Can u survive off of minimum wage with out working over 40+ hours per week?

Question

Survive, minimum wage

Answer 1

It depends on what amount the mininum wage is because it's different in each state (if you live in the USA)....so lets pretend its $6 an hour and you work 20 hours - 5 days, a week Mon - Fri. 4 hours a day.

$6 x 4 hrs = $24 a day
$24 x 5 days = $120 a "week"

There's 52 weeks in a year.

52 weeks x $120 = $6,240 a year

That isn't much. You could find a very cheap apartment, don't buy any extra things, get food you will definatley eat and don't throw any away...but it could be tough. I think a person needs 10,000 - 12,000 to survive....alone.

hmm, maybe this could be a person's monthly expenses.
$800 a month - Apartment (includes bills, not just rent)
$400 - food
$100 - extra (movies, shopping for self etc) "fun" money
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$1,300

12 months x $1,300 = $15,600

From that example, $6,240 a year is not enough. Unless you cut it way down to this:

You could find a place to live (mobile home, apartment, anywhere else etc) for $300 a month if possible.
$300 - food
no fun money!
-----------
$600

12 months x $600 = $7,200.

Still not enough! And this doesn't even include money for a car if you have one! And these are just my thoughts and estimates.

So, it would be very hard to live off of minimum wage if you only worked part time.

and just a note: I was not sure about how much food would be a month for one person. I figured about $15 a day, and even that in a month is a lot probably. So I took a wild guess.

Answer 2

The minimum wage should not be raised to a 'fair level' (completely subjective?) because those workers who are not productive enough to justify the set wage would not be able to justify to their employers their employment any longer. What makes you think that you can just improve living standards overnight by just passing a law? Higher living standards can only come through new more efficient innovations which make workers more productive and efficient, the best way to do this is to allow free markets to work, but it won't happen overnight. Reforming bureaucratic gov't regulation will help, also reducing taxes and spending would be a good idea.But seriously, the minimum does exactly the opposite of what it's supposed to. The minimum wage is supported by the bleeding-heart unions to protect their highly skilled workers from competition from lower skilled workers. It's that simple.

Answer 3

What is survive and for how long? If it would be the only way to gain entry into a job that has a solid short time advance with increase pay, then yes, if you plan on no extra money, cheap food that is home cooked (as in bulk), and very limited housing. But if this is an entry level that has no room for advancement and there is not more then this income in the household, I do not see how an advancement of quality of life is going to happen. You could continue to maintain, but I think it would be a marginal economic existence in the land of plenty.

Answer 4

What is your definition of living? If you mean eating boxed, dried food...using half a pea size toothpaste on the brush to conserve...hoping for your birthday that your grandma gives a card with a 10 dollar bill in it and suffering through a bacterial infection because you would rather suffer than get the doctor bill..yeah you could live off minimum wage just fine. Been there..done that and I dont call it living..I call it existing.

Answer 5

in short,.. Yes. Of course, I would need to live(at my age) in an abandoned factory(free rent) gain the confidence with the night watchman.get a closed off room that can be secured while i was gone(perhaps with trusted friend).Eating beans Ala anything. candle light or lantern. entertainment a small portable radio. Heat with kerosene or run an extension cord to somewhere,plenty of cardboard boxes to cut drafts and this should make a nice dig for someone in the lower tax bracket.

by the devaluation of the dollar. It will come to pass for many Americans in a short time.

Answer 6

I could but why would I want to. Since I could easily go to McDonalds and get a job flipping hamburgers for more than minimum wage.

Answer 7

The majority of the people on minimum wage are high school/college kids trying to supplement their income, so the question is irrelevant.

Answer 8

Not easily, and local circumstances would certainly be an important factor. On the other hand, only a few (minors, pilots, truck drivers) are legally restricted in the hours they may work.

Answer 9

Survive? Yes. Thrive? No.

Answer 10

yeah but its hard, most likely youll have to live in a housing edition or apartment complex thats income based, ive known of ppl that got paid 15 dollars a month to live in certain places