The minimum wage was established to ensure that jobs pay enough to support families. For many years it was set at about half the wage paid to a typical skilled worker.
When I was 17 (1994) I worked a minimum wage job and could afford an apartment on my own. When I was 24, in university, both my fiance and I were working minimum wage jobs and we were able to buy a house.
Why shouldn't low skilled work at least pay for the base minimum of food, clothing, and shelter? How is it okay for someone to work 40 hours a week, and still need food stamps? Or have the company they are working for only give them 35 hours a week so they aren't full time, so they don't get any benefits, and still have to find another job to make ends meet? Where are they going to find the time, and resources to go to school to get a better job?
they really should have picked up a skill by then to get a job that pays a decent living wage
This is a perfect example of privilege. Not everyone has parents who can support them through picking up a skill when they are young, and some people may not have the skills. Why should that matter? Why shouldn't someone doing the jobs that those with privilege do not want to do at least be able to have a roof over their heads and food on the table?
Also, customer service is not unskilled. There are a lot of people who cannot deal with the public. That is a skill.
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[deleted]
6 months ago
There are videos on youtube from japan, korea and even other countries where robots are now waiters., the entire "staff" of these restaurants are robots, so if you insist on paying waiters crazy wages for the most basic work there is, you'll just have robots.
it's not privilege, it's the reality. i worked my ass off being a waiter, but these jobs are stop gaps, you work there while you are studying to be something better.
Nobody is forced to be a waiter, you go in knowing what the wage is, you know it's shitty. the idea is to learn a real skill, a skill that people will pay you enough to live the life you want.
you can use buzz words, say it's some kind of privilege, but it's simply the reality of the world.
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sslssg (35178)
6 months ago
I'm not just talking about waiting jobs. I'm talking about all minimum wage paying jobs. There are servers who work their asses off. Why shouldn't they get paid at least enough to afford a place to live?
You say it's not a privilege, it's reality. You're reality is the privilege. It's a luxury to be able to study while working a minimum paying job. You were able to work that low paying job because I'm assuming you weren't paying for your rent, food, and tuition. I'm assuming you were getting help from somewhere. I might be wrong, you might have done it when I did it back when housing was affordable.
You brought up Japan, well Japan, has well regulated healthcare where citizens will not break their bank paying to see a doctor, and they also have free education programs.
You talk about servers being able to be replaced by robots. Guess what? Most jobs could end up being replaced by robots. Even surgeons. So...what happens when the work force is replaced? Don't discount a job as being unworthy. That person busting their ass wiping tables would probably do better financially on welfare, but they are working.
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