will have a single penny coming from any of the jobs we've had.

[sandnsea]

22. Where do you live?

Your figures blow my mind and I am the queen of cheap. I have some of the cheapest power rates in the country and I pay $140 in the winter. My single line is somewhere around $15 but by the time they add taxes it's $40. $50 a week for food???? Sure, you bet, right. And $300 to rent a house? I haven't seen prices like that since 1985. My daughter rents a small 2 br duplex for $415 and she is getting a HUGE deal.

So again, where do you live?

[SoCalDem]

26. California

:(..Lots of minimum wagers live in California

[Clete]

23. I don't know where you live, but where I live $700

a month gets you a very modest run-down studio apartment. $300 might get you a shed in someone's back yard.

Our medical insurance combined with Medicare is $376 a month and that is the cheapest we can get. I hope neither of you get a catastrophic illness because you can kiss your savings and anything else you own goodby.

No problem with childcare, because I don't have any at home. But how can anyone you pay $500 a month live on it unless they are collecting welfare too? That is probably why you had to pay under the table.

I have the cheapest phone arrangement I can find and it's still $56 a month.

I thought her expenses were very modest, but it does depend where you live. I don't think everyone has the luxury of looking around for the cheapest place to live.

[yankeedem]

27. No medical insurance?

> medical insurance.....$300.00

>No idea on what that costs. The last time we had health insurance, >my wife and I were spending $25/month, just to let you know how >long ago that was.

This is irresponsible if you have the ability to get it, and if you also have kids. And yes, $300/mo is probably being kind. Don't forget the co-pays for prescriptions and doctor visits!

> childcare.............$300.00

>Around here, you can get someone full-time in your house that will >also clean for about 25% more than that (assuming you pay in cash). >I spent $500/month for someone to stay at home with my kids, cook >for them, and clean when I lived just outside of NYC. $300/month >for just daycare is high.

So a live in for $400/mo (and you cheat the government and the employee). Sorry, not reality, especially considering you need another bedroom in the $300 house for the nanny. Oh yea, most live ins expect to be fed too. There goes the food budget.

> car payment...........$300.00

>OK, why would someone on a budget buy such an expensive car? The >lease payments on my new small pick-up are $129/month.

So we're talking about a $10000 car here. Fine but,

> car insurance 2 cars..$.75.00

>That's about what I'm paying. I know some people that pay two to >three times that much for insurance, but that is their own fault >for not driving carefully or getting a DUI.

Let's talk about reality. I pay about $700 for one car without collision, and also without accidents. But wait, if I'm leasing the car, they require full coverage, which doubles the insurance. You must be living in a remote outpost, and be older to get those rates (I'm 34). Oh, but wait, most older people aren't the ones raising kids.

>Our monthly budget is $1,100 per month, and that leaves us with >enough left-over for unexpected expenses, like car repairs last >month or replacing our washing machine (which also ruined a lot of >our clothes, which cost more to replace than the machine did!). >We're saving about $250/month while each making about $200/week net >plus overtime.

Sounds like you are doing pretty well cutting costs, but wait....

>I work 7 days a week with a minimum of 10 hours a >day,

What kind of lifestyle can someone WITH KIDS have when a parent is working this long hours? This is why kids turn to other things too often today, because the parents are too busy working to be involved in their lives.


?but I'm not including the overtime pay since every penny of it >goes towards our retirement since neither my wife nor I will have a >single penny coming from any of the jobs we've had.

And there is the problem. 70h a week for companies that don't contribute towards their employees retirement. This is why our country is racing towards third world status.

It sounds like you're doing a good job on what little you have. But that doesn't mean it is to be done. And your budget doesn't seem to include kids. Or clothes, from the looks of it. And if one wage earning parent gets sick (oops, no health insurance!) not only will the family's meager savings disappear in about 30 minutes but the ability to maintain even this basic lifestyle will be gone.

[greenwow]

29. Well...

> This is irresponsible if you have the ability to get it, and if you also have kids.

I no longer have children. None of the three even made it to five. While it is a risk (or gamble, depending on your point of view) to not have insurance, I wouldn't call it irresponsible. My wife and I have spent a grand total of $0 on healthcare the past ten years. Assuming my wife and I would have been paying $200/month for insurance, we've saved $24,000. Of course a major problem could cost more than that, but the odds are in our favor. If we can make it 15 more years without having to spend more than $60,000 ($200/month * 25 years * 12 months / year) out of pocket for health care over the next 15 years, we can get Medicare and will have come-out ahead. I'm fairly confident that we can do it. This is also a good incentive to eat healthy and exercise.

> you need another bedroom in the $300 house for the nanny

Sorry, about the confusion. I usually hear the term live-in to describe someone that comes to your house to watch your kids during the work day. I know quite a few women willing to do that for so little, because really all they do is a little cleaning and a lot of watching TV. The concept of someone living with you full-time, like Alice in the Brady Bunch, is far and away from what I could afford, and that wasn't what I was talking about.

As far as the "cheat the government" part, how much in taxes does someone pay that makes $100/week? The only thing your cheating the government out of is the social security.

> So we're talking about a $10000 car here. Fine but,

Watch the paper for good deals. You'd be surprised at what you can buy a small import pick-up or subcompact for if you're patient. My sister-in-law is paying $99 per month for a lease on a Toyota Echo. It's a good enough car to get you to where you need to go.

> You must be living in a remote outpost

I live a few miles from Atlanta, GA. It's not the center of the world, but it's definitely not a remote outpost. Of course, location does matter. I think we were paying 50% more when we lived in NJ.

As to the rates, how far do you drive to work? My wife and I both live within 2 miles of where we work and drive very few extra miles per year. That greatly reduced the price of car insurance. I also have a very large deductible.

> Or clothes, from the looks of it.

You're right about that. My wife and I both wear uniforms that our jobs pay for, and we don't buy that much otherwise. Clothing cost is something easy for me to forget about.

> 70h a week for companies that don't contribute towards their employees retirement.

I guess I should explain that one. I have two jobs that each guarantee at least 30 hours a week. I wasn't able to find one job with benefits that would guarantee 40. One job is 8-4 Monday through Thursday and the other one is Friday afternoons plus weekends plus some nights. I'm guaranteed 30 from each, but I always work more on both here and there. It sucks that I don't have benefits, but technically I don't have a full-time job. With the closing of textile mills, most of the full-time jobs with benefits in the area disappeared. I want to move out of repug-central and find a better job, but my wife isn't willing.

[Tennessee Gal]

20. Republicans would have no problem with that

They embrace deficit spending!

:dem:

[zoidberg]

28. Your taxes are way too high

A couple grossing $26,520 with a child is actually eligible for the EITC. So hopefully there aren't families making that much paying 10% in federal income taxes. But your point is still valid that it would be hard for this family to get by.

[BiggJawn]

16. I was surprised that the ratio is that high.

But I'll bet it would show up that while 75% of us make more that $8.70, if you bump that number up to $10, the ratio falls off considerably. I venture that maybe 1 out of 2 workers makes more than $10 an hour...

[jiacinto]

11. That's me

I made $7.50 per hour at a department store and could not really make ends meet.

[shrike]

15. I agree, great article

My husband and I are glad somebody finally put this in print. We've talked about this subject many times: so many low paying jobs in our area, how can people afford to live on what they earn? I have lived on $10-an-hour earnings and that was a struggle -- I can't imagine supporting a family on even less.

[sandnsea]

18. Top 10 job growth 2000 - 2010

Warning, if you're prone to emotional outbursts and crying jags, don't look at this page.

http://www.lraonline.org/charts.php?id=24

This page has alot of labor stats

http://www.lraonline.org/econ_stats.php

Whenever you compare HOUSEHOLD income from years past to now, don't forget household income used to be ONE earner, not two.

I'm going to go take an aspirin now. Washed down with a swig of Pepto.

[guajira]

24. Article in my local paper on 8/7/03 said 10% on Minimum Wage ($5.15)

They quoted the US Dept of Labor -

Last time Minimum Wage was raised was Sept. 1,1997.

More than 10% of US workforce lives on the minimum wage.

This includes 59% women, 17% hispanic, 15% black.

How in the hell does anyone live on $5.15 per hour? Yet this is a common wage in my area. We need a Democratic candidate who will fight to end this disgrace!!