#minimumwage #raisingchildren #workingparents #fairwages #incomeinequality
In today’s society, many individuals are struggling to make ends meet despite working full-time jobs due to the issue of minimum wage not being enough to raise children. This is a topic that impacts countless families across the country, including single parents like myself who are trying to provide a stable and comfortable life for their children on a limited income. 🧒👧
## The Struggle of Raising Children on Minimum Wage
As the statistics show, a significant portion of fast food workers are parents, and many of us are faced with the daily challenge of stretching our paychecks to cover essential expenses such as rent, groceries, medical bills, and childcare. Here are some reasons why minimum wage should be enough to raise children:
### 1. Childcare Costs Are Skyrocketing
– The average cost of childcare in the United States has become unaffordable for many families, making it difficult for parents to work when a significant portion of their income goes towards childcare expenses.
– Without access to affordable childcare options, parents are forced to make difficult decisions about their employment, often opting to stay home with their children rather than paying exorbitant fees for daycare.
### 2. Health and Education Are Compromised
– When families are living paycheck to paycheck, they may not have the financial resources to prioritize their children’s health and education, leading to long-term consequences for the well-being of their kids.
– Lack of access to quality healthcare and educational opportunities can perpetuate cycles of poverty and inequality, making it challenging for children to break free from the limitations imposed by their socioeconomic status.
### 3. Financial Instability Impacts Mental Health
– The stress and anxiety of living in poverty can take a toll on parents’ mental health, affecting their ability to provide emotional support and stability for their children.
– Financial insecurity can lead to feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness, exacerbating the challenges of parenthood and creating a toxic environment for family relationships.
## The Importance of Fair Wages for Working Parents
In order to address the issue of minimum wage not being enough to raise children, it is essential for policymakers, employers, and society as a whole to recognize the value of fair wages for all workers. Here are some ways in which raising the minimum wage can benefit working parents and their families:
### 1. Improved Financial Stability
– By increasing the minimum wage to a level that allows families to cover their basic needs, working parents can experience greater financial stability and security, reducing the stress and anxiety associated with living in poverty.
– With higher wages, parents can afford to invest in their children’s future by saving for their education, purchasing books and educational materials, and providing enriching experiences that contribute to their personal growth and development.
### 2. Enhanced Work-Life Balance
– When parents are able to earn a fair wage for their labor, they can achieve a better work-life balance that allows them to spend quality time with their children, engage in extracurricular activities, and participate in community events that foster social connections and support networks.
– By valuing the contributions of working parents and compensating them accordingly, employers can promote loyalty, productivity, and job satisfaction among their workforce, leading to a more prosperous and inclusive society.
### 3. Social Equality and Justice
– Fair wages for working parents are a fundamental aspect of social equality and justice, ensuring that all individuals have the opportunity to thrive and succeed regardless of their background, education, or socioeconomic status.
– By advocating for policies that prioritize equitable compensation for all workers, we can create a more just and compassionate society that values the well-being and dignity of every individual, especially those who are struggling to make ends meet while raising children on minimum wage.
In conclusion, the issue of minimum wage not being enough to raise children is a complex and pressing concern that requires a multi-faceted approach to address the root causes of income inequality, financial insecurity, and social injustice. By raising awareness about the challenges faced by working parents and advocating for fair wages that reflect the value of their labor, we can create a more equitable and inclusive society where all individuals have the opportunity to thrive and succeed. Let’s continue the conversation and take action to support working parents and their families in their pursuit of a better life for themselves and their children. 💪🌟
Yes, of course.
That is a difficult number to define. How many kids? What part of the country? Enough to raise children as a single mother or w/ dual income household?
Edit: spelling
Min wage is $15 here, and a lot of us at work make $20 or under. Many of my coworkers are mothers who are still on wic/food stamps despite the increased wages. It’s definitely sad to see for sure.
Personally, my wage is low yes, but it’s all the more reason for me to not have kids while I work there. As you said though, how do I/we get out of it?
I’d say no. I’d say minimum wage should fully support a single adult but not necessarily more.
That being said, there should also be support programs for minimum wage earners who unexpectedly find themselves becoming parents so that no child or adult goes hungry or unsheltered, and children are kept with their parents whenever it is safe. Minimum wage should also easily afford a one bedroom apartment that’s up to code and, again, safe.
No, but the cost of living should be much more affordable.
No. Minimum wage is for employees just entering the workforce.
Nope, having kids is a choice.
I don’t think it’s ethical to have children if you can’t provide for them financially
To preface what I’m about to say, this is a situation that is way more complicated than most people want to see. It definitely needs attention, but there isn’t a one step solution to the problem.
Minimum wage is not and never will be connected to what is a living wage. A living wage changes constantly with a litany of factors. Raising minimum wage doesn’t necessarily make minimum wage a living wage. The minimum wage will always be a difficult amount to live on.
Even if you make minimum wage $50/hr, you’re just changing the cost of doing business for employers and inflating the cost of literally everything produced by minimum wage labor. This will include a lot of food items and food services which effects literally everyone. Companies do not absorb the cost of doing business, consumers do. Raising the minimum wage also just increased the amount of people who make the minimum wage.
Businesses that pay minimum wage to their new hire, bottom level employees do not raise wages across the board when the minimum wage increases. In a lot of situations, a new hire, minimum wage employee ends up making as much as people who have been there for years and in extreme cases, as much as a junior supervisor. These lowest rung employees will never get a pay increase until all the people now making minimum wage get their adjustments over time. This can take years to work out.
You can raise the floor, but you don’t get to decide how companies react to it. Raising the floor on pay raises the cost of living. The higher you raise minimum wage, the more necessary items people buy will go up in cost. Get mad at employers. Get mad at economics. Get mad at reality. Just don’t lose touch with reality when looking at important things.
The problem isn’t the minimum wage, the problem is staying minimum wage. Most entry level jobs keep people locked in them with minimal opportunities for advancement and no ability to increase your salary through performance reviews.
The minimum wage debate can be boiled down to people who want to do the least work possible and have all the niceties of life.
The minimum wage was designed as a floor to prevent businesses from paying literal pennies for child labor. It is not intended so someone can live comfortably, or have kids, or have a nice car or anything else. Its for teenagers working part time jobs, or entry level positions for people who want to climb the ladder.
If you want to live in the city, or drive a new car, have kids, house and white picket fence get an education. Not just college, but trades, IT certs, OJT, anything above a GED.
One of my coworkers has a kid who is a high school dropout who got a diesel mechanic certification from OJT and now makes $50/hr.
No. Minimum wage should be enough for a single person to subside on. Having said that, more service should be available to those that require. Things like subsidized daycare and housing, universal health, child tax credits and child benefits for lower income families. Who’s gonna pay for all this? Tax the fucking rich. Return the marginal tax rates back to pre Reagan and let the rich pay their fair share.
No,I don’t agree with that. Minimum wage jobs are entry level jobs for a single person, a young teen, etc., not for someone who needs to support a family.
No
No. But this is because I believe that having children isn’t a right. There are a lot of people who have no business raising children who got pregnant.
So I think stating that someone should be able to raise a child on minimum wage insinuates that someone has the inherent right to have a child.
Now I do 100% believe that anyone working full-time should be able to afford to survive. No one should have to be on government assistance or destitute when working full time.
Not sure where you are from, but in some countries there are benefits for low earners with kids.
A major problem is that the vast majority of minimum wage workers are not scheduled full time.
And their employers move their schedules around such that they cannot work more than one job so they could get more hours.
These employers are really abusive in restricting their employees’ ability to provide for their families.
Minimum wage is called minimum wage for a reason. It’s the minimum amount you *should* be able to live off of as one person, not one person with multiple children who often require many extra expenses. This is why so many people are choosing to hold off on children
1 person. While I understand that many people want families. They should only come when you’re able to provide for them. Society should not bend their laws to fit your want when there are plenty more people who will be able to afford to have children once minimum wage becomes a living wage for one.
It should be enough for a single person to live their life and meet their needs. It shouldn’t be so low that you can’t afford food, housing, transportation, etc.
It should be enough that a person can live in a local and be able to support themself in the cheapest apart, with the most basic of necessities. If you can’t make more than minimum wage you either need to get walking to somewhere else or develop more desirable skills
Minimum wage in the US initially was supposed to support a family with two parents and and a child (maybe 2, i don’t remember) and never kept up with inflation so its wayyyy wayyyy below that now
No. But a person working 40 hours a week at minimum wage should be able to support themselves. Not necessarily high on the hog, and they might have to share housing, but they should be able to afford to feed themselves.
The issue is that a lot of people see these jobs as the lowest of the low…but in reality, it’s a job just like any other job. Don’t tell me that your office job where you sit in an AC conditioned room, eat your subway sandwich dropping crumbs on your keyboard, and gain weight typing away on excel files is a lot harder than a minimum wage job.
So yes, I think a minimum wage job should be an income where one can live off of and hopefully gain increases in wage that can afford them to have a child.
The world runs off of minimum wage jobs. Every rich person would pretty much die if they didn’t have a minimum wage person whipping up their Frappuccino in the morning before they snort their morning cocaine.
The following are the literal words of the man who signed the minimum wage into law, when making an address regarding it:
***”It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By “business” I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.”***
Franklin D Roosevelt, POTUS # 32.
So, according to the man for whom this was his legacy, and his signature legislation, the minimum wage is supposed to provide the wages of a good life, on a single income, as a baseline. That people today fail to understand this is mind boggling.
It used to be that one job was enough to sustain a family. This was because the market favored the employee. People had families, and if there was no way they could make it at a job, they’d have to move on.
Employers HAD to pay a reasonable amount because no one in their right mind would work for them.
There was then a period in America when the government and major corporations worked together to push the idea of dual incomes in the home. They claimed it was a matter of equality, but what it really did was double the labor supply and increase competition among workers.
Fast forward through a series of destructive fiscal decisions, and terrible policies, and you have modern America where everyone is fucking miserable and running as fast as they can to stay in one place.
It should be enough for a single person to be able to live comfortably. It should not be enough for a single person to support additional people, ie children, another family member etc.
Of course. I don’t get these people saying ‘it’s a starter job meant for teenagers’ when that doesn’t reflect reality at all. Society is better off as a whole when everyone can afford a decent standard of living.
Probably already said in the comments but minimum going up at all = everything going up in price too.
Where I live it’s 15.69/H, Rent went up here 6.4% in just the last year when our minimum went from 14-15.69. Cost of food is around 7% higher than the national average.
I would love to be able to atleast for now live off of minimum wage, but rent on its own for a single bedroom is about 60-75% of what i make. So currently, only way for me to even have a place and have food + other necessities is living with either family or roommates.
The problem of higher minimum wage is that it accelerates inflation, which makes raising children even more costly, which would lead to more raises, so we have a full circle.
The minimum wage should be in the very critical range that makes the least people be in poverty, yet won’t inflate the economy too much, so that said people would be more in poverty. The exact number is very highly debatable because nobody knows enough to tell, but I’m rather convinced that “enough to raise children” would be too much. That’s how cruel the universe is.
as a dude in his 20s, can i ask, why did you decide to have kids. Like a genuine question. I personally prolly wont or wont even consider it until im mid 30s at least with enough saved up.