Salaried employees tend to make a decent amount, if you only consider a 40 hour work week. But rarely are salaried employees only worked 40 hours per week. They're expected to be on-call at all times of the day. Where, then, are they supposed to have a life that can't be instantly interrupted with a work issue?
For about 5 years I had an “hourly” job where we worked 4 10-hour days. Our boss simply had us fill out a time card at the beginning of each week, stating we worked our 4 ten-hour days. Whether we had to leave early or come in late some days, hell even taking a day off, he didn't care. We were all essentially salaried, and because of that, I was able to take as much time off as necessary, so long as I made sure my job was done properly.
I have never worked so hard for a company as I did for them, and I was happy to take certain work home with me, because I felt fairly compensated. At the time, minimum wage was $7.25/hour (California) and I was making $16.75/hour as a supervisory, but not a management position. I eventually lost the job, due to failures of my own, but my coworker/roommate at the time is still with the company making nearly double the minimum wage (currently $15/hour, with him currently making nearly $30/hour), as an assistant manager. I should add that this is not an office job, but a customer-facing service/trade job based on plumbing. My coworker mentioned and I, had no experience in plumbing before getting the job, nor did we ever actually have to work in the field. It's essentially a standard customer service job.
If more employers understood that proper treatment of employees and fair compensation created better workers, it would be a miracle. I guess this is just a rant because I genuinely miss working the job I had, and the payment/benefits it included. I fucked up big time when I lost the job, as I would have been the manager by now if I hadn't. I probably won't respond to comments because I'm kinda drunk, but I had to vent.