Fast-food workers walkout to protest low wages

[No1]

See I don't think I go through extreme lengths to live my lifestyle and if you consider that most people are living with a significant other...then you are possibly looking at $13,000+ in expendable income with my math + small interest on top of it. Surely someone should save a couple of hundred dollars a month if they can, but you know most people don't. I DO THINK that wages in NYC do have to go up significantly because the cost of living is insanely high for that pathetic minimum wage they have up there. I just get a little annoyed when people act like they can't make it with 30K per year in most parts of the country. Also, I think Economics should be taught from grades 6-8. Community College should be free or should I say...handled like K-12 is.

People can't make it in 30k a year in most parts of the country because the places that are hiring are in high cost areas. That's one. Two, the average student comes in at 20 to 30k in debt. I mean, what you're saying works in theory, and it is definitely doable, but it's a hard sell to young professional and a harder sell to someone with a family. At the end of the day people don't want their kids to want for anything.

With those challenging statistics in mind, in some cities it easier for new college grads to find both a job and affordable rental housing. A new ranking from Rent.com, a rental housing listing site, looks at the top 25 markets with the most rental listings, and then compares figures for unemployment, cost of living and annual mean wages. The research relies on information from the BLS, the Census Bureau and Rent.com’s own apartment rental database. From those numbers, Rent.com came up with a list of ten cities where young grads would be most likely to find housing, work and a reasonable paycheck. Rent.com gave double weight to the unemployment rate. Here are Rent.com’s top ten cities for college graduates, with unemployment and wage figures from the BLS. These are the top ten cities, in no particular order:

Atlanta, Ga.Mean annual income: $46,600
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $800
Unemployment rate: 8.4%

Boston, Mass.
Mean annual income: $57,500
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,590
Unemployment rate: 5.9%

Houston, Texas
Mean annual income: $47,500
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $800
Unemployment rate: 6%

Denver, Colo.
Mean annual income: $50,300
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $970
Unemployment rate: 7.4%

Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.
Mean annual income: $49,800
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $900
Unemployment rate: 5.1%

Seattle, Wash.
Mean annual income: $54,800
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,300
Unemployment rate: 6.7%

Dallas, Texas
Mean annual income: $46,200
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $900
Unemployment rate: 5.9%

Raleigh, N.C.Mean annual income: $45,200
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $800
Unemployment rate: 7.5%

Washington, D.C.
Mean annual income: $62,900
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,600
Unemployment rate: 5.2%

St. Louis, Mo.Mean annual income: $44,200
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $960
Unemployment rate: 7%



Basically, the median rent is more than all of your utilities combined. And if we get into straight up just talking about where the jobs are at then we have to incorporate the Silicon Valley . I feel you though, I had to live frugal a lot in college and in law school, it's doing, but it's also why my law school years have been the least enjoyable years of my life. This 3rd year though....I'm back I hope you do choose Detroit though, Michigan's like a second home at this point. I'd love to see them bounce back.

 

[Nigerianwonder]

Dude 15/hr is balling money in most States

A huge portion of blue collar workers aint making that much

There are plenty of workers who have spent over a decade in factories and warehouses who aint making that much or just a dollar or 2 more
And these folks truly bust their asses for their money
fukk u think gonna happen when Mcdonalds,Wendy's,Burger King and Jack In The Box start paying their employees 15/hr?
You think those loud,rude,lazy,tatted up high school kids gonna have a chance at being hired to work at these fast food joints?

And i dont know why yall singling out Mcdonald's?popularity?what bout other fast food places?how much should they pay their workers?
Mcdonalds do not set employees' wages..the Franchisees do.

You should be asking Mcdonalds to lower their yearly Franchise fees before asking the Franchisees to raise wages

Hate to break it to you but 30k a year aint ballin money.. Not even close. That's not debatable.

But I think i'm starting to see the real issue here. You got people making around or less than 15 per hour not wanting to lumped into the same category as fast food workers cause they look down on them. I guess it makes them feel better about themselves knowing someone is payed a few bucks less than them. These corporations got people making 20 dollars and hour hating on folks trying to make 15.. Not realizing they are both broke and getting played and in the same bucket.

Those same blue collar factory workers you mention are barley any better off than the folks flipping burgers. They are just as expendable too. People don't wanna look at the reality. If your only getting paid 15 an hour than you are not important to corporate America and not working any type of highly skilled position that is not easily replaceable. It is what it is.

 

[newarkhiphop]

$15/hr to work at McDonald

 

[Liquid]

People can't make it in 30k a year in most parts of the country because the places that are hiring are in high cost areas. That's one. Two, the average student comes in at 20 to 30k in debt. I mean, what you're saying works in theory, and it is definitely doable, but it's a hard sell to young professional and a harder sell to someone with a family. At the end of the day people don't want their kids to want for anything.



Atlanta, Ga.Mean annual income: $46,600
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $800
Unemployment rate: 8.4%

Boston, Mass.
Mean annual income: $57,500
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,590
Unemployment rate: 5.9%

Houston, Texas
Mean annual income: $47,500
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $800
Unemployment rate: 6%

Denver, Colo.
Mean annual income: $50,300
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $970
Unemployment rate: 7.4%

Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.
Mean annual income: $49,800
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $900
Unemployment rate: 5.1%

Seattle, Wash.
Mean annual income: $54,800
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,300
Unemployment rate: 6.7%

Dallas, Texas
Mean annual income: $46,200
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $900
Unemployment rate: 5.9%

Raleigh, N.C.Mean annual income: $45,200
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $800
Unemployment rate: 7.5%

Washington, D.C.
Mean annual income: $62,900
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $1,600
Unemployment rate: 5.2%

St. Louis, Mo.Mean annual income: $44,200
Median price for a one-bedroom apartment: $960
Unemployment rate: 7%



Basically, the median rent is more than all of your utilities combined. And if we get into straight up just talking about where the jobs are at then we have to incorporate the Silicon Valley . I feel you though, I had to live frugal a lot in college and in law school, it's doing, but it's also why my law school years have been the least enjoyable years of my life. This 3rd year though....I'm back I hope you do choose Detroit though, Michigan's like a second home at this point. I'd love to see them bounce back.

See here is the thing and I am sure to get some backlash for this. If your situation is not working do something about it. I support the protest in the sense that the awareness of the shytty pay is on the news, but I don't agree with the narrow scope in which some people view these things overall. This is always the great disagreement I have with people who tell me "Oh I can't leave New York or wherever they live" and turn around to say that they hate the way they are living.

You can go about this in several different ways:
#1 and probably the most difficult - Get a higher paying job or maybe get a part-time until things smooth over
#2 - Consider moving to another location, maybe not as nice but still in the same city
#3 - Move away

Now obviously if you have a family to consider things might be a little difficult, but these are decisions many have to make. Sticking it out in a city living on the edge is not only counter-productive for yourself, but can be quite a burden on your family. I've said it before in TLR and I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it here as well. What sense does it make to live in the greatest city in the world if you often find yourself in a position to not enjoy any of the amenities that the city has to offer? Seriously, its a question that I feel not enough people are asking themselves.

My example:
I started exploring on which places would make sense for me to look at since I was 20 years old and realized that all I was doing was going in a circle. I finally left NYC for good in 2007 and by the time 2008 rolled around every time I visited I was already in a much better position than I ever was in Manhattan. I went back to enjoy all my local spots in a week that would probably take some of the people I grew up with a year to enjoy because of how tight their wallet is...paying someone else for the luxury of filling out your address form with your NYC address.

I am all about numbers, its one of the things people hate or love about me. I have had ex girlfriends contact me when they find themselves in a tough position and I lay out the plans as I see it. It's up to you to figure it out. I don't involve emotions because the way I see it? If you are a MAN (or single woman I suppose) and supposed to be the main provider of the family and you are living check to check struggling to make ends meet? That's more shameful in my eyes than saying "you know what, fukk it" we are moving out and starting fresh in a place that makes much more sense for us financially. It's all about responsibility in my eyes, if your outter family doesn't agree with it? Tough shyt, either figure out a way in where everyone can benefit from staying in a close knit circle or explore all the options.

Now, obviously there are some downsides if you take the 3rd route (which I am sure @midwesthiphop is now aware of), but the financial freedom in my eyes is more important than else in your early to late 20's. If you are responsible with your money I truly believe that most people will find themselves in a better position 5-6 years later in where they can move back to wherever it is they left. This is all provided of course if your cost of living was much higher and your pay is relatively the same.

Living in NYC with less than 30K of income? I'm sorry, but that just seems like a waste of time to me unless you are doing something in the city that is so beneficial to others that you can't leave. Unfortunately there will ALWAYS be a bottom, but at some point something should click in your head and say "you know what, I need to explore all my options." The whole "I don't get paid enough" argument can only go so far and if enough people would just be brave enough to move out to then possibly move back in we wouldn't have these type of situations, at least not in the current state its in IMO.

Sick or elderly grandparent/parents? That makes things a little more difficult as well, but luckily I was not in that position when I left.

 

[No1]

See here is the thing and I am sure to get some backlash for this. If your situation is not working do something about it. I support the protest in the sense that the awareness of the shytty pay is on the news, but I don't agree with the narrow scope in which some people view these things overall. This is always the great disagreement I have with people who tell me "Oh I can't leave New York or wherever they live" and turn around to say that they hate the way they are living.

You can go about this in several different ways:
#1 and probably the most difficult - Get a higher paying job or maybe get a part-time until things smooth over
#2 - Consider moving to another location, maybe not as nice but still in the same city
#3 - Move away

.

I'm about to run out to get some shyt, and I'll probably explain more in detail later, but I still think this is a hard sell. I get people being afraid of moving away, and that is a large part of the problem but I've had friends move to other cities looking for work before they had a job who had to come home to live with their parents. I've had other friends who played it like newark and applied everywhere and have had no luck. Not all college degrees are portable without experience. Most aren't even with a little internship experience. A lot of times people are trapped where they are until they get that first job and get some experience and then they can move on. But people do need to widen their searches.

 

[Liquid]

I'm about to run out to get some shyt, and I'll probably explain more in detail later, but I still think this is a hard sell. I get people being afraid of moving away, and that is a large part of the problem but I've had friends move to other cities looking for work before they had a job who had to come home to live with their parents. I've had other friends who played it like newark and applied everywhere and have had no luck. Not all college degrees are portable without experience. Most aren't even with a little internship experience. A lot of times people are trapped where they are until they get that first job and get some experience and then they can move on. But people do need to widen their searches.

I should have added that the post was mostly aimed at lower income workers. Mainly the sub 30K crowd...the 20K crowd in larger cities.

Things obviously get a little more complicated once you reach higher income levels of 40K+

 

[newarkhiphop]

Two things I mentioned one of them in another thread 95% of the people in this country are horrible at budgeting themselves and live WAY beyond there means , them they wonder why they are broke and that goes for everybody from the college student to the newly married couple. I am not going to retype it all Ill copy and paste it if i can find it but I have been there, repo'd car and a bullshyt 18 month college loan default by the time i was 22. Unfortunately its something i picked up from my dad who's way of dealing with money his whole life has been "you cant take it with you when you die". You would be amazed at how much you can fix your finical situation if you down two things:

A. sit down and write down how much you spend every month
B. assign every dollar you make a job, that means every dollar you make has to go somewhere, even once all bills are paid, the extra money goes to saving

http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/

Am not going to rant on too much about that but I will say it again too, go out and buy dave Ramsey financial freedom book , especially if you just got out of college.

To stay more on topic though and go with what @Liquid and @BarNone are saying everybody situation is different so am not going to generalize BUT if you are a single adult with no children and can not live comfortably on 30k a year ( and by comfortably i mean have a place to live , a car ,pay your bills and a social life where u are out 1-3 days a week) them you are doing something wrong , more likely than not you are living way beyond your means as far as living situation.Big city living = big city prices, am not saying move to the projects or the ghetto but a lot of people especially the young ones refuse to want to take that 30- 40 min commute to and from work

The second and more extreme thing which is something liquid mentioned which is the route i chose to take is to move out of state. In this twitter,facebook era we live now we know people from all over country so having a understanding of whether a place is good place to be is much easier

Brehs dont believe the hype there are jobs all over this country , now the question is do you want to work and make money or do you want to walk around time square, party in downtown Miami or spend money on hoes in L.A and live the " american dream" In the times we live in now fianically your going to have to make sacrifices to live good, IMO the things @Liquid does are not extreme or over the top like Bar is making them seem , Ill give yall my own example currently

- pay less than $400 on rent in a 1 bedroom, secure building , carpeted everything, central air, parking lot , on site laundromat, 24/7 maintenance
- gas bill last month was $30 , that's cooking 3 x per day min. 5 days a week , electric was a bit higher $130 but i am bad at turning off lights and have 3 laptops, 2 cell phones a tablet charging pretty much all day
- $45 cellphone bill ( which now just jumped to $80 cause i switched to Verizon )
- $60 a month on car insurance

all while living in city with over a quarter million ppl , so am not in the boondocks , lol at least not as long as i dont drive out 30 min or more

back in NJ just the RENT alone in my house was almost $100 more than the sum total of all my bills currently living in one of the more "decent" street in newark.

as far as social life i go out A LOT , i was not having much luck in New Jersey searching for jobs and by luck i mean finding a job that would pay me/ have the benefits what i feel was worth it for entry level in my career , social work, which was min $30k , i simply was not finding anything worth that in NJ , most jobs was pay ridiculously low to work with a rough population so that + cost of living in NJ and my decision to NOT want to live broke AND in the hood made me start my job search else where which more or less is how i ended up in Nebraska with a government job making a bit UNDER $30 for the next 6 months but them over $30k after in position with great benefits , guaranteed security for the most part and plenty of room to grow

long story short though

- learn to live humbly even if you don't need to
- when you have to make sacrifice and it will pay off

 

[Liquid]

Two things I mentioned one of them in another thread 95% of the people in this country are horrible at budgeting themselves and live WAY beyond there means , them they wonder why they are broke and that goes for everybody from the college student to the newly married couple. I am not going to retype it all Ill copy and paste it if i can find it but I have been there, repo'd car and a bullshyt 18 month college loan default by the time i was 22. Unfortunately its something i picked up from my dad who's way of dealing with money his whole life has been "you cant take it with you when you die". You would be amazed at how much you can fix your finical situation if you down two things:

A. sit down and write down how much you spend every month
B. assign every dollar you make a job, that means every dollar you make has to go somewhere, even once all bills are paid, the extra money goes to saving

http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-forms/

Am not going to rant on too much about that but I will say it again too, go out and buy dave Ramsey financial freedom book , especially if you just got out of college.

To stay more on topic though and go with what @Liquid and @BarNone are saying everybody situation is different so am not going to generalize BUT if you are a single adult with no children and can not live comfortably on 30k a year ( and by comfortably i mean have a place to live , a car ,pay your bills and a social life where u are out 1-3 days a week) them you are doing something wrong , more likely than not you are living way beyond your means as far as living situation.Big city living = big city prices, am not saying move to the projects or the ghetto but a lot of people especially the young ones refuse to want to take that 30- 40 min commute to and from work

The second and more extreme thing which is something liquid mentioned which is the route i chose to take is to move out of state. In this twitter,facebook era we live now we know people from all over country so having a understanding of whether a place is good place to be is much easier

Brehs dont believe the hype there are jobs all over this country , now the question is do you want to work and make money or do you want to walk around time square, party in downtown Miami or spend money on hoes in L.A and live the " american dream" In the times we live in now fianically your going to have to make sacrifices to live good, IMO the things @Liquid does are not extreme or over the top like Bar is making them seem , Ill give yall my own example currently

- pay less than $400 on rent in a 1 bedroom, secure building , carpeted everything, central air, parking lot , on site laundromat, 24/7 maintenance
- gas bill last month was $30 , that's cooking 3 x per day min. 5 days a week , electric was a bit higher $130 but i am bad at turning off lights and have 3 laptops, 2 cell phones a tablet charging pretty much all day
- $45 cellphone bill ( which now just jumped to $80 cause i switched to Verizon )
- $60 a month on car insurance

all while living in city with over a quarter million ppl , so am not in the boondocks , lol at least not as long as i dont drive out 30 min or more

back in NJ just the RENT alone in my house was almost $100 more than the sum total of all my bills currently living in one of the more "decent" street in newark.

as far as social life i go out A LOT , i was not having much luck in New Jersey searching for jobs and by luck i mean finding a job that would pay me/ have the benefits what i feel was worth it for entry level in my career , social work, which was min $30k , i simply was not finding anything worth that in NJ , most jobs was pay ridiculously low to work with a rough population so that + cost of living in NJ and my decision to NOT want to live broke AND in the hood made me start my job search else where which more or less is how i ended up in Nebraska with a government job making a bit UNDER $30 for the next 6 months but them over $30k after in position which great benefits , guaranteed security for the most part and plenty of room to grow

long story short though

- learn to live humbly even if you don't need to
- when you have to make sacrifice and it will pay off

The cities in the midwest/south with 200-300K people living in it is where its at. Obviously you are either in Lincoln or Omaha, which I am assuming will be great places to catch cheap college/minor league baseball, football games, and everything else. These cities are really what people struggling every single check should be looking at. There really is no reason to stay loyal to a location, when the location is not doing you any favors.

Yeah the demand to live in those places is not as high, but the population keeps growing in these small towns. When I got here this was still a pretty friendly small town type feel of place. being here for all these years I can already tell the difference, we officially hit over 300K this year and starting to get the feel of an explosion soon. These are the hotbeds in where people are moving to, you made the right choice breh.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

some good posts in here bruh bruhs. this is what higher learning is all about

 

[newarkhiphop]

The cities in the midwest/south with 200-300K people living in it is where its at. Obviously you are either in Lincoln or Omaha, which I am assuming will be great places to catch cheap college/minor league baseball, football games, and everything else. These cities are really what people struggling every single check should be looking at.

Yeah the demand to live in those places is not as high, but the population keeps growing in these small towns. When I got here this was still a pretty friendly small town type feel of place. being here for all these years I can already tell the difference, we officially hit over 300K this year and starting to get the feel of an explosion soon. These are the hotbeds in where people are moving to, you made the right choice breh.

plan is to knock down a little under 40k worth of student loans in 3 years, going to make a thread about once i start to show the brehs it possible to do and not live out of a van

am going to have to make some sacrifices tho like not going out as much and my biggest spender buying gadgets , currently putting together my htpc/home entertainment setup

 

[Liquid]

plan is to knock down a little under 40k worth of student loans in 3 years, going to make a thread about once i start to show the brehs it possible to do and not live out of a van

am going to have to make some sacrifices tho like not going out as much and my biggest spender buying gadgets , currently putting together my htpc/home entertainment setup

Pay your student loans every 2 weeks instead of every month. You will save a good amount in interest that way.

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

im done breh

 

[No1]

I think you guys are missing my point. I figured the numbers I showed would basically prove the point. Those numbers were based on the places college graduates are most likely to find a job + affordability. So basically your arguing that your advice, which will work for the minority of people because most will not find work where you did, should be the starting point. That is very flawed. The argument should start based on those places I listed because those are the places most probable to find work with some sort of balance of cost. You can't sell people a dream or make an example out of an exception. I have plenty of those, and I'm not using them for a reason.

First and foremost you guys keep harping on "move out and find a different job." Newark says "there are jobs all over this country." Yes, there are, but there are not jobs for every college student for every major. I was speaking mainly to people coming up and out of college. If you're considerably older than that and still making 15 dollars an hour, odds are you have a lot of other things keeping you where you're at from bad credit to a lack of prior work history, etc. But your advice would probably be more applicable there. But let's just start from college and education where you both started from in your examples and why they have little bearing on the societal problem overall.

Most college degrees are not portable without experience, more often than not, people are unemployed at graduation, and their university has little national reach. That doesn't mean that finding a job is impossible, it just means that people have to hustle. So, if you went to school in NY or NJ, and you're very likely to end up in that area (partly because of self-selection, but mostly because that is the reach of your school, then you don't have that type of leverage). You're going to have a hard time getting someone outside of your region to read your resume and to pick you over someone from a local school with established ties to that employer. My friend from Texas in undergrad isn't working in Minnesota because that's what he envisioned, but he went to Michigan and those employers showed up on campus.

Which is why I said, getting the first job is the biggest hassle. Only if that is done, can any of your argument apply. (I'm trying to avoid the big problem with education discussion) The problem is, most are not getting that first job, and those that do are working at Starbucks (literally) or as waitresses and that doesn't exactly make you look like the most attractive candidate. @Liquid is basically working for himself, and @midwesthiphop you had years of experience. Your advice is not applicable to people coming right out of college who are sitting on 25k to 30k's worth of debt.

You both keep missing the crucial point that "after X amount of years" you moved on. College graduates starting out cannot do that until at least 6 months on that first job, and most don't have one at graduation. Many don't have a job that even really required a college degree until like a year after or so. So your advice really doesn't work for most young professionals. This is why you see people going back to school. I hope I didn't ramble too much, I didn't go back and check the organization of this post.

 

[Liquid]

I'll be back in the morning

 

[NZA]

im torn on this. the weak economy is pushing older people and people with families into jobs like this, so it is only reasonable that these people really need more money. on the flipside...$15 for a mcdonalds job, breh?

i think they should start at $10 with full health insurance. as a matter of fact, there is no reason for any large fast food chain to not offer their employees great health coverage. the teens wont bother using it, but the older people will represent a large enough group to make insurance a reasonable option. starbucks already does this and is not hurting for money.