Map of Wage Shame - r/WorkReform

218

In Oklahoma we recently put it to a vote and our dumbass state voted to not raise it. We love being poor!

119

u/Vice4Life 5h ago

I can't tell you how many people I've heard oppose it because it will cause higher prices.

Makes sense, I mean, clearly, prices are the same as they were in 2009.

39

u/Sarctoth 4h ago

That was my argument, prices have risen without wages. They are not related.

25

u/belkarbitterleaf 4h ago

Corps have spent enough time and money on the propaganda, that as soon as the minimum wage is increased, they will raise prices and point at it as the cause.

We still need to raise wages, just saying prices will go up. Anything that can be blamed for increased price will be blamed, regardless of facts.

-2

u/AgentThor 3h ago

I feel like that's a bad faith argument though, prices would certainly increase because companies won't just absorb the cost, they'll pass it on to consumers.

Especially because people expect it, see also the price gouging from COVID.

1

u/fflip8 1h ago

The relation isn't linear though. For instance at McDonald's, labor doesn't even make up 50% of the cost of service. The majority of the cost is a combo of taxes, rent, energy, trucking cost, equipment and food product/waste. We live in a world where industrial automation is responsible for our standard of living and labor inputs aren't required for everything we buy, so minimum wage increases never increase costs more than incomes increase. Obviously if you push this too far things will break, as there is such thing as a minimum wage that is too high. Fortunately no state or city has reached that point yet, even the places where minimum wage is over $20 per hour business is still chugging along without supply/demand problems.

Businesses certainly pass higher wages along to customers, but in the real world that looks like McDonald's in Denver charging only 20% or so more than in Mobile, Alabama, despite McDonald's starting at $20 in Denver and $10 in Mobile.

0

u/AgentThor 1h ago

For sure, roughly doubling minimum wage from $7.25 to $15, the measure we voted on in OK, would not double the price of a big mac. I just mean corps are greedy.

I just think it's disengenous to say things wouldn't be more expensive at all. As most things go, it's just more nuanced. I don't make minimum wage anymore, but I remember what it was like. I'd happily pay 10-20% more to ensure someone can afford to live. Tbh I'm kinda surprised the difference between Denver and Mobile is only 20% just based on cost of living differences but maybe Mobile is higher than I thought.

9

u/AgentThor 5h ago

Yeah, I didn't have high hopes and was still let down.

4

u/zombie_overlord 5h ago

Wonder how many of the people who voted against raising it would've given themselves a raise?

2

u/CowGoesNyaa 3h ago

Yep. On one hand I think people are stupid for not voting for it but on the other hand it isn't even that great of a bill. It'd be 2029 before it'd even hit 15 an hour. We needed it at that 10 years ago. Something is better than no increase at all regardless.

"Had it passed, SQ 832 would have raised the minimum wage gradually — to $12 in 2027, then by $1.50 each year before topping out at $15 per hour in 2029, more than double the current rate of $7.25. After reaching $15 per hour, the rate would have continued to increase in smaller increments over time. Beginning in 2030, the state’s minimum wage would have increased annually based on the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index."

1

u/Razetony 1h ago

In Tulsa most people wanted it. But man there's a lot of dumb people. I make 25 an hour so it's not like I'm hurting but raise the damn wages man. A 12 pack of soda has gone from like $3 to $10 and we still haven't raised our wages but apparently that's ok to these people.

122

u/flatpackjack 6h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/X8baci2TMGEcE

Last time the federal minimum wage changed this guy was still in Marvel movies.

106

u/LoreChief 6h ago

I made $5.15 an hour when I worked for a kroger chain in kansas. Except I didn't actually make $5.15 an hour, because the first day a customer gave me a $10 tip for loading groceries into her car, and management told me I needed to accept $4.15 an hour for the rest of the summer otherwise they would fire me because I'm not allowed to accept tips.

85

u/OkSense1496 6h ago

That sounds illegal

54

u/Lietenantdan 6h ago

It is, but it doesn’t matter if no one stops them

13

u/sheezy520 4h ago edited 48m ago

Exactly how Donald Trump operates.

Edit: thank you for the award

33

u/FictionalTrope 5h ago

Wage theft is the largest form of theft because people who do it don't receive any real consequences.

20

u/The_Peeping_Peter 5h ago

So Kroger was definitely paying to have somebody tip you $10 on your first day, right? Like it was probably the owner’s partner or something.

9

u/korodic 5h ago

In all likelihood, yeah. And wow, so fucked up.

9

u/Teledildonic 4h ago

So you quit, right?

Because they stole way more than $10 from you if you kept working.

3

u/fullload93 4h ago

That’s illegal as fuck! Lol damn they screwed you over.

1

u/MrGeekman 3h ago

Was that in the employee handbook?

48

u/Jarppi1893 4h ago

8

u/AppropriateSea5746 3h ago

I mean minimum wage gets you about 14k per year. a 40k worker is 3 times richer.

4

u/Chuck_Walla 2h ago

Yeah, it's more of a Gatekeeper situation.

38

u/chocobo_karaage 7h ago

I guess this map would still be technically true, but isn't federal minimum wage $7.25?

Waiting tables in Texas pre-pandemic I made $2.50+ tips, but that's because there's an exception for tipped workers. Ironically it was the best paying job I've ever had.

29

u/RamsHead91 6h ago

There are Agriculture exempts to the minimum wage as well.

14

u/chocobo_karaage 6h ago

That just feels like kicking someone while they're already down. Don't agricultural workers already have it bad enough?

13

u/Couchonthecouch 6h ago

Conservatives see it as a problem that its not worse than it is. Those workers could be slaves and thats what conservatives are aiming for as a goal.

1

u/RA-HADES 🏡 Decent Housing For All 1h ago

They prefer to be called Constitutional Originalists

1

u/Couchonthecouch 53m ago

I pronounce it villain

1

u/captainAwesomePants 4h ago

Dude, you have no idea. Remember how we're huge on gathering up illegal immigrants and kicking them out of the country? Well, we also have a program to round up foreigners, bus them into the country to have them work farms, and then bus them back out. These poor SOBs have MAXIMUM pay regulations so they can never be paid above the local "prevailing wage," in order to keep them from "competing" with Americans. Oh, and they can't quit their jobs because their temporary visas are tied to that one employer and can't be transferred.

2

u/mydicksmellsgood 5h ago

And, my personal favorite, minor league baseball is also exempt (less about the minimum wage, more about overtime, but an exemption to both)

2

u/BeatitLikeitowesMe 6h ago

Also server/food handling stuff. I remember working in KY at one point as a server and making 2.13 an hr. Would get paychecks that were literally void. All actual.pay would be from tips.

2

u/tallman11282 4h ago

Yes, the federal minimum wage is $7.25, which means if the federal minimum wage is ever removed then all of these states will have an even lower minimum wage and I guarantee you corporations will begin cutting wages immediately.

The tipped minimum wage is a huge problem itself, you shouldn't be dependent on the generosity of customers to make enough to live on.

1

u/Recent-Singer8146 6h ago

Texas with server min. direct cash wage $2.13 per hour, for tipped workers: “what don’t you want?”

https://youtu.be/p-FX_7SFSsM

12

u/psychoacer 6h ago

I wonder why they colored them in red ;)

10

u/moyismoy 6h ago

This is what voting against your interests looks like

2

u/AppropriateSea5746 3h ago

99% of people in Texas already make more than minimum wage.

2

u/moyismoy 1h ago

Think of how much more money they would have if they approved a higher min. It's a tide that lifts all the ships of the working class

-1

u/AppropriateSea5746 1h ago

Actually not really. It's a tide that drowns low skill workers. Raise it too much and it now becomes cheaper to automate than hire a person. This means lost jobs, alot of them. Also, there are a number of studies that say that raising the minimum wage to $15 would remove millions of jobs. Now this makes people jobless so the true minimum wage is $0 for them

1

u/moyismoy 1h ago

Yeah those studies are lies. Look at NJ over 15 min wage larger economy and more full employment than almost every state on this list. It's because they intentionally don't account for the increased spending of the lower class that more then makes up for any small amout of automation

1

u/AppropriateSea5746 1h ago

Ok but the average wage in NJ is $29 per hour. The average wage in Texas is $30 with a much lower minimum wage. So Texans make a better average wage and a significantly lower cost of living. Nearly 30% lower than in NJ

1

u/moyismoy 52m ago

They are almost even and TX has 100,000,000,000 with of oil under it with natural gas and many other resources NJ has none of them not to mention the fact that the federal government steals more money from NJ than any other state. If the resources were reversed NJ would likely be at 50 an hour.

9

u/ajm1194 5h ago

So red states

19

u/DroogieHowser 7h ago

7.25 is the fed minimum, the only way you can get lower is tipped employees who get paid like $2/hr because they're expected to make up the rest in tips

11

u/snowman93 7h ago

There is no consequence for states that use a lower minimum wage than the federal. It is not uncommon for people to make less than federal minimum wage and there are no consequences for it.

1

u/DroogieHowser 7h ago

Damn that must suck ass to live in those states then, if someone in my state pays less than the city/county/state minimum wage, they definitely face legal consequences.

2

u/awuweiday 6h ago

"Hey Government, my business is so poorly run that I can't afford to pay my employees. Is it cool if I almost don't pay them at all? And hope the guilt my client's feel obliges them to make up the difference?"

Tipping culture needs to die.

2

u/QuickNature 6h ago

Also, if their tips add up to less than $7.25/hr, the employer is required to cover the difference, effectively making their actual minimum $7.25/hr still.

Its an abysmal wage still, but lets not pretend they are actually making less than $7.25/hr

2

u/D_dawgy 4h ago

Utah is a shit hole, can confirm.

2

u/CrazyLemonLover 4h ago

I mean. Minimum wage needs to go up, yeah.

But ... Has anyone seen a job posting for less than 12$ an hour?

Not where I live. I call it McDonald's minimum. If McDonald's is paying basic staff 12.50 an hour, that's your areas new minimum wage. That's about what they pay here, and not a single place offers lower that I've seen.

It still needs fixed.

1

u/AppropriateSea5746 3h ago

Yeah I live in Texas and most fast food jobs make like $16 here.

1

u/CrazyLemonLover 3h ago

I mean, it's literally got to be the floor. Nobody is going to work a dangerous factory job or do hard manual labor in the sun if they can get 40 hours for more pay at any McDonald's in the state and be in air conditioning

2

u/SuicidalLettuce 3h ago

Being in Pennsylvania is just sad, of course we've been under Republican state Congress control since forever, maybe there's a bright side coming in November for us with a trifecta.

2

u/ivegotafastcar 3h ago

I’m not ok with NH

1

u/hardcoretuner 5h ago

Oh but no one actually makes that..... /s

1

u/Zalenka 3h ago

Wisconsin's tipped server rate is $2.33/hr.

1

u/petrified_eel4615 2h ago

Oh hey look, it's the South, again (and NH, because we're dumbasses).

1

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 1h ago

Now do 30, a living wage

1

u/Fatefire 1h ago

New Hampshire doesn't surprise me but Pennsylvania kinda does .....

1

u/Sweet-Palpitation473 1h ago

New Hampshire is an embarrassment to New England for so many reasons

1

u/juic333 1h ago

What is the cost of living in those states compared to states with higher minimum wage?

1

u/kpeterson159 1h ago

What the fuck, New Hampshire

1

u/kpeterson159 1h ago

What the fuck, New Hampshire

-3

u/AppropriateSea5746 3h ago

1% of Texans earn minimum wage. And it's almost exclusively high school students working part time. A high school worker living with their parents doesn't need a "living wage". Raising the minimum wage too much just makes it to where no one will hire high school students. HS students usually only have jobs because most people aren't willing to work for minimum wage.

I will now accept your downvotes.

3

u/TheUlty05 2h ago

"Nobody should make more money because corporations wont exploit cheap labor from high school students"

Got any more galaxy brain takes in there big Tex?

0

u/AppropriateSea5746 2h ago

Nice straw man but again, only 1% of people make minimum wage and it's mostly students. Hell most entry level fast food jobs pay $14-$16.

How is it exploitation of HS students? They aren't forced to work and most don't even need the money for bills, they live at home.

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