$500/week - Is this a living wage in your area?

[MidnightVoice]

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

In my case, I will and did take a pay cut to work at home.

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To do what at home???

[guiness56]

In WA state it would be very difficult to live on $500 a week.

In Arkansas you could.  My mom lives on $987 a month. 

[haulingthescoreup]

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@MidnightVoice wrote:

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@haulingthescoreup wrote:

In my case, I will and did take a pay cut to work at home.

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To do what at home???

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Hey, now...

OK, OK, back to the computer. Sheesh...

[Anonymous]

A person with a family could not live on $500 a week maybe a singe person but even that would be hard here in NY. In my neighborhood that would just cover rent for a 2 bedroom apartment $1100-$1200 and  some other bills. If there was a commute that would even make it harder whether it be mass transit or paying for gas/tolls.

[Jazzzy]

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@Uborrow-Upay wrote:

1. $500/week - Is this a living wage in your area? Yes
2. Would you accept this as a wage if you've been unemployed/underemployed for a while, even though you were earning considerably more previously? Yes
3. Could this keep you afloat for a while if you were experiencing financial difficulties, guaranteeing me at least five months of your work? Yes
4. Would your answers to the above change if this was a telecommute or a work from your office at home type of situation?  Or if it was just a short commute (under 10 miles) to the office? That would be great
5. Would you consider a job at this pay if you knew upfront that this was possibly only a temporary position, maybe lasting only eight months, and with absolutely no additional benefits of any kind? Yes

 I don't give these answers for myself (not looking for a job), but this type of wage is not bad for our area. A poster above was correct, that this would work best in a dual income situation. We are a state without a state income tax (South Dakota), so people do live on this wage. My daughter has been with her employer for almost 10 years, and she doesn't make this much.

P.S.  I'd also be interested in any information anyone may have related to incentives offered by the local or state governments for employers to locate in that area. I don't have specific information, but our community of approx. 10,000 has a local development corporation. They are always throwing incentives at employers...and so is the state.

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[MattH]

Here in Connecticut $500 per week is nowhere near a living wage.  In TN, rural VA (ie., not the DC area), or much of NC probably somebody could live OK on that amount.  When my wife and I moved from NC to CT in 1992 we were stunned at the cost of everything up here.

[Imhotrodcrazy]

It wouldn't work in my area.  (  Los Angeles, Ca )

[Anonymous]

$500 a week would be considered to be a well paying job in my area. Before I bought my house I rented a 3 bedroom house with a full basement for $300 a month. Although those are higher wages for my area, I'm not sure I would take it with no benefits, especially not knowing how long the position would be open. I live in Orange county, IN for your info. Good luck with your business

[Uborrow-Upay]

Thanks to all for your replies so far..they are exactly the kind of responses I was looking for, and I'm seeing a couple of alternative ways of doing this that I hadn't really thought of.

I expected that this would be too low of a wage in some of the metro areas, but I'm thinking now that maybe it's not too low if it was merely supplemental household income.  That opens up some options for me.  I could possibly split some of the positions and have a few more people, but with less hours each.   Some positions cannot be split ...but I might have a workaround for that, and still keep within budget.

The original questions were numbers 1-5, I'd like to add one more:

1. $500/week - Is this a living wage in your area?
2. Would you accept this as a wage if you've been unemployed/underemployed for a while, even though you were earning considerably more previously?
3. Could this keep you afloat for a while if you were experiencing financial difficulties, guaranteeing me at least five months of your work?
4. Would your answers to the above change if this was a telecommute or a work from your office at home type of situation?  Or if it was just a short commute (under 10 miles) to the office?
5. Would you consider a job at this pay if you knew upfront that this was possibly only a temporary position, maybe lasting only eight months, and with absolutely no additional benefits of any kind?
6. Would you consider this job if it was offered as a part-time position at 1/2 this wage ($250/wk.)?  If so, would it make any difference if the schedule was 2 1/2 eight hour days, or 2 days @10 hours each, or 4 hours/day for the full week?

Again, thanks for your replies.  I can't begin to tell you how much this is helping me to think this through. 

[Anonymous]

Depends on the hours.  If I could work it around my government job, then absolutely.  My husband would likely say the same.  The part time that you're offering is just under Florida's unemployment benefits so you would likely recruit people who are running out of unemployment funds.