The other day I was listening to the news about something that happened in the States with fast food workers striking to double the minimum wage. I say, good on ya! The US minimum wage is ridiculous, anyone making that, after taxes needs another, if not 2 or more jobs just to support themselves and if they have one, a family. Think about this, if you're just starting a job and you're grossing, let's round up just a bit, $16,000USD, that's BEFORE they hit you with taxes, and social security and medicare. How can you live in New York? Waitstaff get paid peanuts and they rely on tips to survive. Things are not overly expensive in the US and the reason is the owners are not paying their employees much, therefore they don't need to defer the cost onto the customers. Australian prices are a little on the high side, I don't like the higher prices, but I do understand the reasoning behind it.
In Australia the general minimum wage for an adult 21 years of age and over is $16.37 an hour, which equals $622.20 a week, $32,254 a year and that's before taxes, which is just the federal tax, plus superannuation which is minimum 10% I have heard some companies are doing more, which is basically you're 401K. I remember while living in New York my husband was grossing about $655 for the week and yet taking home $565 clear, that was more than I was taking home at the time and I was grossing way more than $600 at the time. If you are under 16 years of age, your hourly wage will be $6.03, 16yrs = $7.74 an hour, 17yrs = $9.46hr, 18yrs = $11.18hr, 19yrs = $13.51hr and a 20 year olds minimum wage is $16.00 an hour. So in order to pay their employees, companies need to defer that cost onto the consumer. McDonald's employees are not walking out for poor wages here. Waitstaff here, your servers and busboys are not relying on tips, matter of fact tipping isn't done here, unless of course you absolutely LOVE the service, but it's not necessary. You won't see on your menu 15% gratuity will be added on for parties of 5 or more. Nope, not done here. Hairdressers, same thing, if you love your haircut and want to throw them a $5 that's totally up to you, but again it's not really done. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are some people here that need to work more than one job to make ends meet, maybe they have a family and mortgage payments and car payments and private school tuition. But a single person earning minimum wage can afford to rent near the city or even perhaps in the city if they have a flat-mate.
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