Saturday, August 31, 2013

What is a Living Wage These Days

When I was growing up, somehow the culture instilled in me that waiting tables at the local fried chicken restaurant, which was popular for miles around, was not a path to long-term financial stability.  It was a summer and weekend job to provide me with money for the frugal college years ahead.  My family was poor as were most of the farming families in the area and yet most parents wished a college education for their children.  So, children took jobs and worked and saved.  Yet, there were women, not men, for whom this waiting tables was a permanent job.  They were proud of being excellent at what they did and being able to carry five plates on one arm and remembering every customer's unique needs.  They bragged about tips sometimes.

I never wondered about those women.  They frightened me a little because they were so good at their jobs and so intense about their work and so rough when they took their cigarette breaks outside.  But I never wondered why they took the career path they did and how they made ends meet when they got home.

Now there is a movement to give fast food workers a living minimum wage.  While I agree that we need to raise their salaries in conjunction with the way profits for fast food places has grown, I wonder when we accepted that this type of job should be considered a realistic permanent career and a path that would allow them to raise families.  Yes, I a aware that many have no other opportunities, many are not expertise enough to do another type of job and many do not realize they are in a financial path that has no hope for escape.  But an opportunity for a lower middle class lifestyle...I think not...unless they are working to be a manager of such a franchise.

Yes, I am a liberal but concerned about how we think about jobs in this country. 


14 comments:

  1. Even at double the minimum wage people have a rough time making ends meet. Nobody chooses to be poor or to be stuck in jobs that don't pay enough. I have never met anyone whose ambition was to be a dishwasher.

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  2. I think when manufacturing jobs went overseas which you can link to some of our imbalanced trade policies. Lose manufacturing and all that's left are service positions.

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  3. Even worse, I believe, are the custodians. Here near the border, once doesn't need a brain or english, just a strong back. The year I applied for a job on campus, as my commute was killing me, the only job that was left was that of custodian at the Student Union. I insisted that I could do the job, but the management was wary of hiring a woman. I was 45. Because I was big and had been in the military, they hired me at $3.50 an hour. I still had to take out student loans to survive.

    Near here, and you can see I am very opinionated on this subject, is a breakfast place with waitresses that have all been there forever. Here in CA, the govt takes 8% right off the top of their tips. We always tip 20%.

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  4. Mage, we almost always tip 20% as well and I do believe that these folks deserve subsidized health care...it will save us all some money even if our taxes go up.

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  5. I heard a good point on upping the minimum wage and it was that when we think we are getting a bargain in paying that low wage, we actually pay a lot more in social services that if these people got the fair wage, wouldn't be needed. So you pay a fast food server $7.25 and they get food stamps, housing and heating subsidies, etc. that adds to your real cost but people don't realize the true price they are paying. I'm all for upping it to $10 and then connecting it to inflation. Oregon has $8.95 and hour. It doesn't make our Big Macs cost that much more than other states-- and it's not really enough. I also see it's not just kids working there.

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  6. I am conflicted on this issue. Yes, fast food jobs are entry level. but what if that's all that's available? We still have not recovered enough jobs that were lost, and many of the new jobs are low wage.
    In some countries, like in Scandinavian countries, all full time jobs are living wage jobs. Prices are high, and so are taxes, but people live well.
    As I say, I'm conflicted.

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  7. Linda, I guess it depends on what we consider a living wage? What is a living wage in Scandinavia and what does it provide to people?

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  8. I think for women who don't have a higher education, waiting tables is a viable job, but I doubt they go into it seeking a career. Maybe I'm wrong; I never was one. I do think the minimum wage ought to be raised along with our elevating prices. Some of those women work very hard and are not paid a living wage, but expected to live on tips. It's not fair, since some people don't tip fairly - if at all.

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  9. No one in this country should be able to work a forty hour week while still remaining in poverty. Plain and simple.

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  10. Honestly, I am currently so far removed from being in the midst of fast food workers and their lives, that I don't have a strong opinion. However, looking above at Stephen's comment, it resonates.

    I also think about the necessity of people to do all kinds of work; from the surgeon on down to the janitor who cleans the hospital.

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  11. Everyone should at least be able to provide themselves with the basics of life. Maybe not fancy, but the basics. On minimum wage, that's probably not possible in most places.

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  12. Being a waitress or server or dishwasher is honest work regardless of whether it is a first job, longterm employment, or the only job one can get. I agree with Stephen. Those willing and able to work at low prestige jobs deserve the dignity and promise of a reasonable paycheck. An hour is an hour.

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  13. its an interesting thought actually....the owners complain we will put them out if we raise the wages...being in the schools you would be shocked at how little our kids know, particularly of math and we are breeding workers that will never make much...the few will but it breaks down just like societal lines...

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  14. We have forsaken our manufacturing base, and become a service country. Higher taxes just support more governance. When I went to work in school dist admin I felt sorry for all the classroom aides that where only given 3.5 hrs per day, which meant they didn't qualify for dist health ins. Then I went to work in payroll. Hello, they were working in the harvest, for part of the year, drawing unemployment on the harvest jobs, while working as aides,drawing unemployment on the aide job while working in the harvest, and getting all the free housing, medical, mandated by the gov. My 40 hr week, with partial medical, and full taxes, didn't come close to paying what their system (tax free) did.
    A couple of friends are long time waitress. Their pay scale is low, but they pull in between 100-400 in tips per shift, claim a few bucks of that, and qualify for gov help.
    Sorry to ramble on but I just don't think you can legislate work/pay balance.

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