An Erudite Take on a Living Wage

A very savvy take from a reader:

I read your recent post "Time To Pay for a Decent Wage". This concept has been bugging me lately too.

My entire industry is still shut down from the pandemic. I was furloughed from my previous employer last summer (which means I made it further than a lot of my industry cohorts) and decided to sell my house to take the profit to provide for myself, as I was doubtful the government would actually come through on extending unemployment. Fortunately it was extended. But unfortunately most conservative-leaning states are doing away with it thinking it is holding people back from entering the workforce. As someone who knows a hell of a lot of people I also don't know of anybody not going back to work just to draw unemployment. Many folks I know have also found new jobs and in many cases unemployment was tough even with the federal boost. 

I do agree with the writer of "Decent Wage" although I have little service industry experience. The little I have had has been quite demoralizing either through terrible customers/guests or very unreliable co-workers. 

But I also started considering the math. Recently a friend posted that a local restaurant was looking to hire kitchen staff. I reached out to inquire to find out the starting wage was $8.50 an hour. In most instances I've worked in restaurants the owners and/or managers do not want employees to be scheduled for more than 32-35 hours per week in order for them to not steer into overtime. $8.50 x 35 = $297.50. Times that by 4 for a month and you get $1,190 (which adds up to less than $15,000 a year).

Everyone I know that lives elsewhere are always astonished when I tell them how low the cost of living in the Shoals Area is. In surveying apartment costs I have seen some generally tolerable ones in the $400 range and decent apartments in the $650 range. So let's settle to the lower-mid there and consider someone who is self-reliant.

Rent: $500

Cell Phone: $100

Internet: $40

Utilities: $100

Groceries: $160 ($40 per week)

Car Loan: $250

Car Insurance: $78

Gas: $80

Total: $1,328

This very modest budget is already losing $138 per month and I didn't even take taxes out of their paycheck, nor did I budget for student loans, health insurance (or associated costs), general credit card debt, any form of entertainment, childcare costs and the list goes on.

Also, I believe even without the federal boost, unemployment is still $287 per week (or close to that). So technically people still don't make any extra by finding one of these jobs.Councilman Jimmy Oliver has discussed at council meetings that the restaurant owners he's met with downtown are all complaining about the worker shortage and they're all blaming it on the federal addition to unemployment (which these governors are only shorting by about 2 months before the campaign is currently set to end). Mr. Oliver could be looking after many voting citizens and asking the business owners why they can't pay a basic living wage. It's a shame for the cost of living here to be as astonishingly low as it is, residents still have to struggle off the wages being offered.

And the argument "learn a trade" or any variation of that doesn't apply here. Everyone can learn a trade, yes... sure. These businesses will still need employees and if their employees can't even make ends meet, what's the point?