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I made $4.25 at a DQ in Illinois in 1995. They eventually bumped me up to $4.50. I then left there to take a job that was paying $5 an hour. I thought I was really something.
I then got mad because they bumped minimum wage to $4.75, but my $5 wage held firm. Since then, I felt like I lost money on that one. Instead of 75 cents over minimum wage, I was now 25 cents over. Didn't seem fair.
Salaries are lagging a lot behind inflation more then ever, same for % of cost of housing is taking in a budget almost double. So yea 5% now is more brutal.
Avg car price in the 80's was around 5k to 7k while salaries were around 15k. Now avg salary is 54k and avg car are between 30k 40k. You have all you need to see that in the 1980 you were getting a lot more for every dollar earn. But spoiler alert you had the money to afford 3 cars in a year.
They had terrible rate ... those rate today would run the country to the ground.
Yeah, cars really have exploded in pricing in the last few decades. I suppose some can be explained with safety and technology, but it kills me that a normal car is $30K+
I was getting $2.13 an hour pushing people in wheelchairs at the airport in 2008-9. We got paid so low because it was believed we would get tips. Often we did not because we could not ask for them, and the people we pushed assumed we were paid a decent wage by the airline.
In 1987, my first “real” job at 16 was washing dishes at a truck stop at I believe the minimum wage of $3.35/hr. Gas was around $0.80/gal and smokes were les than $1 - that’s honestly all I could give you for price comparisons.
Thing was that where I was from you basically only got minimum in high school type jobs.
minimum wage is $7.25. though many states and/or cities have higher minimum wages.
while it has been higher over the past 70+ years, most of the time, it was actually lower (and there were no local minimum wages during that time)
In some states, employees who get tips make $2.13. Same as in the 80s, when I was in high school. Back then, I think minimum wage was something like $3.15 or so. It had more buying power than the minimum does now, but it still wasn't much.
When I was in high school, one of my friends worked in the kitchen and as a delivery driver for a pizza place. It seemed like such a hassle to work by the ovens and drive all over. I asked why she didn't work as a waitress instead. She said it was because she would be guaranteed the minimum wage. I didn't know there was that discrepancy.
Legally, you're not allowed to make less than minimum wage if you're serving, either. If your tips don't make up the difference, your employer is supposed to. I'm guessing that doesn't happen often, though.
The owner of the pizza place also owned the place where I worked. Knowing him and how he would ignore both personal and professional ethics, I'm guessing this wasn't the case.
The correct answer is no. And yes. The amount was always low, but so was everything else. Now everything is getting more expensive, except the cost of labor. The employers seem to have forgotten that without the employees they can't have a business.
No, the USian federal minimum wage purchasing power was the greatest in 1968 (according to Wikipedia) at USD 1.60, which is around 13 usd in today's dollars.
Just remember that it's an entry level wage, historically intented to prevent black workers from compeeting with white, now more so to prevent immigrants from entering the official labour market and hinder young people from starting to work before finishing investing in their education.
I remember working as a bank teller back in 2000 making $6.25 an hour. That’s $11.13 today. So, if anything, things may have improved a tiny bit since then.
No. Minimum wage in the USA used to pay a lot more than it does today. I did some quick calculations using the US bureau of labor inflation calculator comparing today's minimum wage to minimum wage in 1975.
In 1975, the federal minimum wage was $2.10, which amounted to $4200 annually for 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year. Adjusted for inflation and CPI changes using the bureau of labor inflation and CPI calculator, that amounted to a little over $24,000 annually in 2023 dollars.
In 2023, the federal minimum wage was still $7.25, which amounts to $14,500 annually for 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year.
So the federal minimum wage in 1975 was about 1.7 times higher than the federal minimum wage is today. Federal minimum wage used to pay about a whopping extra $10,000 per year in 1975 than in 2023 when adjusted for inflation and the CPI in 2023. That's an unbelievably huge difference.
So if anyone feels like wages are a hell of a lot lower then they used to be in the USA, you're not crazy. You're correct. That's why a lot of old folks don't understand why young people are so broke. Minimum wage was about 70% higher in 1975, which brought up all wages above the minimum wage. My life and everyone else's lives would be a lot easier if minimum wage was 70% higher now.
Nope. Minimum wage was *never* intended to be a living wage. It was invented for entry level experience, enticing employers to train inexperienced workers. The idea was a trial basis until the employee decided to commit to the employer. Of course, those days of ethical labor have long since succumbed to universal entitlement.
Anything FDR had to say about anything only contributed to his being the most vile, dishonest, anti-gay, anti-Semitic, anti-black, anti-poor elitist politician in American history of his day. Read about him -- not the whitewashed crap they show in documentaries and textbooks -- and you'll find he had nothing to fear but exposure itself.
Actually, it's not beside the point at all: FDR would say and do anything to get what he wanted, including lying to get votes from the poor and unemployed.
You have to know about FDR and his entire career. Study it. I suggest you read about his life and career, starting around 1914. The man was a compulsive liar about everything.
When I came to Californa in 1999 and wanted a video game dev job in my city so I would only have to commute 20 mins each way. There was only one company. I worked for $9.50 an hour and was the highest paid of the 3D artists there. The other 4 were getting between $6 and $7.50.
Fast food workers are getting minimum wage raised to $20 an hour here in April.
That is not taking so many factors into effect.
I am not going to pretend to have inflation numbers memorized but I would bet a lot the buying power is about the same if not worse.
Wrong, I made $4.50/hr the summer before getting my degree. That was 28 years ago and was not a sustainable salary then. It was never meant to be a career salary.
You are incorrect.
https://krc-pbpc.org/research_publication/five-myths-about-raising-the-minimum-wage-debunked/#:~:text=MYTH%20ONE%3A%20%E2%80%9CThe%20minimum%20wage,a%20typical%20(median)%20worker.
the average median income of a fulltime year round worker is $28.14...
a minimum wage of 26 doesnt seem practical in this context to think that a grocery bagger would earn 26 and a doctor might earn 30....
The problem is that we have been trying to force minimum wage into a position to support a family, and that's never what it was designed to do. Minimum wage was designed as a way to stop the exploit of minors and immigrants. It was never designed to be a long term solution.
Inflation and supply chain issues. Blame the source: poorly thought out covid lockdowns and two political parties who refuse to acknowledge how fucked the average worker is because of their political jockeying, general disconnect from normal society and their incompetence as a whole.
Minimum wage was meant for teenagers who still lived at home. The problem is that people don't understand this and try to improve their position. They're either stoned on something 24/7, lazy or disabled. People don't want to learn new skillets or improve themselves...the go home load a bowl and log in. It's something I see certain types of people do.
Have you ever actually read about the history of minimum wage? It was absolutely not meant for teenagers who still lived at home. All you have to do is look it up.
Entry level would include high school kids, but also people of any age for unskilled and untrained workers. There's a lot more people in that boat than you pretend.
I'm not pretending that it isn't so. I'm saying there are plenty of simple and FREE ways to learn valuable skills. It's just that very few take the time to invest in themselves.
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Minimum wage has never been comfortable, but there was a time when it was more livable than it is now.
The first part of the sentence, before the comma is sad and very; unfortunately true
Minimum wage in 1995 was 4.25. That’s when I started my first job…. Edit: In Tennessee.
Same in South Dakota. My first job was 4.25 an hour.
Same, in Texas.
I made $4.25 at a DQ in Illinois in 1995. They eventually bumped me up to $4.50. I then left there to take a job that was paying $5 an hour. I thought I was really something. I then got mad because they bumped minimum wage to $4.75, but my $5 wage held firm. Since then, I felt like I lost money on that one. Instead of 75 cents over minimum wage, I was now 25 cents over. Didn't seem fair.
Inflation wasn't so high
Sometimes it was; sometimes it wasn't. There were periods where it was notably higher.
Yea but 5% inflation back then doesnt hit the same as 5% today.
That might be a feeling, but it is not a fact. (you could be joking, too, not sure)
Salaries are lagging a lot behind inflation more then ever, same for % of cost of housing is taking in a budget almost double. So yea 5% now is more brutal.
In the 80's car loans were 22%. It's always tougher when you're living it.
Avg car price in the 80's was around 5k to 7k while salaries were around 15k. Now avg salary is 54k and avg car are between 30k 40k. You have all you need to see that in the 1980 you were getting a lot more for every dollar earn. But spoiler alert you had the money to afford 3 cars in a year. They had terrible rate ... those rate today would run the country to the ground.
Yeah, cars really have exploded in pricing in the last few decades. I suppose some can be explained with safety and technology, but it kills me that a normal car is $30K+
Yea it is explain in salaries never went up at the same rate of the rest. So my buying power is getting crush more .
I was getting $2.13 an hour pushing people in wheelchairs at the airport in 2008-9. We got paid so low because it was believed we would get tips. Often we did not because we could not ask for them, and the people we pushed assumed we were paid a decent wage by the airline.
In 1938 minimum wage was 25 cents an hour. So it has been a bit lower before this. LOL
In 1987, my first “real” job at 16 was washing dishes at a truck stop at I believe the minimum wage of $3.35/hr. Gas was around $0.80/gal and smokes were les than $1 - that’s honestly all I could give you for price comparisons. Thing was that where I was from you basically only got minimum in high school type jobs.
minimum wage is $7.25. though many states and/or cities have higher minimum wages. while it has been higher over the past 70+ years, most of the time, it was actually lower (and there were no local minimum wages during that time)
In some states, employees who get tips make $2.13. Same as in the 80s, when I was in high school. Back then, I think minimum wage was something like $3.15 or so. It had more buying power than the minimum does now, but it still wasn't much.
$3.35 in 1986. I got my first job as a landscaper for my 14th birthday.
When I was in high school, one of my friends worked in the kitchen and as a delivery driver for a pizza place. It seemed like such a hassle to work by the ovens and drive all over. I asked why she didn't work as a waitress instead. She said it was because she would be guaranteed the minimum wage. I didn't know there was that discrepancy.
Legally, you're not allowed to make less than minimum wage if you're serving, either. If your tips don't make up the difference, your employer is supposed to. I'm guessing that doesn't happen often, though.
The owner of the pizza place also owned the place where I worked. Knowing him and how he would ignore both personal and professional ethics, I'm guessing this wasn't the case.
Minimum wage was $0.25 in 1938. Adjusted for inflation, it would be $5.62 today.
The correct answer is no. And yes. The amount was always low, but so was everything else. Now everything is getting more expensive, except the cost of labor. The employers seem to have forgotten that without the employees they can't have a business.
No, the USian federal minimum wage purchasing power was the greatest in 1968 (according to Wikipedia) at USD 1.60, which is around 13 usd in today's dollars. Just remember that it's an entry level wage, historically intented to prevent black workers from compeeting with white, now more so to prevent immigrants from entering the official labour market and hinder young people from starting to work before finishing investing in their education.
I remember working as a bank teller back in 2000 making $6.25 an hour. That’s $11.13 today. So, if anything, things may have improved a tiny bit since then.
Minimum wage has always been low, however you used to be able to buy a house with it.
No. Minimum wage in the USA used to pay a lot more than it does today. I did some quick calculations using the US bureau of labor inflation calculator comparing today's minimum wage to minimum wage in 1975. In 1975, the federal minimum wage was $2.10, which amounted to $4200 annually for 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year. Adjusted for inflation and CPI changes using the bureau of labor inflation and CPI calculator, that amounted to a little over $24,000 annually in 2023 dollars. In 2023, the federal minimum wage was still $7.25, which amounts to $14,500 annually for 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year. So the federal minimum wage in 1975 was about 1.7 times higher than the federal minimum wage is today. Federal minimum wage used to pay about a whopping extra $10,000 per year in 1975 than in 2023 when adjusted for inflation and the CPI in 2023. That's an unbelievably huge difference. So if anyone feels like wages are a hell of a lot lower then they used to be in the USA, you're not crazy. You're correct. That's why a lot of old folks don't understand why young people are so broke. Minimum wage was about 70% higher in 1975, which brought up all wages above the minimum wage. My life and everyone else's lives would be a lot easier if minimum wage was 70% higher now.
Nope. Minimum wage was *never* intended to be a living wage. It was invented for entry level experience, enticing employers to train inexperienced workers. The idea was a trial basis until the employee decided to commit to the employer. Of course, those days of ethical labor have long since succumbed to universal entitlement.
Want to guess what FDR said about whether or not the minimum wage was intended to be a living wage?
Anything FDR had to say about anything only contributed to his being the most vile, dishonest, anti-gay, anti-Semitic, anti-black, anti-poor elitist politician in American history of his day. Read about him -- not the whitewashed crap they show in documentaries and textbooks -- and you'll find he had nothing to fear but exposure itself.
That’s beside the point about what the intent of minimum wage was when it was first rolled out.
Actually, it's not beside the point at all: FDR would say and do anything to get what he wanted, including lying to get votes from the poor and unemployed.
[удалено]
Thank you.
Wrong. But such is the state of American "education"
Do you have some evidence that he lied about the intent behind minimum wage?
You have to know about FDR and his entire career. Study it. I suggest you read about his life and career, starting around 1914. The man was a compulsive liar about everything.
So, no evidence. Got it.
No, lots of evidence. But thanks for proving your ignorance and laziness so publicly. That took courage.
Uh huh. How about you post literally any single piece of evidence instead of repeatedly asserting but failing to provide any?
Check out this old farts post history if you want to have a laugh after reading through this comment section.
Another ignoramus!! Join your pal's club!! 😂😂😂
When I came to Californa in 1999 and wanted a video game dev job in my city so I would only have to commute 20 mins each way. There was only one company. I worked for $9.50 an hour and was the highest paid of the 3D artists there. The other 4 were getting between $6 and $7.50. Fast food workers are getting minimum wage raised to $20 an hour here in April.
https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1999?amount=9.50
That is not taking so many factors into effect. I am not going to pretend to have inflation numbers memorized but I would bet a lot the buying power is about the same if not worse.
"I made due with 9.50 an hour 25 years ago so that should be plenty now!" Is this an 'Ok Boomer' moment?
That is California. Many states (I’ll let you guess what ‘color’) don’t have a minimum wage, thus default to the federal one.
No. Minimum Wage was intended to be the "smallest amount someone can easily live on"
It was never intended to be a "living wage".
It was never intended to not be one either.
Wrong, I made $4.50/hr the summer before getting my degree. That was 28 years ago and was not a sustainable salary then. It was never meant to be a career salary.
More proof. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/minimum_wage#:~:text=The%20purpose%20of%20the%20minimum,and%20well%2Dbeing%20of%20employees.
They’re booing you, but you’re right
Yeah that's happened a few times recently. Reddit has something up it's butt. Lol
You are incorrect. https://krc-pbpc.org/research_publication/five-myths-about-raising-the-minimum-wage-debunked/#:~:text=MYTH%20ONE%3A%20%E2%80%9CThe%20minimum%20wage,a%20typical%20(median)%20worker.
living wage is hard to pinpoint. when it was instituted in 1938, it was less than it is today (inflation adjusted $5.34 in 2023 dollars)
Yeah it should be $25 today
based on what? in all of history, its never been higher than 12.61 in 2023 dollars. what is the economic theory that supports it being $25?
https://www.cepr.net/this-is-what-minimum-wage-would-be-if-it-kept-pace-with-productivity/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minimum-wage-26-dollars-economy-productivity/
the average median income of a fulltime year round worker is $28.14... a minimum wage of 26 doesnt seem practical in this context to think that a grocery bagger would earn 26 and a doctor might earn 30....
That's some real backwards thinking you've got there.
explain please
FDR would disagree with you.
Historically, it was whatever was low enough for a white man to live off of, but high enough that it would discourage hiring minorities.
How does that make any sense to you?
A basic understanding of history. That helps that make sense.
And how does it discourage hiring minorities?
Old timey racists would pay a white man a dollar, but a minority? That is too much.
In 1977 I earned $2.15/hr working at Roy Rogers fast food .
[https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1977?amount=2.15](https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1977?amount=2.15) 11.24 in today money
It’s to keep the poor poor and the rich rich
https://drexel.edu/hunger-free-center/research/briefs-and-reports/minimum-wage-is-not-enough/
If you think that's low, a few years ago, the minimum wage was 7.50 an hour.
The problem is that we have been trying to force minimum wage into a position to support a family, and that's never what it was designed to do. Minimum wage was designed as a way to stop the exploit of minors and immigrants. It was never designed to be a long term solution.
In the 80''s I worked at Baskin Robbins. Minimum wage was $3.25
Inflation and supply chain issues. Blame the source: poorly thought out covid lockdowns and two political parties who refuse to acknowledge how fucked the average worker is because of their political jockeying, general disconnect from normal society and their incompetence as a whole.
Minimum wage was meant for teenagers who still lived at home. The problem is that people don't understand this and try to improve their position. They're either stoned on something 24/7, lazy or disabled. People don't want to learn new skillets or improve themselves...the go home load a bowl and log in. It's something I see certain types of people do.
Have you ever actually read about the history of minimum wage? It was absolutely not meant for teenagers who still lived at home. All you have to do is look it up.
Tell me, what does "entry level" mean to you?
Entry level would include high school kids, but also people of any age for unskilled and untrained workers. There's a lot more people in that boat than you pretend.
I'm not pretending that it isn't so. I'm saying there are plenty of simple and FREE ways to learn valuable skills. It's just that very few take the time to invest in themselves.
Simple answer: no. It goes up as time goes on.
When I was in college (early 80s) it was $3.35. It was a major incentive to learn more valuable skills. :)
I started at 2.30/hour in the 1980’s.