[bardworx]

> Also funny how they call us an "impoverished country". In my eyes an average Joe has much better quality of life in Slovenia than in the US :). I would say the problems start if you want to me more than the average Joe.

Creating labels and positioning the individual who was hurt as a victim, coming from an "impoverished country" is more attractive then reporting a different ("positive") point of view.

In defense of their reporting, however, they're measuring minimum wage of Slovenia vs minimum wage in USA, which is less, with no context (that you supplied)

[pingec]

So how much higher is US minimum wage? Perhaps 100%? Would you agree with someone who earns twice as much as you to automatically call you impoverished?

I am no native speaker so I could be wrong, but I have looked up the word on Google. I believe that "impoverished" does imply context eg. [1] and is not simply a comparative word. It implies someone is really poor in a way that seriously affects his well-being, requires help from others etc. So when applied to a country, the context should of course matter.

[1] https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/impoverished

[azernik]

Only a 45% difference - $7.5 vs. €4.56.

And now that I do a lookup, it's actually very similar to the minimum wage in Wyoming and Georgia.

[jsprogrammer]

The work was done in California, where the minimum is $10 (though it was $9 at the time Lesnik was injured).

[schwarrrtz]

For me, as a native English speaker, 'impoverished' connotes a significant difference in standard of living relative to what I'm used to. So I would agree with you here - one would have to take the relative purchasing power of the wages into account before characterizing an entire country as impoverished.

[bardworx]

> So when applied to a country, the context should of course matter.

I agree with you. Even in my last sentence, I didn't refer to Slovenia as "impoverished". The author of the article used the word in the context of juxtaposition of minimum wage, incorrectly, it seems.