Minimum Wage Increase

[mimico_polak]

I found most of the white collar jobs didn’t pay enough money. Not like the trades paid and even more so now

There was a big push for youth to go to college/university when I was that age. Graduated in 2003 in engineering. Never held an official engineering job.

I went to school, kept slowly growing and now after all those years I’m still sub 120k.

My buddy went to become a painter and now has his own crews and pulls 200-250/year.

Other buddy went to school, masters, CPA, and is now a partner at a major 4 firms making 300-400k/year.

Lot of variables. Being smart is one. Being lucky is even more important IMO.

Connections are the most important.

 

[ToSlow]

There was a big push for youth to go to college/university when I was that age. Graduated in 2003 in engineering. Never held an official engineering job.

I went to school, kept slowly growing and now after all those years I’m still sub 120k.

My buddy went to become a painter and now has his own crews and pulls 200-250/year.

Other buddy went to school, masters, CPA, and is now a partner at a major 4 firms making 300-400k/year.

Lot of variables. Being smart is one. Being lucky is even more important IMO.

Connections are the most important.

Comes back to the old saying, It’s not what you make, It’s what you keep

 

[Deleted member 50930]

WHAT A JOKE

Tied to inflation minmum wage would be somewhere around $20/hr

 

[mimico_polak]

Comes back to the old saying, It’s not what you make, It’s what you keep

Exactly. And each of them claim they're poor lol.

Mind you I make the least out of those guys...but I also have the least stress from work.

On the flip side, I make more than the majority of my other buddies...

So there's pluses / minuses to each aspect.

Had a chat today with a buddy that retired and I asked him what he thinks I could get if I went back to consulting....his answer was is you get less than 150k you're an idiot. So may be time to start looking again. Been in this place 1 year to the day.

 

[crankcall]

Too easy to generalize , most white collar job are ok, so are most trades.

Not everybody making minimum wage is an undereducated person. Some of them would just not make it in an higher learning environment or cant do a 7-5 shift, kids , mental health, life choices. Maybe would not fit into a trade either.

However they are there , and $15 bucks wont change the world. If they are part time Tim's suplimenting another wage earner , ok. If your trying to feed yourself and pay rent , good luck . These people deserve a decent wage, IMO.

I tip people that don't get tips , I'm 20% in restaurants unless your awful and I've been known to randomly drop off a gift card to someone that gave me good advice. Life is short , pay it forward.

 

[GreyGhost]

I tip people that don't get tips , I'm 20% in restaurants unless your awful and I've been known to randomly drop off a gift card to someone that gave me good advice. Life is short , pay it forward.

There was an old indian lady that worked at a Wendy's I used to frequent. When I left the job nearby, I gave her a decent tip ($100 IIRC). I've never been back to see her as I am not in the area but she was a delight and makes the world a better place.

 

[Lightcycle]

I went to school, kept slowly growing and now after all those years I’m still sub 120k.
My buddy went to become a painter and now has his own crews and pulls 200-250/year.

I think this has more to do than anything about why he is making 200-250K/year.

I doubt the guys on his crew are making that much.

If you "had a crew" of engineers working for you, you would probably be making at least that.

Ownership has its share of risks, but also rewards as well.

 

[crankcall]

Its the ownership part , risk=reward. Put your money forward and the returns can be quite nice. So can the headaches.

Friend has an engineering firm and specializes in pharma manufacturing flow. He has a porche or two, house on the lake, yacht and holidays in nice places. I'm also friends with a gal that engineers for him . She does not have a house on the lake , has a Hyundai and a small boat.

The old adage its not what you make, its what you keep. Its WAY easier to keep some when you make way more. Im not sure anybody at a drive through window will max out thier TFSA or RRSP contributions this yr.

Jacque Villeneuve declared some thing like $6,200. in revenue in the last yrs he lived in Canada , despite owning million dollar houses and having an offshore trust in Bahamas and Barbadoes , and property in some tax haven near spain. Tax loopholes that do not exist for anyone that's not making millions.

 

[mimico_polak]

I think this has more to do than anything about why he is making 200-250K/year.

I doubt the guys on his crew are making that much.

If you "had a crew" of engineers working for you, you would probably be making at least that.

Ownership has its share of risks, but also rewards as well.

For sure. His guys are 20-30/he depending on experience.

And you are correct. Lots of risks and rewards in this game. Took him 20 years to get where he is. And I can see he’s aged over the last 5 extremely.

But as with any other business….there’s guys scraping by….and guys making a killing.

 

[Roadghost]

Not just an election coming. Min. wage workers are leaving Ontario for places they can survive. If you notice signs up everywhere for $15-$22/hr. but few takers. Southern Ontario companies don't pay a living wage. I was listening to some idiot from the "federation of independent small business" or some such lobby group complaining about not finding workers two weeks ago, today he's blubbering about having to pay higher wages and they're all going bankrupt and they'll have to reduce staff. Pretty shure what their lazy backsides really want is more cheap, exploitable immigrant slaves they can pay starvation wages to so they don't have to work in their crappy restaurant themselves.

If you can't pay $15/hr to your workers you deserve to go bankrupt.

 

[ToSlow]

For sure. His guys are 20-30/he depending on experience.

And you are correct. Lots of risks and rewards in this game. Took him 20 years to get where he is. And I can see he’s aged over the last 5 extremely.

But as with any other business….there’s guys scraping by….and guys making a killing.

You need to get your friend into motorcycling. Best therapy for the money that i can see

 

[GreyGhost]

If you can't pay $15/hr to your workers you deserve to go bankrupt.

I mostly agree and that is an interesting situation. At some point, cheap places like Tim Hortons or Country Style can no longer afford to function under their business model and either reinvent or collapse. When I was in Australia, I don't know if I ever bought a coffee that was less than $5, many were pushing $8. They were for the most part very delicious. Selling a cheap cup of brown and water doesn't cover expenses when wages rise. People don't want to (or can't) pay $4 for a cup of brown and water.

On a similar note as minimum wage rises, I expect more immigrant workers will be brought it as they used to be able to pay them a lot less by subtracting room and board (and I expect that is still the case). Basically businesses still have access to cheap labour, they just need to import it (leaving more Canadians unemployed or hopefully training and moving up but many will just be stuck circling the drain).

 

[crankcall]

@Roadghost , I completely agree its not just an election thing. Thats low hanging fruit journalism . Wynn wanted it up "just because" and now Doug is doing it because its the right thing to do.
I'm trying to higher a bartender at my yacht club , pour beers , no table service, not much in fancy drinks , $17 bucks + tips. I'm not getting any interest . Every store / restaurant/ fast food + manutacturing, warehousing, packaging , welding, garage in my area has a shingle out looking for help . And a lot of these arent minimum jobs , there are just no takers .

 

[ToSlow]

Big shortage in all industries right now. So what changed in the last two yrs to create this?

I don’t think covid created a shortage of workers

 

[Lightcycle]

Big shortage in all industries right now. So what changed in the last two yrs to create this?

I don’t think covid created a shortage of workers

CERB and then CRB. The unemployed get paid more to stay at home than to work for minimum wage and pay for transportation, day-care, etc.

 

[Roadghost]

You only have to do the math. $2000/mo for a decent apt. $7000/yr to run a vehicle. $500/mo for food. Toronto is a crime-filled, low-wage, exploited immigrant dump. If I was young, I wouldn't stay.

 

[GreyGhost]

CERB and then CRB. The unemployed get paid more to stay at home than to work for minimum wage and pay for transportation, day-care, etc.

I know some people that worked in restaurants, went on CERB and are now evaluating life. They quite enjoyed having similar disposable income and no hours of work. They aren't in a rush to go back to work. At least one is contemplating real-estate agent courses (bad idea for lots of reasons imo, not the least of which is wtf didn't you get on that 18 months ago).

 

[crankcall]

CERB and CRB for sure made it hard to get potheads off moms couch and back to the grill station at Wendys , but there is also a shortage of next level workers.
A lot of folks cashed out of the GTA house and took early retirement , went north and east. Moved to the cottage or took a look at 500K house in Nova Scotia with a 500K windfall to pad retirement.
A a lot just left the workforce , they were "close enough" that retired made sense.

 

[Lightcycle]

I know some people that worked in restaurants, went on CERB and are now evaluating life. They quite enjoyed having similar disposable income and no hours of work. They aren't in a rush to go back to work. At least one is contemplating real-estate agent courses (bad idea for lots of reasons imo, not the least of which is wtf didn't you get on that 18 months ago).

Well, CRB just ended last month, so the 2M Canadians that were collecting assistance *should* be out looking for jobs now. Theoretically...

There is talk that the ending of government assistance programs represents a drop of 3% in average household income. Couple that with the recently announced 4.4% inflation - the highest number in 18 years - this is something that's going to affect spending and economic growth if that income isn't replaced very soon.

 

[nobbie48]

When I say 'education', I don't mean schoolin.
I'm from a more 'mature' generation. Quit school at 17 when gf got pregnant. Basically grade 10 schooling.
Had a lot of on the job education and did manage a comfortable life. Now enjoying a very comfortable retirement.
Maybe I got lucky.
I still think ( maybe I'm wrong ) that there are jobs out there where you can make much more than minimum wage.
IF you are motivated enough.

Never confuse intellegence and education.