How many people in the US have jobs that pay minimal wage?

Question

I want to know how many people are paid minimal wage? Is it worth the commotion in politics?

Answer 1

I cannot tell you how many people who are earning the minimum wage but it is pretty close to the number of people who didn't pay any attention to much in high school.
While that is not completely fair,mostly because it excludes the manual workers still left from the production line jobs which are fast disappearing in the US such as at the auto industry, it does demonstrate a point; you need focus to be able to have a worthwhile future in a civilized country. Asking others to raise how much you make really doesn't solve the issue.

For example, when I was 16, I was working at Burger King. I did that so I had some spending money, especially for dates and the car, should I be lucky enough to borrow it from my father. When I was there, there were several adults working there full time. I knew they were making more money than I was and that was ok with me as they worked 40-60 hours to my 15 or so and used it to support themselves. However, it didn't take a math genius to figure that paying for food, rent and a car with what they earned wasn't going to leave a lot left over. Hence I was smart enough at 16 to know that even as a manager, it wasn't where I wanted to be in 10 years.
Now I confess that after I went to college, I was expecting someone to knock himself over to hire me to do something after I graduated. When that didn't happen, I had to do a lot of things I really didn't want to do and relearn what I should have already known. However, in addition, I had enough smarts to know that I had to dig myself out of the hole, not expect someone else to do it for me.
If you need training, go find something you can stand and get trained. Personally I am tired of all the anti-social attitudes manifested in demanding higher pay for standing in front of a cash register. Learn how to be nice to people and learn a skill. It may take a while to finish the training but it will be worth it.

To answer your question after this long diatribe, for which I apologize, there are way too many people earning minimum wage in the US. We have fostered the idea that we have the right to a job that will pay us what we want for far too long.

Answer 2

To better get a grip on that "Issue," you should probably break it down to how many high school aged people are working minimum wage jobs and how many adults... This should only be an issue in that it may demonstrate more clearly how well our education system is doing in preparing the young for future employment. Minimum wage was never intended to support anyone, let alone support a family. It was purely to give the fresh meat something to teath on while still in school. Sorry folks. If you're an adult and working minimum wage, you've made some bad life decisions and now reaping what you've sown.

Answer 3

Why is this question in Languages?