Whats considered as working poor?
Discussion
depends on where you live and your outgoings, if you have family to support etc
Living at home up North with mum and dad, £25k a year is gives you plenty of expendable income.
Trying to survive in London with a couple of kids, yeah you are certainly not particularly well off.
Dont forget those on low incomes and dependents can usually get some form of benefits.
Definition of "poor" in our society has moved on over the years e.g. today a non working family of 4 on benefits receive more income (inflation adjusted) than the average working man used to earn 50-60 years ago
Living at home up North with mum and dad, £25k a year is gives you plenty of expendable income.
Trying to survive in London with a couple of kids, yeah you are certainly not particularly well off.
Dont forget those on low incomes and dependents can usually get some form of benefits.
Definition of "poor" in our society has moved on over the years e.g. today a non working family of 4 on benefits receive more income (inflation adjusted) than the average working man used to earn 50-60 years ago
Any household where the income is less than 60% of the the UK mean is about what is considered the " poverty" line in the UK.
However you can reasonably extend that and say you are relatively poor if you live in a household where at least one parent works full time and they receive working tax credit, or the new universal credit version. For me if someone works full time and the tax payer tops up your wages then thats an indicator?
However you can reasonably extend that and say you are relatively poor if you live in a household where at least one parent works full time and they receive working tax credit, or the new universal credit version. For me if someone works full time and the tax payer tops up your wages then thats an indicator?
Audemars said:
Doesn't McDonald's or stacking shelves at the supermarket pay more?
No, unless you are in management or do a shed load of overtime! Back in 2007ish aged 20 I was full time at Tesco (37 hours a week) and I earned around £13k a year. I lived with parents still though and my outgoings were only £350 or so a month.
My wife and I have combined outgoings of £1800 a month, that's everything including fuel and our mortgage. I could just about support us totally on my salary but I'd have very little disposable income, probably less than £100 a month. Every situation is different though, my in-laws mortgage is nearly the same as out entire outgoings, but their household income is 3 times ours.
W201_190e said:
Audemars said:
Doesn't McDonald's or stacking shelves at the supermarket pay more?
No, unless you are in management or do a shed load of overtime! Back in 2007ish aged 20 I was full time at Tesco (37 hours a week) and I earned around £13k a year. I lived with parents still though and my outgoings were only £350 or so a month.
My wife and I have combined outgoings of £1800 a month, that's everything including fuel and our mortgage. I could just about support us totally on my salary but I'd have very little disposable income, probably less than £100 a month. Every situation is different though, my in-laws mortgage is nearly the same as out entire outgoings, but their household income is 3 times ours.
Management a little more £12-£15 but a s
t load of grief and responsibilty that most wise up and jsut become drivers.A500leroy said:
Audemars said:
Yes, £15k/£20k is a paper round salary not a salary for a full time worker and especially one who also has to provide for a family.
Doesn't McDonald's or stacking shelves at the supermarket pay more?
nope, its what im running a household on.Doesn't McDonald's or stacking shelves at the supermarket pay more?
As long as the household is running, good on you. If it’s not, you’ll not find much work that pays less!
bristolbaron said:
A500leroy said:
Audemars said:
Yes, £15k/£20k is a paper round salary not a salary for a full time worker and especially one who also has to provide for a family.
Doesn't McDonald's or stacking shelves at the supermarket pay more?
nope, its what im running a household on.Doesn't McDonald's or stacking shelves at the supermarket pay more?
As long as the household is running, good on you. If it’s not, you’ll not find much work that pays less!
My son works at Aldi as his first job, and is earning about 18k per year (extrapolated from his monthly) just stacking shelves and working the tills with not much effort.
98elise said:
I'm sure he also recently claimed to be working 60 hour weeks so couldn't re-train on better himself? If I've got that wrong then I apologise!
My son works at Aldi as his first job, and is earning about 18k per year (extrapolated from his monthly) just stacking shelves and working the tills with not much effort.
Yup. Those sorts of consumer related jobs are the new factory jobs. Good, reliable base wages for what is essentially unskilled labour. My son works at Aldi as his first job, and is earning about 18k per year (extrapolated from his monthly) just stacking shelves and working the tills with not much effort.
It's not so much the work or pay but where the person is in their lifecycle. If a youngster with few financial commitments, an older person at the end of their working career or a second income for a household one can consider it good money. The issue arguably only arising if it's the only household income for a household at peak spend, ie needing to rent a home large enough for 4/5 people and feed and clothe those people. Geography then plays a part in how far that money goes as does what additional financial support you can obtain from the Govt.
About 7 years ago I was on benefits for a year, my wife didn't work (just had a baby) and didn't qualify for any benefits anyway (foreign), we had 1 child. My rent, council tax, etc was paid for. I got a job on 20k per year, after this we didn't qualify for any benefits. From memory I was about £150 a month better off working.
Mikebentley said:
I recently spoke to my postman and was shocked at how little he is paid. It’s maybe me though that is a little out of touch.
It's around £11/hour but it's the routes that cause the income variance. The figure is supposed to range from about £12k to £35k. So a busy postman who opts to work full hours on a prime route earns a lot. A chap who just wants a small route for part of the day gets that flexibility at a good hourly rate for what is a pretty basic job. And obviously, while in recent years like many such lines of work the pension benefits have been being hauled in they remain pretty impressive.
It's one of those jobs that very much depends who you ask as to what opinion you then end up forming. Had your postman replied that he earned £35k for just wandering about with a bag you might have drawn the conclusion that they were hugely overpaid.
It's a little like asking a tube driver who works nights what his income is and thinking that seems a good wage for sitting there pressing some buttons versus realising that the full time drivers can earn well over £60k for the same job and beginning to think it's a bit of a piss take.
On old school friend of mine had an older brother who was super smart, extremely well educated and a massive stoner and general waster. Around the time we went off to uni he was trying to explain to us that he had decided to become a tube driver. We simply couldn't understand why, given his education and all the option open to him, he would want to do that. He said he had worked it all out and it was the most sensible option. From day one he was earning double what any of us were earning as graduates, he joked about the exam questions which were things like: 'The staff canteen opens at 8AM. What time does the staff canteen open?'
But we are all turning 50 around now and he is only a little older but has retired. He spent most of his working life earning what is now close to £100k/annum yet never having to work late, worry about anything, have any responsibilities. He got to 50 and had done the maths that the pension paid so much that there just wasn't any point in turning up to work any longer.
It's an extreme example but many of these jobs are worth a fortune to people because the job allows them to be free and to live the life that they really want. But are terrible for others who have other ambitions.
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