Can You Support a Family on $14 an Hour?

I don’t usually write about politics, finance, or the perfect cyclone formed by their intersection, but something about what I saw the other day just…I don’t know…made me mad? Made me sad? Made me disillusioned with the American Dream, as if I wasn’t already disillusioned with it?

I walked into Target to get something I needed. I can’t even remember what it was. To be honest, every time I go into Target, I end up waking out with more than I came in for.

Se la vie.

Anyways, there was a sign posted by the entrance. Target is hiring. Starting wages at $14 hourly.

$14 hourly, I thought. Who can live off that?

Don’t worry, I’m not one of socialists who cry out for a tax-the-rich program to reallocate wealth. Are you? If you are, I mean no offense.

Let’s be real. Rich people don’t pay taxes anyway: they have lawyers build a system of loopholes. And if you destroy the loopholes, they’ll either find new ones, or move overseas.

Ever read Atlas Shrugged? I love that book. Maybe you don’t.

But at the same time, I believe that everyone in our country should be able to work 40 hours a week at a “normal job,” even something like stocking shelves at Target, and still make enough money to support a family. I don’t think it’s fair or right to say that only someone making six figures has the right to live comfortably, get married, and have kids.

So let’s take a look at what $14 hourly at 40 hours a week will bring you — if Target even gives you 40 hours weekly, which they won’t, because then they’d have to offer you health insurance. I’m not so good at math, so correct me if I’m wrong…

40 x $14 = $560 weekly

$560 x 52 weeks = $29,120

$29,120 / 12 months = $2,426 monthly

I didn’t bother taking out taxes, because presumably someone making that amount of money will get it back.

If you’re single, working at Target does not seem like a bad gig. You’ll probably make some coworker friends, collect some crazy stories to share at parties, and have enough money to put aside every month for beer and pizza. Retirement can wait…I need Guinness.

But what if you want to have a family?

What if you’re one of the millions of Americans who are married, with kids, who can’t live in a one-bedroom apartment or studio, and who can’t land a well-paying job?

What if your credit report is preventing you from getting a better job, or your race (it happens), or your lack of connections, or the fact that you didn’t go to college?

College, by the way, has become a real scam. I have an MA. I went to college. Then I went to grad school. But today, kids are getting saddled with six figures of debt before they even start working…or their parents are, just a few decades before they probably want to retire.

What if you have to work at Target, or Walmart, or McDonald’s, or the Bank of America call center where I worked, making $16 hourly?

By the way, when you work at Bank of America, you’re required to look like you’re making six figures.

So now let’s see how that income holds up against monthly expenses. I guess it really varies region by region, and order to get a truly accurate picture, we’d have to make this a little more geographically nuanced — but I never said I was a statistician.

Let’s say you have a three-person family (the new norm). Your expenses might look like this:

Average 2-bedroom rent in America: $1,200

Average utility bill: $111

Average grocery bill for 3 people: $467

So far, with electricity, rent, and food, we’re up to $1,778.

We’ve got $648 left over.

It’s nice to have a car. I’ll be honest; it’s not a necessity. But isn’t having a car part of the American Dream?

That will cost you as much as $381 for a used car. That seems a little high to me…I know I’ve seen KIA is leasing vehicles for less than $150 monthly, or something like that. I’m just reporting what I saw on NerdWallet.

Of course, you’ll need insurance, which will cost you $125.

We’re down to just $142 left. Will you be needing toilet paper? Toothpaste? Laundry detergent? I’ll be honest…I’m not really sure how much these things cost at a place like the Dollar Store or Family Dollar. Like most Americans, I live beyond my means and shop at Target.

Notice I forgot to include childcare. Actually, I didn’t forget. I just assumed that one person will stay home and watch the kid(s), and the other will work…because that makes a lot more sense than shelling out more than you make for preschool.

Eventually, kids go to elementary school, and for most people, that’s free. So at that point, maybe your family will have two incomes. Of course, when that happens, you’ll have to pay for health insurance, which will be yet another expense.

Anyway, even if you’re able to slide by with all this, you won’t have much money left over to save for retirement — another looming crisis. People will be living longer, which means more expenses. Even saving up a million dollars might not be enough. Oh, and by the way…don’t forget about college debt.

I’ve rambled on enough. I don’t really have any solution to this problem. Is it creating a universal minimum wage? I don’t necessarily think so. What would that be, anyway?

Is the solution just for people to get better jobs? Easier said than done, especially when companies like Amazon make it pretty clear they’d rather be staffed by robots (I exaggerate, but mark my words…it’s only a matter of time before miniature helicopters are delivering packages to your door).

Is it working two jobs? I don’t think that’s healthy.

Maybe it’s about adjusting our expectations. Maybe we really do need to tone it down, and just pack into one bedroom, pay the electric bill, pay for groceries, and get our entertainment from the local library.

Maybe the American Dream is too grand.

Maybe people need to pack up and move to Arkansas. The rent there is pretty low. But then again, all those people moving there might drive up the rent.

Whatever the case may be, I think there is a large number of Americans left in this financial twilight zone: not making enough to make ends meet, and just trying to raise and support a normal family on $14 an hour.

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This post was previously published on Equality Includes You and is republished here with permission from the author.
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