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Is it worth giving your life to minimum wage jobs?

  • 28-09-2021 10:24am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 151 ✭✭


    Just letting my thoughts out to share. Some will say yes, others no.

    Does a minimum wage job meet your financial needs? usually it just about does if you are good with money-keeping. If you are in rented accommodation then usually half your wage per month is gone on rent. If one of you cares for the babies/kids, then it ain't so dandy.

    Anyone in the latter situation survives.

    So you slog your guts out, for some uncaring boss, for the next 40 yrs+, and if you're lucky enough to live beyond retirement age, then you get a few years........to look after the grandchildren!

    Let's not forget that the job you do is minimum wage with no pay rises....ever! So you've been working in that same job for 2 yrs, and in comes a new person, first job ever, knows nothing until trained, and they get the same wage as you.

    What happened to the system of "those with a family to keep need more money", than a fresh new worker from school/college? Has equality taken over common sense? Who has benefited the most from those 2 scenarios?

    Are we lead to believe that the government says, "It costs no more for a family man to live on minimum wage than it does for a youngster out of school"

    Yes, the family man can claim for extra from the govt, after disclosing his complete life and financial situation first. So if the govt knows it costs more for the family man, then introduce a minimum wage for family workers.

    So what does "minimum wage" bring?.....from what I see....it is debt.

    Borrow money to get the car. Have a credit card. Borrow money to go on holiday. If you're "lucky/unlucky" enough to get a mortgage, then don't forget about spending cash on the property.

    I have heard so many times about people that retire with under 1000 in their bank...for a life's work!

    I am sure we have all heard about the couple that did fantastic on minimum wage throughout their life, but I've met none, and I have met many people from all walks. Usually the scenario of "always on a low wage", comes with not really having a lot, except debt!


    So is a minimum wage job worth doing?.

    In my opinion..No, unless you're 18 and wanting a start job.

    Why would anyone put themselves in debt just to have a lifestyle that everyone deserves without debt?

    Working all week, you want to be able to own a car, afford a holiday each year, pay the rent/mortgage comfortably, pay your bills, pay your DD's for your mobile/sky/internet/food/afford repairs, and if you have kids...that costs a fair whack.

    Does that sound like you're living a millionaire lifestyle? Of course not. All you're simply asking for are the basics of a life for working.


    Covid has made people realise that family is more important than a job with minimum wage, no prospects, no pay rises, no contract, always borrowing to make ends meet, and throw in the stress/frustration those people go through trying to make ends meet, and having a boss that is just an ignorant pig.

    Do some bosses think that if you're on minimum wage that you are there to be a slave?

    There are still as many people, (percentage wise), living on the breadline as there were years ago. The only changes are technology. Or have we have just become "modern breadline livers...with higher expectations"?

    Nothing has changed for the lower-end wage workers, except ease of access to debt, which most cannot afford.


    I have mentioned no names/companies/people, and it is purely my view from the last 50 years. I know the opinions of many will be different, and that's fine, we all have an opinion. I've been lucky in life, but some of my friends were not, and I've been seeing that since, in others.

    So if you are to reply, please make the reply legible, non-naming, respectful, and from experience. We all have to live, and how we do it is not that dissimilar.



«134

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 6,171 ✭✭✭Ubbquittious


    StagFlation! Billionaires and the CCP are running away with the show, leaving the rest of us high and dry



  • Registered Users Posts: 25,593 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    A minimum wage job is not intended to be a job for life. It simply one you do until you get a better job.

    The government makes sure that low wage workers get more money than childless people, via child benefit and also FIS ( or whatever it's called now) for pnes who are working.

    And social housing also provides a substantial state subsidy to low wage and unwaged people.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,461 ✭✭✭Bubbaclaus


    People that spend any more than a few years in their youth in a minimum wage job mistook a starter job for a career.



  • Registered Users Posts: 33,650 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato
    Restaurant at the End of the Universe


    Not worth "giving your life" to *any* job, OP.

    It took a while but I don't mind. How does my body look in this light?



  • Registered Users Posts: 151 ✭✭Silent Shrill


    Do you think those still on low wages at the age of 40 or above do not want a "better job"? and if no "better job" comes along, then you're stuck with the crappy job.

    Why should govts make up the shortfall between a living wage and a wage that is not livable? Why should tax payers make up the difference? Why not just make it law that everyone gets a fair wage for a full weeks work? It's not as though these companies cannot afford it.

    Social housing is fine, if you can get one. Most are in private rented accommodation because the councils do not build enough new homes, and the private social housing schemes simply do not have enough homes to offer.

    What you've done in that statement is make it sound so simple to get all those benefits of being on a low wage.....that is not the case for the majority.


    No-one wants a low paid, uninteresting, boring, job. Go see how much they will offer you for working in the hospitality industry.....minimum wage. I have known people that worked in the same company all their life for no more than minimum wage. Maybe some have no qualifications to further their path in work, but then if we all had degrees coming out of our pockets their would be no work for them also.

    The post was not about getting a "better job". The post was about offering a living wage to family people, whether they have no qualifications or a draw full. Those that just use the minimum wage jobs are there temporary until something turns up, usually college kids. The rest of the world has to get on with it.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 151 ✭✭Silent Shrill


    A career. Great if you can get one. So those that are not in their youth, and working minimum wage jobs, "mistook" their job? They knew well what the score was but had no other option. If you cannot get a decent job....(for whatever reason), then you can live on a crappy wage to bring up your kids. That sounds just fine and dandy.

    The point you're missing is that minimum wage needs to cover living costs and give a bit to save for the unexpected event. There will always be employers ready to exploit those around them, offering minimum, (or lower), wages to those that work for them. If the business cannot afford to pay a decent wage, shut down or employ no-one, as a business that makes no money ain't a business.



  • Registered Users Posts: 520 ✭✭✭imokyrok


    My intelligent affable 23 year old youngest son is stuck in this situation. He seems paralysed with indecision because he can't think of a career he would like and so he plods along in Dunnes stores. Theres no future in it and I'd dearly love to see him go to college like his older sibs did or do an apprenticeship but he can't seem to find anything he'd like to do.



  • Registered Users Posts: 12,325 ✭✭✭✭mariaalice


    We could make minimum wage rate the living wage rage which is currently €12.30, then have a campaign saying you can't live a decent life on that ( how is decent life defined ) also ban anyone starting a business unless they pay a decent wage? again how is a decent wage defined?

    I am all for having welfare and decent public services but the government and society can only go so far in making life 'fair' many don't have the academic ability to do well in school or have issues like ADD which makes learning difficult or come from families who don't have the social capital to get good apprenticeships or the like for their children life is not fair for everyone but the government can't mandate that life is fair.



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,172 ✭✭✭Jinglejangle69


    We all don't have to like our jobs but we still have to do them.


    That's life.



  • Registered Users Posts: 12,325 ✭✭✭✭mariaalice


    The is a different issue and has nothing to do with the minimum wage there are a million things he could do, even keep his job in Dunnes and go to college part time.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,629 ✭✭✭jrosen


    Absolutely not but I think low paid jobs are more the issue than minimum wage jobs. For the most part I believe people are aware of the differences between that part time job you get in school/college V the job you want to do for life.

    The problem is people go into a role/job but at 20 aren't really looking at the long term earning potential of that job. Now with information so easily accessible people are more informed but 20 years ago less so.

    I know so many people who have changed career due to money. People who enjoyed their jobs, who were good at what they did but simply couldn't afford to stay. Great for them that they can move but it does leave a gap and we see that now in certain industries struggling to hire and keep staff.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,560 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    Better to give the lives of immigrants to minimum or less than minimum wage jobs, especially in the disgusting meat industry here in Ireland.

    Pretty shocking stuff in a report published about the meat industry in Ireland today, all so we can have cheap breakfast rolls and chicken fillets.



  • Registered Users Posts: 12,325 ✭✭✭✭mariaalice


    That is the big issue cheap food v paying meat processing well, a lot of our current lifestyle depends on a whole plethora of people being paid at low or minimum wage.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,560 ✭✭✭✭Thelonious Monk


    food is far too cheap, meat especially, in my opinion



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭enricoh


    If you are working 39hrs a week for 48 weeks a year are you really 'giving your life' to your job?

    I know plenty of lads that haven't done a days work in years. It seems a very aimless existance to me.



  • Registered Users Posts: 24,693 ✭✭✭✭Strumms


    The only low/minimum wage job I had was a part time one at college... money was shîte. £4.40 an hour while even for 1999/2000 was erm ‘average’ considering what the company were making... It was a CV builder and pocket money filler. Very reputable company although I should have been paid more I got a nice thoughtful reference.

    i have and always had aspirations, life should be comfortable, enjoyable, I love traveling, in the second half of this year or early next I want a new car, need a holiday... life is about living, not existing..



  • Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    This, of course.

    There is no meaning of life. Nobody is here for any purpose. So you may as well just do what you can to enjoy yourself in the short time you have on this planet.

    There is no objective measure of "success". In a million years you and the guy with a billion euro will be dead and forgotten, and nobody will call him more "successful" than you. There won't even be anyone around to compare you.

    If you are enjoying your time on earth, then you're succeeding. It doesn't have to naked skydiving off Machu Piccu. If a cold beer in your back garden listening to music is enjoyment to you, then you're winning.

    Realistically one needs to work to live, but if you're doing insane hours for a job that you hate and you can't even say that you're enjoying yourself, then WTF are you doing? Someone doing 40 hours a week in a low wage job might be having an absolute ball in life because they're not dealing with insane hours or insane stresses. They have enough money to enjoy themselves.

    A life where you love the job you do and you love your downtime too can be hard to come by. Some people would rather just love their downtime by taking an easy job.



  • Registered Users Posts: 490 ✭✭Nyero


    That situation is entirely on him then. He needs to figure where he wants to go and how to get there.


    Regarding Dunnes I was speaking to somebody in there and if you are good at your job your career in Dunnes can move along extremely quickly to supervisor, manager etc.



  • Registered Users Posts: 17,822 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    most people seem happy that there is Dickensian economy metaphorically wiping their asses for them, ie they get to sail along with an army of generally "brown people" doing stuff for them. I get a little embarrassed getting fast food delivered, they are never Irish teenagers or college students , its someone living in decrepit or cramped conditions who is paid as little as possible by Deliveroo or whoever

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



  • Registered Users Posts: 806 ✭✭✭who what when


    That's a very condescending post in fairness.

    There's tens of thousands of older workers in low paid jobs for a multitude of reasons.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 314 ✭✭backwards_man


    OP as others have said minimum wage jobs are not supposed to be for life. Anyone who came through the school system here in Ireland got access to a decent standard of education if they wanted it. Some people worked incredibly hard through school and in college to ensure that they did not end up in low paid work for life. Others chose a different path. In general, barring some sort of misfortune outside of your control, you reap what you sow in life. There are always outliers, but in general anyone who has an innate talant at something or works very hard during the school years and beyond in this country will do much, much better than minimum wage.



  • Registered Users Posts: 8,235 ✭✭✭BrianD3


    You're a slave to the money then you die




  • Registered Users Posts: 1,760 ✭✭✭dudley72


    I dont know of any company that doesn't offer promotions/raises etc. If you start off and cannot work your way up the company then something is wrong. In reality the World is full of people out to get ahead in life, I have seen people join a company and 6 months later be ahead of people who have worked 20 years in that company. Myself included. Fair f**ks to them is my attitude.

    Most of the kids now out of college expect to walk into jobs starting at 200k basic and are surprised when they don't get them. Too much watching Suits etc on TV and expect everything ti fall into place for them without lifting a finger.

    For the lower end worker, well the amount of night course, free course available now is incredible compared to a few years ago, I have done a number of them and now loads of remote so you dont even have to go to a college. I know recently a company said to me they are no longer hung up on degrees, if people have the right education level and have the right attitude and ability to comprehend they will take them on, now this is a huge company, they start at the bottom but more or less they will train you up to a high paying job.

    The options are available, you just need to take them/



  • Registered Users Posts: 25,593 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    I'm older, and I'm earning 50% less now than I was 10 years ago. I've done some temporary entry level clerical jobs a couple of times since 2010, just to keep employed. But I've never been on minimum wage.


    As for the 23 year old who's still working in Dunnes - if he's intelligent, then by now he should be well on the way into their management training. If he cannot be arsed, that's his choice.

    Part if the point of low wages is to encourage people to move along, and free up entry level jobs for those who are entering the workforce and need to learn basic workplace skills and disciplines.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,763 ✭✭✭✭Potential-Monke


    I was going to go hell for leather on working this out, because it's the situation I'm in. But I got bored after a few minutes so I used this site to get the average monthly spend for a sinle person in Ireland. Not sure how accurate it is, but it seems fairly ok by my guesstimation:

    Summary of cost of living in Ireland

    • Family of four estimated monthly costs: €4,807
    • Single person estimated monthly costs: €2,721
    • Ireland is the 3rd most expensive country in Western Europe (3 out of 18)
    • Cost of living in Ireland is more expensive than in 93% of countries in the World (6 out of 73)

    So, for me, a single person, I need €2721 per month, after tax, to just live. Min wage pays average of €1656.20 per month. So it simply doesn't cover the cost. But as Hotblack said above, no job is worth giving you life to.



  • Registered Users Posts: 25,593 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    2700 per month after tax equates to a salary of over 40k.

    It's far more than a single person needs to live on.



  • Registered Users Posts: 16,514 ✭✭✭✭osarusan


    Part if the point of low wages is to encourage people to move along, and free up entry level jobs for those who are entering the workforce and need to learn basic workplace skills and disciplines.

    The point of low wages is to save money, nothing else.



  • Registered Users Posts: 13,763 ✭✭✭✭Potential-Monke


    And here's the problem. €2700 a month is, according to that website, the min required to live and slightly enjoy life, and you think it's too much? Seriously?! Do you want all single people on the breadline, barely able to afford food? Because anything below that €2700 a month is considered less than a livable wage. What do you think single people should be allowed earn?



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,324 ✭✭✭Shebean


    A lot of people have no option but to take a minimum wage job.

    The idea that it's a career or life choice is just not reality. There are numerous reasons from education to lack of connections to socio-economic.

    In my experience the least well paying jobs I've had took the biggest physical toll. In short many people on minimum wage work damn hard and then face ridicule from the ignorant for needing state aid to pay rent.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 16,188 ✭✭✭✭Galwayguy35


    Wages will always remain low because people coming from other countries are willing to work for the money that is on offer for that kind of work.

    Thats the downside of free movement in the EU and more non EU citizens coming here in the last 15 to 20 years.



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