[shmatt]

Unemployed Americans have (temporarily) discovered the world of fare living-wage unemployment that expires tomorrow.

If you don't live in NY or CA, those extra $600 a week can go very far, and have probably helped stimulate the economy greatly

[tomjakubowski]

If you live in an expensive NY/CA metro, that money can be the difference between unemployment benefits covering your rent or mortgage payment or not, which is a very big deal.

California's unemployment benefit caps out at $450/week.

[120bits]

> If you don't live in NY or CA, those extra $600 a week can go very far

True. My girlfriend lost her job March. She is unemployed since then. We are not based in NY or CA. She has mentioned this to me several times that how much more she has in savings now. With all this time and some extra cash, I have asked her learn coding. She is working on her app idea.

[Jommi]

What planet are we living on?

600 a week is 2400 a month, which way over any entry level salary in Europe.

How inflated are the salaries in US? Or are people used to some really abnormal level of living?

[throwanem]

Do entry-level salaries in Europe have to cover health care? They do here. Even if you're working somewhere with a group plan, you're still taking more out of each check for medical coverage than for anything else except maybe taxes.

And if you're on your own for it, it's the same, except you pay more and the quality of care is a lot lower because the "marketplace" plans are the absolute minimum the insurers can get away with and still comply with the law.

[ryall]

“ Do entry-level salaries in Europe have to cover health care?”

Yes, it’s called tax.

[nostrademons]

Rent for a low-end 1BR in Silicon Valley is about $2000/month. Low-end 2BR = ~$2600/month, high-end 1BR = ~$4500/month. Houses are ~$10K/month and up.

Entry-level tech compensation is ~$180K/year, mid-career = ~$600K/year. If you're not in tech you're screwed here - formerly middle-class professions like teachers/police/firemen live 4 to a 2BR apartment, or they buy houses an hour or more away. Even mid-career finance professionals get screwed - salary for CEO of a local (not nationwide) bank is in the ~$150-200K range, and barely competes with a new grad at Google or Facebook.

[twblalock]

> Houses are ~$10K/month and up.

That's way high. A million-dollar house on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, assuming a 20% down payment, is ~4800/month including property tax. With a 10% down payment it would be about $5800/month.

To get to a $10k/month housing bill you need to buy a place that costs close to $2 million. The median sales price in Santa Clara county is closer to $1.3 or $1.4 million. Most people are paying a lot less than $10k/month for their house.

[nostrademons]

The median buyer in Santa Clara County buys a condo - that's what's going for $1.3-1.4M.

Low-end SFHs - we're talking a 3/2 built in the 1950s - go for about $1.8-$1.9M in Mountain View, $1.6-1.7M in Sunnyvale. A SFH like what you'd get in most of the rest of the U.S. - 4/2.5 or 5/3 on 1/4 acre lot, built somewhere between the 70s and 00s - will run about $2.4-2.8M.

[twblalock]

No, the median SFH sales price in Santa Clara county is ~1.4 million. I just looked it up. https://scc.rereport.com/market_reports

Mountain View is one of the most expensive cities in the county, second to Palo Alto and maybe Los Altos. Most of the area is cheaper.

[Jommi]

That is the most expensive area in US. This compensation is given to EVERYONE.

[kcb]

$2400 a month is pretty far below entry level for any white color job. Its about what you would earn full time in an Amazon warehouse. Or minimum wage in NYC.

[pb7]

It's $2,400/mo in addition to the regular unemployment amount. The total amount is more than many US workers, like teachers and construction workers, make while employed[0].

[0] https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/atd-U...

[cookiecaper]

Yes. The reality is that COVID unemployment checks have made it so that a lot of people can finally afford this type of upgrade. Many people are receiving a larger "paycheck" now than they've ever earned in their life.

[jen20]

> which way over any entry level salary in Europe

The minimum wage for adults worked full time in the UK (and similar in France) currently equates to 1,524EUR, which comes out as 1,807USD. Most salaried positions would yield more than that.

[reaperducer]

600 a week is 2400 a month, which way over any entry level salary in Europe.

$2,400/month is the legal minimum wage in some cities. ($15/hour)

[nawgz]

I believe EU salaries are usually discussed after-tax, so 2400 / month take-home pay. That is probably the main confusion here.

[pb7]

Seems like an odd way of going about it. If you and I work for the same company in the same exact job role but you're married to an unworking spouse with 2 children and I am single, I will be taxed higher than you so my take home salary would be less despite being paid identical amounts. You're destroying information by relaying it like this and it's misleading. Your personal tax situation is irrelevant to comparing salaries across jobs.

[Jommi]

No, thats not what im talking about here.

[mmcconnell1618]

I believe it is $600 per week in addition to the normal state unemployment amount. The actual amount received is more than $600.

[twblalock]

Plus, a lot of employed people got checks from the first round of stimulus -- $1200 per individual, $2400 for a married couple, and $500 per child. That's just free money for people who didn't lose their jobs. Some households have earned more during the pandemic than ever before.

[scarface74]

That’s on top of state unemployment around $400/week. That’s annualized at $52K a year. The median household income is only $65K.

[throwanem]

Good luck staying on state unemployment for a whole year.

[scarface74]

I did say “annualized”....

[m_ke]

On top of that student loans have been frozen. That allowed me to save an extra $900/month.

[pengaru]

CA has plenty of people living in poverty $600/wk make a world of difference for.