Living Off Minimum Wage
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by AidenAstrup
For quite a while there was a large fuss over whether or not people can live off of minimum wage. I decided to change my wage (I work for my organization) to the bare minimum - 1 USD and see how it worked.
I got rid of all my money except for the 5 USD starting citizen fee and got rid of all my food. I was doing alright for quite a while. Living perfectly fine, buying Q1 food and able to stock up for the days ahead. That lasted less than a week. Within a few days I was unable to eat two days in a row. I finanly made enough to buy Q1 food again. The problem was that prices kept fluctuating. One day I would be able to buy food with just 1 USD, others it went to 2 USD. After weeks of doing this - here is what happened.
I was forced to quit after 2 1/2 weeks. My wellness was declining and I could only afford food every 2 days. There was no saving for anything, just getting the bare minimum. In total my wellness had dropped 20 points. My skill had not yet gone up one point meaning that if I were a new citizen I wouldn't have been able to get a better paying job.
What does this mean? I don't know. You decide. I did this to help myself really. I was unsure of whether or not I liked the wage and I heard someone say that within a few days citizens could just get a better paying job...I decided to see if that was true. It wasn't. The main argument against raising the wage is that it will screw with the markets...which is true. So is this right or wrong? It's your choice.
The Facts:
Minimum Wage: 1 USD
Starting Citizen Fee: 5 USD
Cost of Q1 Foo😛
1.60 USD
Cost of Q1 Gifts: 3.55 USD
Cost of a Q1 House: 267 USD
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Good experiment Aiden, but I see why it was taking you 2 1/2 weeks to gain a skill point. You didn't start at Skill 0.
When your skill 0, you gain skill experience much faster. I think it takes 5 days? I can't remember. Each skill level takes longer to raise. I'm 6, and I only get .02 points every time I work. It would take me 50 work days to get to skill 7.
I'd suggest you start the experiment again, but try it in the construction industry, which you have 0 skill in. The results would be different. I'd be curious to see them.
Good article,
Very helpful.
There are plenty of 0 skill jobs that pay more than $1
From skill level 0, it takes 2 days to get to skill 1.
With the starting money, I was able to purchase 3 units of Q1 food, which will last someone until they're at or beyond skill 1.
Excellent information, and a beneficial experiment which, I think says an enormous amount about the need for re-evaluation of the set minimum wage. If an educated citizen like yourself is struggling, imagine the struggles of a noob. Definitely not the best footing to begin an eLife.
Voted and subscribed.
I'm not on minimum wage, but I feel your starvation and wellness problems.
@Jordan Miller, never knew this...I think I have heard it, but didn't know it was for skill..
@Charles I didn't say I was making the best paying 0 skill job, i said I was living off of minimum wage 😛
If it new results do come out to be that new players have top little, then I see two options:
Raise citizen fee (Government paid)
Raise minimum wage (Company paid)
you cant start off at the top. your paid at the bottom because you dont have any productivity. in just a few days you DO have some skill and can be paid accordingly... more than minimum wage.
minimum wage is right where it should be.
To begin I am opposed to any such animal as minimum wage. I think it exists only because it can't be zero. (Not only in eRep but in RL also.)
Now do a real experiment that actually means something:
Rather than trying to live off minimum wage try to survive and succeed with the minimum wage set at 1 USD.
Do it this way.
1) Change to a skill that you do not have; let's say constructions.
2) Find someone that will hire you with 0 skill. As of this writing I see 4 that start at 1 USD, 1 starts at 1.05 USD and 1 starts at 2 USD.
3) Work regularly. In two days you will reach skill level 1. (There is a skill level 1 job right now for 3.20 USD.) You could live on that until you reach level 2.
4) There are several skill level 2 jobs in construction that pay 6 USD/day or better.
Now I admit you would not be able to improve your wellness over that period. That is why the USWP has programs like the Hand to Hand Project.
BTW, for the record, when I had Q1 companies I always started skill level 0 people at 4 USD. But it pissed me off that they either;
a) Did not work more than a day before becoming inactive or
b) As soon as they hit 1.5 or 2 they left without even giving me a chance to raise them.
Apologies for stealing your thread (and the shameless plug of the H2H Project 😃 )
😁^ like what i said.
1st off, never said I supported higher wages, just wanted to see how it would work. Two...no minimum wage in real life? God, you have a lot of trust in people lol
That was me sorry 😛
Neil, unfortunately, a minimum wage will only harm those it is intended to serve. It would push low-skilled workers into unemployment.
This is a hidden cost of minimum wage regimes in real life.
Minimum wages push people into unemployment? When you say something utterly stupid, heartless, uneducated and dispicable as that, you should at least attempt to explain yourself.
It is simple supply and demand. Employers are demanding less workers at a higher wage.
Consider this series of articles I wrote while the minimum wage was being decided for America:
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/minimum-wage-unnecessary-and-potentially-harmful-689352/1
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/an-update-on-the-minimum-wage-692817/1
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-minimum-wage-tug-of-war-693053/1
Aiden- I actually agree with Tyrsis on this one. If minimum wage were at 5 dollars, companies wouldn't hire skill 0 employees. They simply can not profit off of them.
It works the same way in the real world, to an extent. a higher minimum wage means companies have to charge more for their products to make a profit. If they don't want to do this, they will keep the same prices and lay people off, expecting them to do more work. When you see companies laying off hundreds of workers, it is (90% of the time) because they are not allowed to pay them less (due to union contracts or minimum wage laws) to make up for dips in the profits.
If I owned a company in RL, and I had to pay my employees a set amount higher than I'd like to, I would only hire those with experience. There is no room for a ground floor when you have to pay employees so much.