How does a person make a living on minimal wage?

Question

$5.a hour for 40 hours is only $200. Then taxes is taken out. Then they pay for gas to get to work if no public transportation, maintenaince on the car, auto insurance, health insurance, rent, utilities, food. Most don't have health care, how could they? Even at this wage, working 80 hours a week. With a trade $10. a hour, vetinarian $20. a hour. So much for college. Poverty. living on credit, why isn't the minimum wage being raised? So a few in big business can drive around in cars that cost more then these people make in a year. What's wrong with this picture?

I'm not the one working at this wage. Like I said, college people with degrees are making low wages, how can they live decently?

Answer 1

Well to be honest we hardly make it at all. Why do you think there are so many people who commit crimes? Not all of them are really bad people. I know of several women in my city that were caught selling drugs or prostitiuting just feed their children. What happens when the poor lose their jobs? They become homeless, hence another epidemic. Women like me who have a huge family have to live in the poverty stricken neighborhoods just to have a house. I live in a dump but it is all I can afford. We have to try to survive. We don't have anything brand new. My family cant afford anything. All the boys' clothes are given to us. We didn't have insurance until the Governor started an All Kids program where all children have health insurance. We do not own a car. We walk where ever we want to go. There is no money for the bus since there is too many of us. We rely on the food pantries and child support which hasnt came in over 3 yrs. We have next to nothing. We have to pay the bills and they are very minimal. I put 2-3 children in the tub at a time to save on water. We hardly ever have lights on since cant afford to pay the bill. We have no family support of any kind to help and rely on a lot of charities when the times get very rough. We do not have Christmas or birthday parties or presents. It is not in the budget. We go without more than most and cherish what we can get.

Answer 2

I feel your pain, as I was there once. The bottom line is, you really cannot "make a living" on minimum wage. By the way, the reason that unions support upgrading the minimum wage is that THEIR wages are directly tied to the minimum wage, i.e., if the minimum wage goes up ... so does their union wage.

When I was 30, I decided that I couldn't take living in the way you described anymore, and so I decided that I would tighten my belt one last time and do everything I could to put myself through college. If I could do it, you can, too. I started at a two-year community college, as I couldn't afford anything else. I received college loans, a few small grants, and worked on the side and in the summer months performing such "fun" jobs as picking up trash on the side of the roads of the Empire State (NY). I could go on and on, but I eventually transferred to a four-year college, and in five years I had my degree and was employed within one week of my graduation. As I say, I do feel your pain, but I want to encourage you that there IS a way out. But, you have to, as they say, bite the bullet for a few years and get through college. It's not easy, but it is rewarding...in many ways. I wish you only the very best in life. You can do it. Never give up!

Answer 3

Everyone has choices. If the minimum wage earners want a home then they can buy one and take on room mates to basically pay for the house. Also some people can't seem to live with out certain amenties.... I would say 50% of what we all have is not needed. We could save and put money away so soon that money is making money on its own. The Amish are proof and that we all live beyond our means!!!

Many MANY people will disagree with me but then they just chose it to not work for them. I think of difficults things as how I can make it work rather than say that it will never work. A lesson I learned long ago, it has worked for me and life is good !

Answer 4

If all we had to do to make a good living is earn minimum wage, what incentive would anyone have to do anything more valuable? We likely wouldn't have enough doctors to take care of the sick or enough people to fill the demand for any job out there. We'd all just want to push brooms around and go home and watch LOST (except we probably wouldn't have LOST because the producers and actors would not have much incentive to do that).

Nobody said that educating yourself and improving your skillset was easy. But it is worthwhile. College education is one path. But, you still need on-the-job experience to build up your skillset. I know people who make great money laying tile and working on air conditioners because they've become very, very good at laying tile and working on air conditioners and they treat their customers right. But, it took them awhile to learn those skills (including treating their customers right) while they worked hard and didn't get paid well in the beginning. Now it's paying off. They're too busy and most of their work comes from referrals. People are willing to pay them more because they know the job will be done right.

I don't recommend to anyone to depend on the government for anything. They should take control of their own destiny. There are libraries full of books that show how people started off hawking papers on a street corner and become owners of large media conglomerates. There are tons of people who are doing well, and if you just ask them, they might just give you some pointers on how and why they are doing well. But, one thing you'll find is that most of these people at one time or another realized that they held the reigns to their future and that nobody was going to hand them something.

Answer 5

I live in Chicago where the minimum wage is $6.50 the highest in the country. Most of the people making this amount get government assistance for medical care, housing, utilities, child care and food. With that said those people are probably bringing home more cash than I am each month. The middle class can end up bringing home a lot less money than the lower class.

Answer 6

Being one of the poor people you talk about, I do sympathise with you. Just want to point out that if you raise minimum wage, the prices in the stores go up too. That raise has to come from somewhere.
I tried to start a commune once, just so we poor people could share bills and childcare and all those things, but I had no takers. If you have any ideas, I'd like to hear them.
I'll mark this question and keep checking it.

Answer 7

i recognize that is a comic book tale. i'm 17 and artwork weekends for a structure agency as a labourer. I artwork more durable then any of the different adult adult males on website and that i receives a fee about £6 an hour it really is significantly decrease than anybody else. i recognize i dont have a kinfolk to feed or lease to pay yet i think that if we are operating purely as problematical lower than an similar interest identify, we could continually be entitled to the very similar pay.

Answer 8

It is possible. I've seen quite abit of minimum wage people with big houeses and sometimes cares and expensive things inside of their houses. Just don't get those things and it will be possible. If you are living on minimum wage, good luck.

Answer 9

It is impossible to make a living on minimum wage. Most minimum wage earners have more than one job.

Answer 10

This may answer your question, go to: http://www.isil.org/resources/lit/jobs-min-wage.html