Making the Rent on Minimum Wage

April 2, 2012

Map - Hours at minimum wage needed to afford rent in 50 states, National Low Income Housing Coalition

Hours at minimum wage needed to afford rent in 50 states, National Low Income Housing Coalition, March 2012
(Click map to enlarge.)

So much reporting about the economy is focused on unemployment numbers, but as writer Nona Willis Aronowitz pointed out on Good yesterday, a much less reported story is the number of people who have jobs but are “barely clinging to a decent lifestyle.” Two recent reports show that while employment numbers may be on the upswing, having a job doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on easy street.

In fact, if you’re working at a low wage job, you’re most assuredly not — and that’s the reality for a significant number of Americans. Consider this statistic from Aronowitz’s post:

“In 2010, one in five American adults worked for poverty-level wages, 4.4 million of whom earned wages at or below the federal minimum.”

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, but that figure varies depending on where you live. A few weeks ago, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released their annual housing report documenting the disparity between what minimum wage workers can afford to pay for rent and how much rent costs. While it’s not surprising that these workers have trouble paying their rent, it is shocking to see just how big the gap is in many states. For example, in Hawaii, the most expensive state, a person needs to make $31.68 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment. (An apartment is considered affordable if rent and utilities cost under 30 percent of a person’s income.) For someone making minimum wage, that would mean working 175 hours — which isn’t even possible (since there are only 168 hours in a week). The disparity exists for every state and commonwealth with the shortest work week in Puerto Rico, where you would still need to work 55 hours to make the rent.

Since 2008, the affordability of housing has steadily eroded for working households in 24 states. Nearly one in four working households spends more than half its income on housing costs, according to a new report from the Center for Housing Policy.

Click on the map above to see how many hours minimum wage earners would have to work to afford rent on a two-bedroom apartment in all 50 states. Learn more about the report on the NLIHC blog.

Related Features

TOPICS: The Economy

TAGS: living wage, low wage, minimum wage, money and politics, poverty, real estate

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http://www.facebook.com/john.cleek John Cleek
Shocking stats — and also sad!
David Williams
I’ve always measured the cost of buying a home by the number of years of annual salary it would take. But this “minimum wage to monthly rental” is a tougher statistc. You can’t draw out the rent over time. Shocking
Catherine
GREED GREED GREED
Jpbeech01
do not forget fines for paying late, and most landlords keep the security deposit. I even had a landlord threaten to sue me after I moved out of apartment that was infested w/ cockroaches.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000927069570 Rick Mitchell
I don’t know about other areas, but where I live in Tx there are still houses to be had for around $30,000. There are many of the houses being bought by immigrants. One will buy the house and some of his relatives will move in and help him fix it up and pay for it, then once it is paid off, they buy another one.
Why won’t young American’s do this?
steph
Rick its because of the credit market. Its hard to establish credit with no credit these days. In addition its difficult to come up with a down payment if you’re already working 80 hours just trying to eat. Unless you have family it’s pretty impossible.
http://profile.yahoo.com/TO754R2VVHJDU7QVFI22HRFB24 Debra
Most young Americans are taught that you must grow up and “leave the nest” In my house we did that….then Grandpa became very ill and needed full time care. My Husband and Myself had full time Jobs…Our Daughter and her Husband were in between jobs …so they stepped up and moved back home to keep Grandpa out of the nursing home. In the process we saved the family homestead. We all live here together now. We all chip in to share the costs….Do you know what I hear from some of my friends?…Those Kids need to move out on there own! They need to get into a house of there own…Do you know what I say to them ….They worked just as hard as we did keeping Grandpa out of the nursing home. They own just as much of this house as we do…they pay their fair share of the bills. Alone we could not have done this…Alone they could not have done this…Together we did this…Together we still have the “family” home. There are more families thinking this way today than ever before.. We are not unique just “Family”
http://profile.yahoo.com/TO754R2VVHJDU7QVFI22HRFB24 Debra
Most young Americans are taught that you must grow up and “leave the
nest” In my house we did that….then Grandpa became very ill and
needed full time care. My Husband and Myself had full time Jobs…Our
Daughter and her Husband were in between jobs …so they stepped up and
moved back home to keep Grandpa out of the nursing home. In the process
we saved the family homestead. We all live here together now. We all
chip in to share the costs….Do you know what I hear from some of my
friends?…Those Kids need to move out on there own! They need to get
into a house of there own…Do you know what I say to them ….They
worked just as hard as we did keeping Grandpa out of the nursing home.
They own just as much of this house as we do…they pay their fair share
of the bills. Alone we could not have done this…Alone they could not
have done this…Together we did this…Together we still have the
“family” home. There are more families thinking this way today than ever
before.. We are not unique just “Family”
az al
What the country needs is an immediate doubling, at least, of the minimum wage.
http://profile.yahoo.com/IIVL4J7MZUNPCIFZOVLI6GRV7Q Shawn
Men of genius are admired, men of wealth are
envied, men of power are feared; but only men of character are trusted
http://www.facebook.com/people/E-Bruce-Barnes/100000020551240 E Bruce Barnes
The original government formula for
poverty, created in 1955, doesn’t take account of rising costs of medical care
and other factors. The current calculation sets the poverty level at three
times the annual cost of groceries. For a family of four that is $21,203. That
calculation does not factor in rising medical, transportation, child care and
housing expenses or geographical variations in living costs. Nor does the
current formula consider noncash aid when calculating income, despite the
recent expansion of food stamps and tax credits in the federal economic
stimulus and other government programs.
The current formula would put poverty level hourly rate for a two worker
family of four at $5.07 an hour. This is
obviously to low when the other factors
are considered. “The current
poverty measure does a very bad job of measuring the impact of quite a few of our
anti-poverty policies,” Rebecca Blank, the Commerce Department’s
undersecretary of economic affairs, said in an interview. “It isn’t
meaningless, but it isn’t complete.”
http://www.facebook.com/people/E-Bruce-Barnes/100000020551240 E Bruce Barnes
What the country needs is an immediate doubling, at least, of the poverty level and minimum wage.
http://www.facebook.com/people/E-Bruce-Barnes/100000020551240 E Bruce Barnes
Elizabeth Warren has reported that the cost of food has
gone down 19 % from 1970 to 2007. This means the poverty level has gone down 57
% from 1970 to 2007 and it wasn’t that great in 1970. The poverty level should
be increased by at least 57 % under the current definition. The
current poverty formula should be reevaluated to take into account the 100%
increase in housing, 103 % increase in health insurance, 100 % increase in
Child Care Services and a 25 % tax increase in the same 1970 to 2007 period.
Rwinger124
In times past, we are told, people who couldn’t afford to live where they were picked up and moved to somewhere else where they COULD afford to live, with a minimal amount of whining and sniveling about how unfair life is. Get an education, learn how to contribute something necessary to society, and then get on with it!
http://www.facebook.com/people/E-Bruce-Barnes/100000020551240 E Bruce Barnes
There is no standard definition of
the middle class. The income levels most Americans say are needed for a family
to be considered middle class are:
The threshold for a minimum middle-class
living standard for a two-parent, two-child family varies from about $31,000
(rural Nebraska) to almost $65,000 (Boston, Massachusetts), and the median
threshold is about $40,000. By comparison, in a recent poll conducted by the
Kaiser Family Foundation, only 21 percent of those polled considered a family
of four making $30,000 to be middle class. When asked about a family of four
making $40,000, an additional 21 percent (42 percent total) said the family
would be middle class; at $50,000, 60 percent of those polled said the family
would be middle class.
Assuming that a “living wage” lies somewhere between $21,203 and $40,000, one can safely say a
“living wage” is somewhere around $30,000 for a family of four. This
translates to $7.21 for two-worker family or $14.42 for a single provider. The
IRS reports that for 2008 the median AGI was $33,048.

If
we increase the 1970 poverty level by 57 %, the poverty level for a family of
four would be $33,289. Since the “median“ means half of the population falls
below the AGI of $33,048, over half of the population are below the middle
class. This is also consistent with the loss of earning power of 80 % 0f the
population from 1970.
Anonymous
Because in a suburb of Seattle you will be paying a minimum of three times that for a tiny fixer that you can’t live in yet. And regular financing is often not available on homes like that.
Whitecrane123
Love to do that…how do I afford 450.00 credit hour for college tuition? How do I afford to live in a 6000/yr dorm..this is a state school; not ivy league. If I work 40 hrs a week and go to school; how long before the grades drop? If I have a student loan, I lose it if my grade pt ave drops below 2.5….this is 2012, not 1956!
Louise Nehl
Unfortunately more than fifty percent of college students did not make plans to attend, nor did their parents like they did back in 1956,1966,1976.
Student loans are at an all time low on interest rates. Balance is required to
maintain your grades and support yourself. I suggest you meet with counselors and
possibly a financial expert to assist you with a game plan. Best of luck!
Louise Nehl
It is very easy to establish credit. Simply go to your bank or credit union and give them
$200. Tell them you would like a secure credit card. Never charge up to $200 and always keep your balance at $100 or less. After using and paying for four months, you have established your first line. Then apply for a gas card and do the same charge and paydown to 50% of high credit.
If you wanted to purchase a home instead or renting, FHA requires 3.5% down and the down payment can come from a gift from a family member, have the seller pay 3% towards your closing cost and pre-paids. Currently thirty year rates are running 3.75 and dropping.
Purchasing is typically cheaper than paying rent.
Louise Nehl
very simple to answer! American’s want instant gratification. Young people want their parents lifestyle but do not want to work for it!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CWM5RLDQ3ERUIKRQUZ3IYD5UCA Tim
Young Americans ~Do~ do this. I know a couple groups who do this.
Jo
Sorry, Elizabeth Warren is nuts. In 1970 I could buy a gallon of milk for $1 – now the cheapest place in town charges more than $3. Hamburger meat was 59 cents a pound – have you priced it lately?
FoodForAll
The price of food has gone down along with the quality of it. Good food costs more.
Liberalbill
Here is the map Michelle and everyone concerned about the wages in our Country, that shows the wages for rent. Just like we have talked before about comparing blue vs. red, I would be pointing out the dark blue ones. The wages are Higher which increases the cost of living that helps keep some states living in a third world country, compared to the demographics of blue vs. red. It would be challenging but I would bet divorce rates, teen pregnancy and about every social net can be included. But the biggest thought to all of this is when will we collectively stop pointing the finger?
Tbogeyt
What is the profile of a minimum wage worker? The majority are 16-24 and work part-time. http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2011.pdf
Giftedone1952
Had always hoped our kids could settle somewhere near us. One is gone and the second about to follow, looking to find jobs that would enable them to stand on own two feet. It is especially hard on those starting out. When we retire. In about 5 to 6 years, we may need to sell our home of 30 years if we want to afford our property taxes and be somewhere near the kids and hopefully someday near the grand kids.
Hedy
Excuse me, how old are you and are you in college now? Take a moment to understand where someone else is coming from before you give advice that probably isn’t applicable. If you’ve been there, and been through it in our time, you would be fit to give advice that would be helpful. Everything costs money and time that is ever harder to come by, and more money means less time, more time means less money. It’s just not enough. Public colleges used to be paid for by the public, not anymore. The rich are screwing you and your children over.
Hedy
Hun, we could have our parents lifestyle but the ones before us did everything in their power to lock in their wealth, and the cost was our future. I think you are missing the point of this article. Minimum wage is what’s available to young people and they can’t live off it. So how the hell do they get anywhere, by taking out student loans? They have to pay those someday, and with the decreasing numbers of jobs, there is no guarantee even going through school that they will get a job that pays enough. As an older member of society, I bet you were able to get a job, you were able to go to school under the idea that you could get a job from it, and clearly yes, you worked to get where you are. But that was then, when the odds were in people’s favor if they did all the right things. There are no longer set rules to get ahead, and the odds are now against those struggling to get ahead. We are in survival mode so we won’t have the power to change our lives. So the rich can stay so, and the price is any quality of life for those that aren’t already rich.
Pirou3t
Or….. A single mother of two beautiful children going to school full-time.
http://www.facebook.com/sage.mccarey Sage McCarey
I would love to know where Ms. Warren shops for groceries. All I see is food going up and up. Many times I go to the grocery and find an item I bought a month ago is now 10 cents more. I do not believe the cost of food has gone down.
http://www.facebook.com/sage.mccarey Sage McCarey
This is true of some young people but not the ones I know. Don’t paint everyone with the same brush.
http://www.facebook.com/sage.mccarey Sage McCarey
It is amazing to read articles like this that point out how people are being used by big rich companies like Labor Ready and still hear someone blaming individuals for not being able to make it. “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, just accept the fact that you are a wage slave, don’t eat so much (you’re probably too fat anyway), stop whining and accept that the rich get much, much richer and the poor get poorer”. There is such a lack of compassion in this christian country.
Jamel brown
It’s impossible to make the rent in newyork , making minimum wage at $7.25 a hour..you need at lease $15.00 a hour to start ..on a salary job $80,000 annually ..the average rent in newyork for a single bedroom $1200 -2000 per month..two bedroom $2000-3000 per month..three bedroom $3000 -$4000 pre month..this is not including cost of living so to much it here in newyork as a single person yo u need to $80,000 to $150,000 annually a year ..with out government assistance and section 8 reform..its tough to make it single in newyork ..if you have a family one child and more you would have to make $150,000 to $250,000 annually to maintain the house hold with out government assistance..
need help to paying rent.
i need help paying my rent because job only give me 12 hours aweek at10.45 and hour and now the landlord want me to move and all the money i had save up has ran out and i dont know what to do evanston ill get very cold in the winter , on my way out doors. please. 847-328-70238
me-n-jcb
I feel for the young people today…it’s sad, and this article doesn’t even mention the fact that in most cases it’s hard to find full time work, much less the hours needed to afford being on your own. My daughter works 2 part time jobs just to get an average of 35 hrs a week. She’s only 18, so hopefully in her time, things will turn for the better.
DDD
Nope. I’m 18 and I work a minimum wage full time job on weekdays and on weekends I have to work a second job for 8 hours each day.
Frustrated Mother
Oh in the perfect world. You have to realize not everyone comes from a perfect credit history. As a single mother of 10 years, I can tell you working full time, and trying to afford rent and bills- when I did have good credit- I was young and put a lot on credit cards. Lost my job, couldn’t pay the bills- evictions, judgements for the credit cards etc, no medical insurance + emergency rooms visits…. fast forward 8 years later- married with more children, we have two incomes- living in a small apartment so we can save for a down payment- but after trying to “establish credit” for 3 years- I STILL am unable to get my scores up high enough to get approved for a mortgage. Because of the housing crisis- rent is unreal- there is 10x the demand vs. the supply. We wash our family of 5′s laundry in the bathtub to save money- we live with 6 people in less than 1,000 sq feet. We both have college degrees and both are working. Because of the crazy high rent (and believe me we found the cheapest rental we could find) all of our income is going to just cover bills so we can just survive and have gas to get to work and get our kids to school everyday. We’ve gotten a new car loan (after only owning cars and paying cash for them) just to help with my credit score- It’s very discouraging to know that a stupid number is keeping us from owning a home where our monthly mortgage payment would be less than 1/2 of what we pay for rent now. Down payment can come from a family member sounds great- but not everyone has family members who are in any better situations. Obviously purchasing now is cheaper than paying rent- if more people could GET APPROVED for better housing there wouldn’t be such a huge demand for rentals! Your scenario of walking into the credit union and getting a secured card is great in theory if you have a ZERO credit score.
There are many of us out there who had to make choices to feed our families and provide shelter vs. keeping a nice credit score. The scam that is FICO is a JOKE. I’ve been repairing my credit for over 3 years.
http://www.facebook.com/scott.cameron.7737 Scott Cameron
Well maybe if people started to demand legislation in their local government to regulate rental rates. About no more than a 1/3 of your monthly income should be used to cover the rent. So rates should be no more than 1/3 of the rate of a full time employee working at minimum wage. Those wages of course fluctuate based on your city and state of residence. That would be ideal. And if the greedy guys want more money they would have to increase minimum wage.
Samantha Hartman
That’s not how credit works. Your credit is based off of a lot of factors and one being how long you’ve had it. Credit cards? Aren’t even going to tip your numbers up if you’ve never had a loan or haven’t had a credit card for longer than 4-5 years. Car loans are usually the best solution to this, but then again you need to be able to afford one of those too.
Sam
This data is interesting but not really useful unless we have something to compare it to: how are other nations doing? Nations that with better distributed wealth, or better welfare programs? How about worse ones?
AustrianGuy
Economics. Price fixing ends up horribly. I think NY, CA, and IL would love this idea though.
greg
my guess is she is adjusting for inflation
http://www.facebook.com/keithMBender Keith M Bender
Coddle Capitalism while expecting it to take care of it’s Employee’s ? Seems thats too much to expect since Profit is of course more important especially if the Employee’s get underwritten by Taxes and by attacking Taxes we directly further the disrespect due the Employee’s. Snake eating it’s own tail and pretending that it’s delicious.
ISB
Girlofwords, where the heck do you live? My family budgets $250 – 300 a month for “groceries” – which includes toiletries etc as well as food – a month for our family of 5. That’s our “comfortable” budget, now my wages (single-earner household, married couple, 3 kids 5 and under) have gone up. As a family of 4, less than 2 years ago, we were budgeting $180 – 200 per month.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1026604875 Edward Lester
My Rent is $750 per month for a 2 bdroom house. Utilities cost me about $100 per month. That’s $850 per month. On minimum wage I’d earn $1160 per month. Am I missing some math here or is this article wrong?
http://twitter.com/kaisawheel kaisawheel
That leaves you with 310 dollars. Lets factor in life shall we: Taxes, social security and health insurance premiums will eat up most of that for you, then there is car insurance premiums, gas, household supplies….FOOD. Yeah. You’d be doing JUST fine.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=68603341 Branden Kirk
Minimum wage was never meant to pay for a two bedroom unit, maybe a studio if you are lucky but more likely sharing a place with roommates. Minimum wage is for ENTRY-LEVEL employment for people just entering the work force with NO vocational skills like teenagers who live with their parents. If you are past your teen years and have no job skills one has to ask why you haven’t pursued more marketable professional skills.
http://www.facebook.com/edavila.02 Ed Avila
You can’t ask that Branden. You have to consider also that just recent college grads are having no choice but to work the minimum waged jobs talked about here. That in turn is preventing teenagers from working because a minimum wage job would much rather higher a college grad then a teen. Then there are thous looking at the unemployed workers who was laid off. They too much work the minimum wage job. Plus let’s not forget that most (and I mean most) minimum wage jobs don’t work their employees full-time. So now you have to consider, health, food, gas, insurance, and education bills before you can even talk about rent somewhere.
http://www.facebook.com/edavila.02 Ed Avila
OK, we can go over your math because (yes) it is wrong. I do numbers for a living and I can tell you to calculate payroll there is a formula. The formula goes: pay-rate x number of weekly hours worked, x 52, divided by 12 months and that would equal your average monthly pay NOT including taxes. So when you do the math at minimum wage with a 40 hour work week, it equals $1256.67 per month. When you calculate everything that kaisawheel stated it comes out to a negative figure. Edward, my father told me when I was young that if I could not make rent with 2 paychecks then that would mean I could not live on my own, that was wise logic back then. I am 40 something now, and I have to tell you, that if I told my daughter that very same thing today she would just laugh at me. At full-time she is barely scraping the barrel.
charlie1220@gmail.com
I’m twenty three and am willing to work hard, the problem is, jobs that can pay for what everyone needs are becoming harder to find. Food, shelter and clothes and water. I am still looking for any job that doesn’t require a degree that I can’t afford. How many jobs have just been outsoruced or just eliminated?
charlie1220@gmail.com
Our WHOLE country is like this. This isn’t about complaining, this is about our country loosing jobs that can support anyone for what they need, not want. The last time I checked our whole country had a bad economy.
Annyonomous…
I think its even worse…. What lot of people seem to over look to is that it is impossible for anyone making minum wage and to be able to live on their own and fully support themselves. IT makes it even hard when your just a kid trying to get out on your own… You can’t even rent a one bedroom for what is considered “affordable”…. Yet they say go to college so you can make better money. Yet you can’t go to school if your having to work so much a week just to keep food in your month and a roof over your head. but who the hell cares about people like me…
annoyomous
The government doesn’t care about its people. The won’t even pass laws or reform health care so that it isn’t depend or over ruled by profit. They don’t care if you living in the streets, or can’t go to school, or can’t pay your rent… They want slaves, robots….They don’t care about humanity, and they certainly don’t care if things are fair or equal…. If they did, we might actually be a free people…. and we might actually make progress as a country instead of only increasing the profits of those who already have everything and anything they want….
dr jones
A lot of these comments here are pretty ignorant and disgusting. A lot of kids ARE going to college, they ARE taking out “cheap interest” students loans. But guess what? Tuition costs have inflated astronomically! Oh but the interest is “low”. Well if you’re flat broke, barely surviving, this doesn’t help you anyway. And you have to take out private loans to cover what government loans don’t.
I have a MASTERS DEGREE. Guess what. There are no jobs. The only jobs that are available to me right now are minimum wage, or serving in a CHAIN restaurant. Everything is a damn chain. I have so much debt that due to bouts of unemployment, rent, and grocery/gas, and extremely high student loan payments, I’ve had to use my credit cards which got me further in debt. I drive an old economy car and live pretty much bare minimum and am not even scraping by.
There’s no way out. By the way…if you have private student loans (likely if you’re born into the lower class and don’t have a rich family to buy you cars and help you pay for things), and they are Sallie Mae, they don’t defer for unemployment. Typical monthly repayment is $500-1,000/month. Welcome back to The Jungle. They have orchestrated a grand economy in which you are indeed a wage slave.
P.S. For anyone who cares to actually educate themselves, the preface alone of the book American Theocracy will teach you a lot about your country. Allow you to step back and read it like you would a history book about another nation.
juani
I was heartbroken that my wife moved in with another man so I
had a spell to bring her back home and stop the affair she had with him.
In just 4 days she left him and went to live at the motel. She called
to say so and get news of the kids. The discussion was pleasant, as if
she was changing to become the woman I knew when we got married. It was
exactly as you said…. Now she’s back home and is absolutely crazy about
me. I am so thrilled by this spell that I cant find the right words to
say how I feel right now. All I can decently say is that you changed my
life and saved the most important thing in my life: my family, way to
contact my savior is winexbackspell@gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/lucyinthaskye Cindy Strickland
Thank the Commodities Futures Modernization Act (2000) for your milk, eggs, and gas (everything) prices going up. Speculators are enriching themselves off the backs of the consumer.
robkenn
i’d like to live where you do Edward lester..1bd apt runs between $750-1000 a month, bills run between $300-500 a month this is for , electric, phone and a basic form of entertainment ( tv ) sorry but even for 1 person, it would run between 50-100 a week in food. forget about gas and car insurance..so when all is said and done 750+300+200 for food a month =$1250 a month..a minimum wage job only pays at 40 h/week 1160..already in the hole for the month..that don’t include transportation nor clothing expenses..and if you get sick and miss a few days, forget about it..since most minumum wage paying jobs dont give you sick time.there is less in the check….now we didnt even talk about taxes yet..so lets take that 1160 number and drop it to 850/ after taxes..this number dont even cover the rent for the month…now i have to work an 80 h/week just to make ends meet 850 +850…..and as to the person who thinks the Mexicans can buy a house for 30,000…yes they have thier uncles aunts brothers and sister and cousins..with 6 children living in the same 2bd house…American citizens would not be able to live like this because we have a standard of living the gov imposes..a married couple with 2 children boy and girl would have to live in a 3 bd house because each sex has to have separate bedrooms..not only that but each bedroom must have its own closet…i experienced this first hand . as a single father with a daughter i was told on numerous occasions that i was not allowed to rent a 1 bdr apt. even though it was all i could afford..because of these standards…
this map is still a conservative estimate…households making less then 40,000 a year is still below the poverty level
Dave K
If someone is willing to work to support themselves then that work should pay enough for them to do so. Many will argue that some jobs aren’t worthy of a living wage. When more and more of the ones they do deem worthy are being sent elsewhere, though, what’s the alternative? Are we supposed to simply accept that less and less Americans will be able to support themselves, even when they’re doing what we think of as “playing by the rules?”
I’m just old enough to remember when one fairly low-skilled mill job supported Dad, Mom, my brother and myself. I was a young teen when that started to change and I remember it illustrated by an example a kid would notice. At Christmas we had plenty of presents under our tree, and more waiting at our grandparents’ houses. The ones at the latter weren’t just from our grandparents, though.
The mill and factory jobs our uncles worked at paid well enough that we also got presents from them, too. By the Christmas of 1980 I had another brother and also four cousins on Mom’s side of the family. There were presents under her parents’ tree for each of us kids from the grandparents and one $10-20 one for each of us from each of the uncles.
Then Reaganomics and globalization came, and there was less and less to spare for luxuries like Christmas. Eventually the mills and factories left, and we started exporting raw timber and buying Chinese and Japanese-made wooden furniture. We used to keep those logs here and sell foreign consumers the furniture we made from them. Now those mill and factory jobs are gone and all that’s left here are starvation wage positions selling each other the stuff that we used to make.
Now the accepted wisdom is that we workers will be better off when the owners have so much on their tables that they can’t fit it all in their mouths. The more scraps they drop, the richer the rest of us will be, we’re told, even as the owners put away more and more of that excess for later, or to leave to their own kids (while we, and our kids, are expected to “earn” our wealth through hard work, discipline, talent or luck). It’s all part of the double standard of the wealthy and their mouthpieces.
Katherine
Your story reminds of the Walton show where the father and mother took care of the grandparents in the same home. My brother’s ex-wife’s family also took care of their older parents until their health issues were beyond their care taking skills. My Grandma is almost 96. Our Dad and Aunts and one Uncle live at the corners of our country. The grandkids have been her major caretakers, primarily my brother, two cousins and I and it is harder when you don’t live with your elder relative. Also, depending upon the sex and how old they are is a factor if they can live with you or not. My Grandma trusts my brother the most, My female cousin is married so that helped her. Also, a factor is the mental stability of the elder, which can make it hard because one day they say yes and then the next day they say, did I say that. Well, I am glad the Walton style of taking care of older relatives works for your family.
SmilingAhab
This is a tradition far older than our nation. It’s a generational house, and it is how things have been done in our civilization since its foundations. Telling the kids to get the heck out is an aberration, and is what really separates families. If one has a home big enough, one simply moves the youngest where they can have fun and love with others and takes the opposite side.
SmilingAhab
It’s all in inflation adjustments. Do all the calculations at 1970 value and the costs go down. But someone forgot to tell those upper crust quants that 1970 values mean nothing because we don’t live in 1970.
SmilingAhab
The big five cities – LA, Chicago, New York, Philly and Miami, reflect prices like that.
Mesha
Im 21 and i work for a grocery store i make 1 something which isnt what i want but its hard, the bad thing is people telling me i can get my place but not if im making that i will need a second job again honestly just saying. help me out guys cause i know all yall have yall own place i have not even had my my first one yet its crazy i know.