Minimum Wage - How can you survive ?

Minimum wage jobs are for kids who are still being partially supported by their parents, and students. Many student jobs now pay €11+

People with impairments which mean they will never obtain better jobs get long term support from HAP/social housing, medical card etc.

You think a vote for SF will solve matters?

When I was young we had bedsits. They were the bottom rung on the property ladder. But the government banned them, with no replacement. Now days people cannot afford the bottom rung, find them selves homeless.

A very big share too. I know lots of them

I didn’t mean that upskilling was horseshyte, just the notion that people shouldn’t feel entitled to a certain lifestyle even on the minimum wage.

If it’s necessary to live multiple to a room/house in order to survive, that’s a sign of a failed housing policy. It doesn’t take into account the needs of a whole section of society. Students, the unskilled and single adults who may also need to support a previous relationship/family in addition to themselves.

Folks scoff at Sinn Fein but I’ve yet to be convinced that the FFG duopoly are going to suddenly come up with the answers.

I fully agree with this and here's an example. A large food producer in the north east is the finest example of this. Major turnover of staff with majority on minimum wage. Sh1t hours where staff are just told randomly at 5.50pm that they are staying until 10pm. If an employee seeks a pay increase the reply is that they pay the position, not the person. One of the attitudes openly spoken by boss to others about the staff is you have to keep them down.

I don't think it will ever change in companies like this. They are rubbing their hands together with this war but what can you do, people want their super 6.

Isn't it interesting that we're so much more comfortable with giving corporate welfare than giving individuals welfare. The facts are that businesses need cleaners, people to work tills etc. Those people need to live so they need the money from either their job, or government support or a combination of both. We allow businesses to pay wages that are far below the cost of housing and living and then we make up the difference with benefits which are collected through tax. So we all help pay the wages of businesses we might never use.

So the fast food restaurant pays wages the staff can't live on to keep their costs down, customers get artificially low priced fast food and the tax payer makes up the rest of the worker's wages.

One option would be to let companies pay the actual cost of living to workers, charge the appropriate price for their food and let customers choose which business they want to use when the cost of labour is actually built in.

It seems that were happier to spread the cost around to taxpayers whether ot not they use the services, and have more people in employment and use government top up their wages.

I don't have a huge problem with companies needing to pay the actual cost of living to their staff and changing more for their services. We pay wither way.

By living off your family.

Bullsh*t and just shows that your OP is not a genuine query but just another Shinnerbot thread.

As for SF doing anything about the multiple issues they keep banging on about, forget it. They have one and only one item on the primary agenda - a border poll. All else is subservient to that ballot box strategy raison d'etre.

this is a difficult one, yes some businesses can afford to pay more, but many, particularly most sme's cant, pup should have remained in place for many of these employees, but reduced if returned to work, this would have reduced pressure on all involved, provided the economy with more money, maintaining a higher level of economic activities, but since it didnt happen, expect rising tensions, business failures and unemployment!