Ausmumof3 Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20151215-the-best-and-worst-places-for-people-on-minimum-wage Did anyone see this? It surprises me and I find it kind of hard to believe that on two minimum wages in Australia people have that much discretionary income. I'd love to see a breakdown of figures to see what bills they actually took into account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolt. Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 They clearly are ignoring transportation (two full-time min wage jobs *that they can walk to*?) and childcare (The jobs have perfect off-set shifts? The children were born school aged? With no fees?), plus healthcare costs for Americans. I guess you can still compare countries, but you can't actually count the dollar figures as "discretionary" in any realistic view. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted December 17, 2015 Author Share Posted December 17, 2015 They clearly are ignoring transportation (two full-time min wage jobs *that they can walk to*?) and childcare (The jobs have perfect off-set shifts? The children were born school aged? With no fees?), plus healthcare costs for Americans. I guess you can still compare countries, but you can't actually count the dollar figures as "discretionary" in any realistic view. These were the two things I thought were probably be unaccounted or under accounted for. Plus crazy utility costs in Aus and medical needs. But I couldn't find any breakdown of the figures to find out what was covered and it kind of annoys me. You can put a pretty graphic up that people can point to and say "see it's easy to live on minimum wage". It influences people viewpoint. But without some actual data to look at it's hard to know how accurate it all is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 lol hilarious, I didn't realize the bit about jobs you can walk to! Poor people aka people on minimum wage live out in the boondocks and travel 90 - 120 min to get to the big work centers. Doesn't tend to be a hell of a lot of work out where they live, because poor. Only so many people can work in the local kebab shop, kwim ? It may all look very different in country and regional centres. I am just chuckling at the idea of most minimum wage workers being able to live in walking distance of work in the city. :iagree: In most places, I doubt the majority of minimum wage workers are able to walk to work. That seems like a ridiculous assumption for anyone to make! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AurieD Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 (edited) I think the $249.23 per day must be per work day, unless they've added FTB payments for the two kids maybe. After tax income for 2 people on minimum wage over a 7 day week would be closer to $170 a day I would think. So then are expenses only supposed to be per work day as well? It's a pretty silly article really, it in no way takes into account real essential costs. You don't even get to buy toilet paper. Edited December 17, 2015 by Keziah 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted December 17, 2015 Author Share Posted December 17, 2015 (edited) I think the $249.23 per day must be per work day, unless they've added FTB payments for the two kids maybe. After tax income for 2 people on minimum wage over a 7 day week would be closer to $170 a day I would think. So then are expenses only supposed to be per work day as well? It's a pretty silly article really, it in no way takes into account real essential costs. You don't even get to buy toilet paper. Hmm good point. No toilet paper... But you know. Who needs toilet paper? Or bus fares? Or washing powder or nappies? Though if that is how they calculated the poverty in the places on these calculations where the per day rate is less than expenses must be huge. And yes it would only be $187 per day before tax unless they are counting FTB. Edited December 17, 2015 by Ausmumof3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheReader Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Did you all scroll to the bottom to see what they were including as food? Really the bare minimum for meeting calories, and not likely to resemble how real people shop/eat, at all. I have to assume they took the lowest available rent/utilities for each country as well, in order to try and standardize it. I find it hilarious to use whole countries in the first place -- cost of living varies so much within individual cities, let alone entire countries. There's simply no way this is a valid comparison, at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 There are always going to be inaccuracies because of local differences. But I really liked the way they put it in perspective comparing countries. Where I live, one can live quite decently on minimum wage. And rather comfortably when you add in tax-funded benefits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Did you all scroll to the bottom to see what they were including as food? Really the bare minimum for meeting calories, and not likely to resemble how real people shop/eat, at all. Sounds logical to me, when we're talking about "minimum" wage. Sad thing is, in many countries, the average wage doesn't even cover that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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