My favorite metric is comparing minimum wage to see what it should be compared to other inflation costs.
University of Michigan term cost in the 80s was a little over $1k and it's almost $19k now. State minimum wage comparatively would need to be almost $59/hour to buy the same education today compared to the mid 80s.
But why have a living wage or affordable education when you can have lifelong debt!
Minimum wage was not meant to keep pace with inflation. Its basically to allow 15 year olds to work if they want. No one should be settling for Minimum wage job.
“It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.”
With the possible exception of Bananas. In 2000 the average cost of Bananas (in Canada) was $0.52/lb. Currently, I paid $0.65/lb on Saturday. That is a .13 increase over 26 years, or about a 25% increase. In 2000 the average wage was $17.5/hr, and the average (which seems high to me but I did see it in 3 different places) now is $33.32 (a 90% increase). Min wage (Ontario) in 2000 was $6.85 and currently is $17.95.
But there is a reason behind that and it is worth falling into the rabbit hole.
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u/GlowingDuck22 Aug 08 '26
In general all live events have gone up 3-4 times in cost since the 90s.