McDonald's workers: 'supersize my check'

[vienna]

California's minimum wage is US$9.00 per hour. Based on a 40 hour week, that's US$360 per week or, over a 52 week year, US$1,560 per month. The average rent in in CA is $US1,957 per month. By these numbers, a person working for minimum wage in CA is, on average, roughly US$400 in the hole. Also, remember, the US$1,560 per month is pre-tax income out of which is automatically deducted Federal and State income taxes and Social Security taxes, leaving a net income of well below the gross...

It is amazing to me how persons earning minimum wage ever manage to make ends meet and survive. To a lot of us, maybe it's just "flipping burgers"; to those who do the "flipping", it's a struggle for basic life...


<O>

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by vienna

California's minimum wage is US$9.00 per hour. Based on a 40 hour week, that's US$360 per week or, over a 52 week year, US$1,560 per month. The average rent in in CA is $US1,957 per month. By these numbers, a person working for minimum wage in CA is, on average, roughly US$400 in the hole. Also, remember, the US$1,560 per month is pre-tax income out of which is automatically deducted Federal and State income taxes and Social Security taxes, leaving a net income of well below the gross...

It is amazing to me how persons earning minimum wage ever manage to make ends meet and survive. To a lot of us, maybe it's just "flipping burgers"; to those who do the "flipping", it's a struggle for basic life...


<O>

Well put, I think that it's partly this and the increase in house prices which is seeing a large section of todays youth living with their parents for longer periods. For a lot of youth, the flipping burgers is their first place after school, especially if they have done poorly at school, whether their school performance is their fault or the school is a topic for another thread so let's not go there, but you'll find that catering and cleaning is where most of the early school leavers go. On the minimum wage on these jobs, even working full-time, they cannot afford to buy or rent a property, so they hang on and wait to see if a better paid job will come up.
Now, law of averages dictates that with millions of kids doing this across a country, there's going to be a lot of people trying to fit into a small hole and that's going to mean a lot of 'Thank you for applying for this job, we're sorry but...' letters in the mail (if they're courteous enough to even bother with such things), and that's going to mean another week flipping burgers.
Who knows how long such a situation would continue for some? It's a numbers game really, and it does absolutely nothing for your self-esteem, especially when everyone else is looking down their noses at you like you're some kind of lower class scum just because you work at McDonalds.
Little wonder so many turn to drink and drugs.

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by vienna

California's minimum wage is US$9.00 per hour. Based on a 40 hour week, that's US$360 per week or, over a 52 week year, US$1,560 per month. The average rent in in CA is $US1,957 per month. By these numbers, a person working for minimum wage in CA is, on average, roughly US$400 in the hole. Also, remember, the US$1,560 per month is pre-tax income out of which is automatically deducted Federal and State income taxes and Social Security taxes, leaving a net income of well below the gross...

It is amazing to me how persons earning minimum wage ever manage to make ends meet and survive. To a lot of us, maybe it's just "flipping burgers"; to those who do the "flipping", it's a struggle for basic life...


<O>

You split rent with others just like I did for years.