[Broken_Hippo]

An amazon worker makes, on average, $15 per hour. That's $31,500 per year. That is just a bit above poverty - the poverty level for a family of 4 is $26,500. You probably are going to have issues saving up for a house, and are going to be lucky to have enough leftover money to actually use the health care. Deductibles of $2-3k are really difficult at that range, especially if you have a family.

In short, you are going to need your spouse to work as well. Then things look up, so long as both of you work. Good luck if you aren't dual income, though.

Folks in the US die preventable deaths, by the way. And a lot of "third world countries" have health care in place, sometimes more fairly widespread than the US.

[cm2012]

The median US salary for an individual is 30k per year (median family income is 50k). So with an Amazon job an essentially unskilled worker can make more than half of all other Americans.

[dragonwriter]

> The median US salary for an individual is 30k per year (median family income is 50k).

Median family income is ~86k. [0]

Median household income, which is likely what you wanted to cite and is the more common measure, is still much more than 50k, at ~68k. [1]

Median personal income is about 36k. [2]

Median hourly wage is $20.17. [3]

So, no, a $15/hr Amazon worker isn’t making above-median wage and, even if they work 40hr weeks for a full year, isn’t making above-median income.

[0] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEFAINUSA646N (nb: “family” for this purpose is defined basically as a household of two or more related by blood, marriage, and/or adoption.)

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N

[2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/release/tables?rid=249&eid=25956...

[3] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000

[thehappypm]

So, at Amazon's entry level, you're making 85% of the median personal income, plus benefits. And that's for their lowest paid FT employees, it can only go up from there. Where's the problem exactly?

[missedthecue]

fwiw, your numbers are correct, but the 30k figure includes part time workers and is therefore skewed to the downside. Among full time workers, the median annual income is about $51k for men and $48k for women, according to data collected by the BLS.

[Broken_Hippo]

So? The average is still not much above the poverty level, and as such, still poor.

[random314]

But look at the low median wages. There are already so many poor people in the US, whats 1 million more?

/sarcasm

[missedthecue]

In Bessemer Alabama, where the union effort recently was voted down by the employees, the median annual income is $19,000 and Zillow is full of houses selling for $110k.

$31.5k is a middle class income there and certainly not poverty level.

[Broken_Hippo]

The US poverty line for a family of 4 is 26,xxx. 4-5k above poverty level is not middle class: you are still poor. It isn't like that 5k a year - $416 before taxes - puts you in middle class. You are still getting free lunch, for example. You still qualify for SNAP.

House prices aren't telling you anything: Poor folks have trouble saving up for a down payment and have more issues keeping credit good enough for a house, due to lack of funds to pay things. House prices matter little if you can't actually qualify to buy them.

[dazc]

Many people don't make enough money to buy a house without a partner's income. This has been the case before amazon existed.

[Broken_Hippo]

The comment I replied to did not specify this, though. They just said buy a house, which is obviously not always possible.

[cowsandmilk]

> An amazon worker makes, on average, $15 per hour.

That’s Amazon’s minimum, not average. That is, every Amazon worker makes more than that.

[Broken_Hippo]

Not according to these - where do you get your information?: https://www.glassdoor.com/Hourly-Pay/Amazon-Warehouse-Worker....

https://www.glassdoor.com/Hourly-Pay/Amazon-Warehouse-Worker....

[bildung]

> An amazon worker makes, on average, $15 per hour. That's $31,500 per year. That is just a bit above poverty - the poverty level for a family of 4 is $26,500.

This is also pretty much at the poverty line if relative poverty is calculated like in most other OECD countries - as 60% of median income. That would be about $3100/month for two adults.

[Broken_Hippo]

Yeah, I know there is some relative stuff there, but figured it was easiest to use the US government's numbers.