min. wage???

[Pull~My~Hair]

I'm curious what the min wage in your state is..I know oregons is high, but our cost of living is high too.. I think it's $7.90 an hour now.
We've been looking for a new house to rent, but everything is so expensive..so we started looking in other states and it seems way more affordable. But im wondering if it because the wages are so much lower...
Do you think they should raise the min wage , due to the cost of living/gas/grocery increase everywhere?

[Bikerpunk]

Life in America:

If the pay is good, the housing is unaffordable.
If there's affordable housing, there are either no jobs or poor pay.

You could live in one and commute to the other, but now gas is $4 a gallon
HA HA HA HA HA say the Republicans - SUCKERS.

Then they say, after foreclosing all your shit and taking it for themselves, "all of this is in your head. STOP BEING WHINERS". Then they call their wives "c*nts" and go back to lounging around in a pair of $550 Ferragano loafers.

But hey, they say, don't vote for the other guy - he doesn't look like the Presidents on the dollar bills. Check out this pin I'm selling: "Can we still call it the White House" hyuk hyuk hyuk.

UGH

[Dusk]

It makes sense to raise the min. wage if the cost of living goes up.

Wich is why its not really happening.
Example: FIREFIGHTERS in Australia are getting a payrise of, I think, 4.5% while the cost of living is up 7%
(not sure of the numbers, and it might be just in my state)

[Lady Alias]

I'm 100% for raising min. wage in every state. It's long overdue.

$6.55 here in TN.

[Dusk]

It is the obvious thing to do, but it isnt profitable for the select few who are already disproportionaly wealthy, including the politicians officially in charge of that stuff

[mystoo]

I actually had to look this up b/c thankfully I haven't had to scrape by on minimum wage in a long time. In Ontario it's $8.75 which is about average for all of Canada. It's definitely not enough to live on though when you consider, well...the cost of living. There has been talk of upping it up to $10 but that talk has been going on for a few years and so far nothing..

[Mr Karl]

8.75.........that much?

[bohoki]

You could live in one and commute to the other, but now gas is $4 a gallon
HA HA HA HA HA say the Republicans - SUCKERS.

funny if the democrats are for the little guy then why are they trying to take guns from them leaving them defenseless ?

as to the other stuff standard supply/demand

it there is jobs that pay good people move there decrasing available housing if there is no jobs people move away leaving empty rooms to be rented for cheaper in the competitive market

[athenahollow]

2.14/hour for waitressing
6.55/hour standard
and will be 7.25 after July of 2009

[VoltaireBlue]

2.14/hour for waitressing
6.55/hour standard
and will be 7.25 after July of 2009

same here. except it's not going up here.

[SyntheticShock]

Minnesota is $6.55 now, will increase to $7.25 July next year.

[Pull~My~Hair]

2.14 an hour makes me puke...
im glad they dont fuck with our tips here, we have to report them for taxes but we keep them, i average $30 and hour with my tips...and im still poor

[OrganizedKhaos]

2.14 an hour makes me puke...
im glad they dont fuck with our tips here, we have to report them for taxes but we keep them, i average $30 and hour with my tips...and im still poor

DAMN! That's some serious cash for this area..

Well, actually you wont see anyone who makes that kind of cash unless they work in the medical field, or are high up in the coal mining companies.

[Pull~My~Hair]

DAMN! That's some serious cash for this area..

Well, actually you wont see anyone who makes that kind of cash unless they work in the medical field, or are high up in the coal mining companies.

how much are houses to rent there? we're paying $1250.00 a month for a 3 bedroom, older house...seems like too much to me

[DoctorZ]

I think Ontario (probably never heard about it >_>) is around... 9? 10? 11? That area.

Maybe around 8.50. But probably in the 9-11 area.

[Morning Glory]

I'm not sure how much it is in AZ now, cuz you can't get a job here. it used to be 5.75 or therabouts last time I worked, but I think it was supposed to go up. I think I heard about a gradual raise to around 7 dollars, but I don't know what phasing that is through.

I can tell you that everyone I know makes around that amount and they pay around 300-500 a month for either a one bedroom apt. or a shared rental house. the lower end of that spectrum would be for the more worse neighborhoods that have a lot of drugs and higher crimes, but not totally in the slum sections of the city. the higher end would be what I would describe as nice, but is probably what some might call middle class, generally for students and single people that make above min. wage.

my apt. is in the medium range, near the suburb side of town, pretty decent quality place, but most of the people are min wage earning families. recently there's been a spike in crime, and there was two shootings last month, but that is uncommon for the area.

[episode allah]

minimum wage here is is €8.65

[One Eyed Cat]

minimum wage here is is €8.65

That's about $1000 USD at this point Not too shabby.

[OrganizedKhaos]

That's about $1000 USD at this point Not too shabby.

You rawk.

[Ajax Knucklebones]

I'm curious what the min wage in your state is..I know oregons is high, but our cost of living is high too.. I think it's $7.90 an hour now.
We've been looking for a new house to rent, but everything is so expensive..so we started looking in other states and it seems way more affordable. But im wondering if it because the wages are so much lower...
Do you think they should raise the min wage , due to the cost of living/gas/grocery increase everywhere?

Chances are that it IS because wages are so much lower. I live in Florida where housing is more affordable, but the pay is alot less than states with more expensive housing. I'm a manager at a bank. I've been in my field for 18 years and I definietly do NOT make anywhere close to $30.00 an hour. Although, for what everyone else makes where I live, I do O.K. and I can afford where I live.

[OrganizedKhaos]

Chances are that it IS because wages are so much lower. I live in Florida where housing is more affordable, but the pay is alot less than states with more expensive housing. I'm a manager at a bank. I've been in my field for 18 years and I definietly do NOT make anywhere close to $30.00 an hour. Although, for what everyone else makes where I live, I do O.K. and I can afford where I live.

I truly miss the job opportunities in Florida
DB made a KILLING in FL, Like ,there are all these rich retirees that will pay (and *I'm* not being racist) white guys to do their manual labor for close to double.

[Amelia G]

I think minimum wage in California is going up to $9/hr some time next year, but I think minimum wage is a pretty useless concept.

99% of Americans need a better economy right now. Almost everyone's lives are slipping and, even people whose wages have skyrocketed can't meet the rising costs of things like gas and healthcare.

At least in California, where there (a) are a lot of creative people and (b) is easy access to illegal workers from Mexico and Canada, minimum wage just screws small businesses. As creative jobs often pay in a piecework fashion, the rate can easily slip below minimum without the artist even noticing. For example, I stopped doing gallery shows because I realized that I was not even making minimum wage on them and honestly Forrest Black and I have had better sales at such shows than many. Here is how the math would break out for a fine art nude gallery print in a group show:

Customer pays $900
Gallery gets $360 of that
Model gets $108 of that
Framing probably cost $58
another $58 x 2 for framing two that don't sell
another $90 for printing three images
Total take home $168

Not counting the time spent shooting or expenses on the day of the shoot, just counting what the gallery portion consumes, that probably means:

18 hours selecting/formatting/printing/framing three images
2 hours spent at gallery during setup and hanging
7 hours spent at gallery show

That would come out to $3.11 per hour for time spent actually working on the gallery show, not counting time spent schmoozing to get included in the show, or time spent shooting. But, if I wanted to hire someone to assist with some of those tasks because there are only so many hours in the day, of course I would need to pay them more than $3.11. In this case, partly because I do have people who work on some of those tasks for me and I can't afford to lose bank, that just means I usually do not participate in gallery shows.

But, if the galleries were required to charge $2,700 per print, so I could make minimum wage on my work there, I think they would probably just have fewer sales. So telling the galleries that they must pay artists at least minimum wage would just mean that they would either (a) not do what they do or (b) pay under the table. And everyone knows that under the table deals suck because then there is no recourse when some gallery (or other business) owner does not pay.

[OrganizedKhaos]

Wow, Amelia, that's just so sad

[mystoo]

Hence the term starving artist?

[OrganizedKhaos]

No kidding. Man....
Whats painful is that artists are compelled to manifest their passion... and should really be more successful because they followed their hearts

that really didnt come out the way I wanted it to...

[mystoo]

I get your meaning.

[OrganizedKhaos]

bless your heart

[One Eyed Cat]

I think minimum wage in California is going up to $9/hr some time next year, but I think minimum wage is a pretty useless concept.

99% of Americans need a better economy right now. Almost everyone's lives are slipping and, even people whose wages have skyrocketed can't meet the rising costs of things like gas and healthcare.

At least in California, where there (a) are a lot of creative people and (b) is easy access to illegal workers from Mexico and Canada, minimum wage just screws small businesses. As creative jobs often pay in a piecework fashion, the rate can easily slip below minimum without the artist even noticing. For example, I stopped doing gallery shows because I realized that I was not even making minimum wage on them and honestly Forrest Black and I have had better sales at such shows than many. Here is how the math would break out for a fine art nude gallery print in a group show:

Customer pays $900
Gallery gets $360 of that
Model gets $108 of that
Framing probably cost $58
another $58 x 2 for framing two that don't sell
another $90 for printing three images
Total take home $168

Not counting the time spent shooting or expenses on the day of the shoot, just counting what the gallery portion consumes, that probably means:

18 hours selecting/formatting/printing/framing three images
2 hours spent at gallery during setup and hanging
7 hours spent at gallery show

That would come out to $3.11 per hour for time spent actually working on the gallery show, not counting time spent schmoozing to get included in the show, or time spent shooting. But, if I wanted to hire someone to assist with some of those tasks because there are only so many hours in the day, of course I would need to pay them more than $3.11. In this case, partly because I do have people who work on some of those tasks for me and I can't afford to lose bank, that just means I usually do not participate in gallery shows.

But, if the galleries were required to charge $2,700 per print, so I could make minimum wage on my work there, I think they would probably just have fewer sales. So telling the galleries that they must pay artists at least minimum wage would just mean that they would either (a) not do what they do or (b) pay under the table. And everyone knows that under the table deals suck because then there is no recourse when some gallery (or other business) owner does not pay.

I've always been ambivalent about minimum wage increases in Cali. We both know you can't like on $9 an hour in most parts of the state. It probably just prices out kids who want some disposable income to go to shows etc.

The Minnesota levels do work. Cali, not too sure. I'm just beyond relieved my parents sold a house near market value out there. These are scary times for selling much of anything in that state. I'm optimistic for 2010. Sounds cryptic, but one has to be realistic at this point.

OEC