McDonalds helps you budget!

[bUU]

The point is that an increasingly bigger percentage of jobs are the kind of jobs you cannot live on, leaving an increasingly bigger percentage of the population without the opportunity to get a job paying wages that they can live on. What do you suggest when so many of the jobs are "teenage jobs"?

[Baby_nurse]

I suggest that people prepare themselves to take jobs that aren't teenager jobs. Pretty simple, really. Failing to educate yourself so that you are only a candidate for these low wage jobs is not the fault of the corporations

[hamchan]

I have known many many people with degrees who are unable to find anything besides unskilled jobs that pay right around or just over minimum wage. Most of them went to school for skills that were in great demand at the time but are not any more. Some of them weren't even all the way finished with school when the bubble burst. So now they have tons of student loan debt too and still can't find a well paying job.

[Petunia 100]

The point is that an increasingly bigger percentage of jobs are the kind of jobs you cannot live on, leaving an increasingly bigger percentage of the population without the opportunity to get a job paying wages that they can live on. What do you suggest when so many of the jobs are "teenage jobs"?

Yes. We have lost an awful lot of decent paying blue-collar jobs, and we have gained an awful lot of entry level service jobs.

You're saying because the factory with decent wages has closed and moved to <insert foreign country here>, McDonald's needs to pay a living wage. Never mind that they have never done so previously.

Suppose they were suddenly to begin paying $17 per hour and providing health insurance. Would it still be easy to get a job there? No, it would become competitive. Those with no work history and/or skills would have a hard time landing a job at McDonald's. Does that improve their situation, when they can no longer obtain a job at all?

How much are you willing to pay for a Big Mac? What if there aren't enough people willing to pay $15 for a McDonald's value meal? Will McDonald's just agree to operate at a loss? How long before they leave the US market?

In my opinion, requiring businesses to pay a living wage for unskilled labor would solve nothing.

And this is coming from someone who supported herself for YEARS on very low wages, minimum wage and slightly above, multiple jobs, while going to school.

[Baby_nurse]

And when things turn around, they will find jobs that fit their education. But to expect corporations to pay you a higher wage just because you have a degree yet you are doing the same job as your teenage neighbor is just asinine.

[hamchan]

These kinds of jobs used to pay enough to live off of. Cost of living keeps rising, but the minimum wage has not increased at the same rate or even close to it.

[Wino]

Jobs in the oil patch typically pay around 6 figures once you have a few years' experience. They don't require a degree in many cases. What do they require? Hard work and sacrifice. This is where Buu's plan breaks down; those asking for a "living wage" don't want to provide "hard work." One has to provide MORE value to the employer than one is paid, or the employer is better off doing without the employee.

Sorry to inject facts into your utopia, Buu. How much do you tip your McD's server? You should be paying at least $10 more directly to the server since the server is underpaid and you think he should be paid more.

Oh, that's right! Only "others" should pay more. Not the utopians.

[hamchan]

BTW, I went to college over 15 years ago, and things have still not turned around in certain industries, so it is pretty doubtful these friends of mine are going to find work in their field of study in the future. If you aren't working in the industry then it's almost impossible to stay current with the skills needed, especially if it involves learning software, coding languages, etc. Some of them have already gone back to college and taken out even more loans to get a different degree.

[Baby_nurse]

These kinds of jobs used to pay enough to live off of. Cost of living keeps rising, but the minimum wage has not increased at the same rate or even close to it.

I don't know of any time in history where a job at Mickey D's paid you enough to live on.

But just for kicks and giggles, exactly what constitutes a living wage for unskilled labor? If you think a burger flipper should make $15/hr, then what do you think someone who is skilled should make?

[asmom]

Wow, a lot of snarkiness about the very idea of paying low-wage workers enough to live on. I wonder why that idea is so offensive to people?

[hamchan]

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3461568

[scfr]

http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/...et/budget2.php

McDonalds has a sample budget for planning how to spend your McDonalds wages. It includes that you have a second job to combine with your McDonalds floor mopping, fry lifting, and service with a smile. It has a line for heating expenses, but fills in $0. And food? No, that is not even listed. I guess budgeting for food is not necessary.

What else do you find peculiar about this sample budget?

I'm keeping my comment purely matehmatical in nature. The sample budget posted has 2 components: monthly expenses and daily expenditures. $2060 income - $1,310 monthly expenses = $750 monthly "spending money" (or a daily spending goal of $25). The "spending money" category appears to cover anything that is paid more frequently than monthly, including food and gas.

[Freddy McFrugal]

I would imagine relatively few employers try to teach their employees how to save money. McDonald's deserves some credit.

[bennkar]

I would imagine relatively few employers try to teach their employees how to save money. McDonald's deserves some credit.

Perhaps, and I am certainly one not to say we need a much higher minimum wage, but consider this... many McDonalds insist workers be available to work changing schedules most every day at any time. They don't want workers that have other jobs, because it doesn't allow them to have "just-in-time" employees. Yet their instructions specifically say to get a second job to make ends meet. Basically they are saying to do something they won't allow their own employees to do. That's just not right.

[bennkar]

Oh, and if you don't know what I am talking about, here is a link to a Marketplace article on the subject. No second jobs.