United States

Minimum wage won't even cover your rent

by Avaaz Team - posted 15 April 2012 08:16
Photo
Down and out in Los Angeles (AFP)

America, the land of the free – with a few exceptions. Among them the many workers living on the minimum wage.

A new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition shows that it's not only the 13 million jobless who are out of luck in the United States. Working a minimum wage job can leave you homeless too. The map below illustrates how many hours you'd need to work to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in your state. (Afford, in this case, means you are spending no more than 30% of your income on rent, leaving you with something for necessities like food, clothes and healthcare.)

In many states, to cross this threshold people need to work more than double the average working hours – in California, you would have to clock a shocking 130 hours a week:

How Many Minimum Wage Hours Does It Take To Afford A Two-Bedroom Apartment In Your State?

How Many Minimum Wage Hours Does It Take To Afford A Two-Bedroom Apartment In Your State?

Further reading: Things are worse still for citizens of countries with no minimum wage at all. The shameful list ranges from dictatorships such as Turkmenistan, to global financial centres such as Singapore.

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