$26 minimum wage | Living Wage Calculator by MIT | Most jobs pay less than they need to

This post aims to raise awareness and help you negotiate fair wages with your employer, improving your financial situation. I think this is relevant. Please check out the MIT website in detail.

Feel free to check your area's Living wage; this is the same calculator used in “The Fight for $15”, which started in 2012. CHECK RENTS HERE **

Adjusting for inflation in 2012, $15 is about $19.40 today. However, the cost of housing and other expenses has outpaced inflation and wage growth. Productivity has tripled since 1970, yet we have decreasing living standards, and the birth rate is plummeting as a result.

Living Wage Calculation for New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY – I live in Manhattan, so the $26 is the minimum for me, but in an area with over 15 million people, it is still well above $20/hr.

Living Wage Calculation for Bronx County, New York – I grew up in one of the poorest areas in the united states; a one-bedroom now costs $2,000/mo. Without social safety nets, an individual can't support oneself or live within a two-hour commute of the city center. How is this economic model sustainable? If you use the inflation calculator and this data and compare it with this, you can see rent has outpaced inflation.

MIT Research states explicitly:

The living wage model does not allow for what many consider the basic necessities enjoyed by many Americans. It does not budget funds for pre-prepared meals or those eaten in restaurants. It does not include money for unpaid vacations or holidays. Nor does it provide money income to cover unexpected expenses such as a sudden illness, a major car repair, or the purchase of a household appliance such as a refrigerator. Lastly, it does not provide a financial means for planning for the future through savings and investment or for the purchase of capital assets (e.g. provisions for retirement or home purchases).

This is literally only enough money to not be homeless, starve or die from preventable disease. The barest of the bare minimums.