Wages around here
Apr. 2nd, 2016 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
garoteI have heard complaints in the Bay Area that anything below 85k a year is not a "living wage", primarily because of the cost of housing, which has risen to exploit the high salaries of tech workers.
Where is the true evil here? That tech workers are making "too much"? That baristas and store clerks are making "too little"? That landlords are able to charge something close to what the market will bear for rents? That federal taxes are not progressive enough and the techies keep "too much" of their wages? That county taxes are majorly skewed to exploit young and new owners thanks to Prop 13, and they seek high wages to compensate?
There are many angles to take, but the most popular one is that the high-paid tech people are ruining it for everybody else and so, everybody else should get a slice of their money pie to even things out.
Which they do, indirectly, through higher tax revenue and the improved public services it buys - but that's not enough for the people who are seeing their rent hike up every year. They want these tech people to dry up and blow away, so things can get back to "normal". Barring that, they want their own wages to go up, to compensate.
If all these people got the government to force all wages up into the 85k a year range, to compete with the tech people for a middle-class life in the Bay Area, what would happen if they did? Wouldn't they only succeed in driving up their own cost of living, as all their employers raise prices to keep making payroll? Would things be worse if they got that wish?
On the other hand, if they managed to drive all the tech (and finance) people out, what would happen? Rents would go down I assume, but a lot of money would stop flowing into the local economy as well.
-;-;-
In the Bay Area, you can have a married couple, both working full-time, both living in the same 1-bedroom apartment, each making about 125k a year (total 250k) and they will tell you that they MUST leave the area if they want to start a family, because having one stay-at-home parent is too hard on the finances. For the area, I have trouble calling them "upper class". For the country, based solely on their income, that's what they are.
This situation says something about the cyclical nature of the tech industry, and how it compels people to migrate to follow the best wages: People can become horribly isolated from their family and even their local community, in pursuit of the highest wage ... And family and community are exactly what you need to make child-rearing about ten times easier and cheaper. If you can't raise kids where you live, is it JUST because your income isn't high enough? Or is it because you've prioritized income over many other things?
And so, couples here work and save until they can't stand it any more, and bail out for some other part of the state/county. I have seen this progression first-hand ... let's see ... at least five times in my own friend group. Move here, work for 5-10 years, move away to have kids, never to return. What kind of effect does this have on the Bay Area as a community of families?
Where is the true evil here? That tech workers are making "too much"? That baristas and store clerks are making "too little"? That landlords are able to charge something close to what the market will bear for rents? That federal taxes are not progressive enough and the techies keep "too much" of their wages? That county taxes are majorly skewed to exploit young and new owners thanks to Prop 13, and they seek high wages to compensate?
There are many angles to take, but the most popular one is that the high-paid tech people are ruining it for everybody else and so, everybody else should get a slice of their money pie to even things out.
Which they do, indirectly, through higher tax revenue and the improved public services it buys - but that's not enough for the people who are seeing their rent hike up every year. They want these tech people to dry up and blow away, so things can get back to "normal". Barring that, they want their own wages to go up, to compensate.
If all these people got the government to force all wages up into the 85k a year range, to compete with the tech people for a middle-class life in the Bay Area, what would happen if they did? Wouldn't they only succeed in driving up their own cost of living, as all their employers raise prices to keep making payroll? Would things be worse if they got that wish?
On the other hand, if they managed to drive all the tech (and finance) people out, what would happen? Rents would go down I assume, but a lot of money would stop flowing into the local economy as well.
-;-;-
In the Bay Area, you can have a married couple, both working full-time, both living in the same 1-bedroom apartment, each making about 125k a year (total 250k) and they will tell you that they MUST leave the area if they want to start a family, because having one stay-at-home parent is too hard on the finances. For the area, I have trouble calling them "upper class". For the country, based solely on their income, that's what they are.
This situation says something about the cyclical nature of the tech industry, and how it compels people to migrate to follow the best wages: People can become horribly isolated from their family and even their local community, in pursuit of the highest wage ... And family and community are exactly what you need to make child-rearing about ten times easier and cheaper. If you can't raise kids where you live, is it JUST because your income isn't high enough? Or is it because you've prioritized income over many other things?
And so, couples here work and save until they can't stand it any more, and bail out for some other part of the state/county. I have seen this progression first-hand ... let's see ... at least five times in my own friend group. Move here, work for 5-10 years, move away to have kids, never to return. What kind of effect does this have on the Bay Area as a community of families?
no subject
Date: 2022-10-16 06:35 am (UTC)Good points. For many, the Bay Area is just a place to earn money. Staying there makes no sense for those who can afford moving out. I don't think the locals will miss these people. They do want a quiet affordable life.
And now, with remote jobs, only fans stay. SF offices are, I guess, mostly empty.
We moved to South Carolina last year - feels good! We've also moved to France (partially), feels very good! People in the town where we are now have $20k per year per family on average. I don't know how they survive, but they seem to be totally happy.
no subject
Date: 2022-10-16 05:09 pm (UTC)Have you ever thought about taking up some remote work? Or are you done with all this tech stuff?
no subject
Date: 2022-10-16 06:50 pm (UTC)Me? I really don't care where I'm located, in this sense. Currently in France, then I'll go back to Carolina, so the TZ diff will be smaller. Well, my social security is more than enough here in France, but why not work, it's fun and gives money. Not as much as in the Bay area, but almost as much.
As to the lives of the people here, I'm clueless.