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Hourly wages are a thing of the past for many people. Even people that go to work daily and wait for their direct deposit each week have a lot easier time at work. Whatever their wages, they will magically find affordable housing, food prices within budget, and utility bills that make sense for their earnings.
Cars, clothes, and small gifts round the list of human comforts necessary to make work bareable. Most people want to spend time with their family outside of work or school. Friends should have some type of compatibility with their family and relationship prospects should be similar to their existing family at least a little.
This presents a conundrum for many people wanting to sell consumers something new, something better, something faster, less money, more features, of a better quality, or at a more attractive price.
If people don't buy enough things, how will people be able to go to work and make money for the necessities in their life?
While many people battled the government for increased wages of $15 per hour minimum, the rest of the country was at a standstill watching their plight. Trying to understand if these were teenagers asking for more allowance from after school jobs or if they were government program workers who were unable to find work yet.
Most of the country moved to project based work, make your own schedule, or small teams known as micro businesses after 2010. A lot of traditional places like retail and fast food have work rotations. In the past a general manager and assistant manager might have covered 16 to 20 hours worth of work per day and often worked additional hours on the weekend. Today a manager team of 5-6 people ensures everyone only has to work less than 8 hours including lunch.
These wages still have to cover the basics, and the minimum wage is often $22/hr or $44k a year with 1-2 years experience. People no longer track minimum wages, they are an artifact of the past. The minimum wage is the cost to live in the area and most people are single no roommates, family of 4 single income, or somewhere in between but able to move on their own if needed on short notice.
Average wages are around $70k per person in a lot of areas. There is no hourly wage discussion during the interview. Its a yearly wage discussion and most people expect to stay in their jobs for 2-3 years. Some people who are still switching jobs every 6 months to 2 years may ask for hourly wages, these are viewed as temp jobs, often a dependent in someone elses home who is unable to contribute to a business or organizations success but can still complete tasks during a work period.
Many people make way more than that. However, while $100k per year jobs are only offered to 3% to 4% of the available workers, jobs for managers are nearing $135k in many areas, not just big cities. Many of them live in apartments and may not even have a vehicle making use of trains, ride sharing, and other transportation.
Houses are in short supply and the trend on residential construction is sound proof or dampened luxury apartments of around 1500 square feet. These can be rented by a couple as a pair or distributed home. Traditionally, a family home is 2400 to 3000 square feet.
The bare minimum size of an apartment for a working adult is approximately 800 sq. ft. This includes kitchen, small living area, and amenities outside in the community. It provides a place to stay and shower so the worker can hopefully get to work on time, but they may not always be soundproof.
Workers often charge by the project and rent based on a bank statement or credit score. Some renters have a checking account specifically for rent qualification. This prevents price gouging, shows proof of requirements, and can help with budgeting. This is especially true for those with online banking and knowledge of best practices for managing multiple checking accounts. Few people are involved in criminal conduct.
This means that modern workers are charging by the project and taking ample time off in between work assignments or work for yearly salary, have a slow to moderate pace at work, and are limited to a maximum amount of hours but often do not have a minimum amount of hours they must work if all their tasks are done. Most jobs no longer have overtime. The workers wont accept it and they'll complain that they don't have enough money without working overtime.
Surviving modern economies is not that difficult anymore. It requires a budget, cost assessment to live in the area, and list of available jobs. Most jobs will be screened out as not meeting budget requirements. These have a high probability of being done as projects or being automated. There are always new jobs waiting for workers to apply for a period of 2-3 years, just to try it and see if it works. People are also willing to switch jobs. Its not just about their job title and hourly wage, its about the things they can buy with their paycheck and how they spend their time outside of work.
If things still seem difficult, it might make sense to visit a financial counselor, talk to family, or just try random jobs until things make sense. Try accepting every job offer for 1 year and try not to quit your job at all. You'll soon see how the job markets work more recently and it will make more sense when deciding on projects or looking for that 2-3 year job.