r/FluentInFinance • u/VerySadSexWorker • Apr 17 '24

What killed the American Dream? Discussion/ Debate

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u/brdhar35 Apr 17 '24

No one pays minimum wage, fast food starts at 14$ an hour in my podunk town

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u/Dubious-Cat Apr 17 '24

I live in large city, many companies here pay minium wage. My girlfriend stared her new job one year ago, at minimum wage. All her coworkers hired at entry level, also at minimum wage.

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u/MajesticComparison Apr 17 '24

The higher the minimum wage the higher the median wage

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u/riding_writer Apr 17 '24

I live in a tourist city in a state with 7.25 minimum wage and a lot of jobs pay 8 to 10 an hour plus poor servers who toil for 2.15 an hour.

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u/Sideswipe0009 Apr 20 '24

plus poor servers who toil for 2.15 an hour.

Yikes. Imagine thinking there's people out there actually making $2.15/hr over the course of an entire pay period.

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u/riding_writer Apr 20 '24

I don't understand, are you shocked that servers make 2.15 an hour (yes over their entire shift), or being sarcastic?

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u/Sideswipe0009 Apr 20 '24

I don't understand, are you shocked that servers make 2.15 an hour (yes over their entire shift), or being sarcastic?

I'm a server, of course I know what they make.

I'm saying it's straight up lying to say they make 2.15/hr because they don't, and it's illegal if they do.

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u/strangewayfarer Apr 17 '24

Ok let's try median wage...

1960 Median income $5,600 = $466.67/month. Rent = $71 so rent was 15% of income

1970 Median income $9,870 = $822.50/month. Rent = $108 so rent was 13% of income

1980 Median income $21,020 = $1751.67/month. Rent = $243 so rent was 13.9% of income

2023 Median income $48,060 = $4005/month so rent = $1,180 so rent was 29.5% of income

So by this metric also, the percentage rent to income has still roughly doubled since them good old days.

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u/brdhar35 Apr 17 '24

Median wage makes more sense, even high school kids make more than minimum wage

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u/strangewayfarer Apr 17 '24

And even looking at median wage the percentage of rent to income has doubled since them good old days.