Too feel like there are very few mumneters who are on minimum wage?

[Dollybird86]

I know that there probably are lots of you out there but it seems like there a lots of frugal people and people who have to budget but this is due to life being fecking expensive not being on 6.50ph ( if your lucky).

Me and dh are both low earners dh works full time I'm currently on Mat leave we are considered "working poor" we currently live in the north as living in London crippled us completely. I'm not degree educated but dh is but it's not a very useful degree, I honestly never see us earning anymore that we do now and it feels deathly depressing!

Does anyone else feel this way?

There are many but we tend to notice more the high earners i think.
I am sure posters memtioned many times working as carers, shop assistants, catering. These and many more jobs are mw. And then there are many other job -some of them even sound nice - but pay not much over the mw.
'Manager' sounds good but a manager in a store or high strret bank will not earn much.

It is not only the housing. The bills are currently also very high comparing to wages. Council tax is killing us, in other countries is very low our relatives have heart attack when we tell them what we pay in uk. Ditto water. 400 a year for fucking tap water
You would think that we wash the dishes with Evian.

Everything is higher here, rip off britain.

I'm on minimum wage!

Not everybody chooses to discuss their finances on a public messageboard, that's all.

I'm a teacher, so hourly rate take home pay is below minimum wage.

Well I'm not on mw, but not on a good salary and only work 18.75 hrs a week. DH is medically retired so on benefits. We struggle but apparently earn too much to get any help.

I'm not on minimum wage but was for a looooooong time. The thing with 'how much do you earn' threads is that it is a lot easier to say 'I'm on 40k' than 'I earned 7k last year'

It's not a serious representation of MN.

DP and I are on NMW. Neither of us are university-educated. I did a sort of refresher course in maths so I could achieve what I needed to do an access course (which I did!) but when I really thought about it, we just couldn't afford for me to go back to college. SO, looks like we're in dead-end jobs forever and our only hope is to aim for progression :)

I earn a pittance, it's a case of having to take any job you can if you want to keep your head above water. I had a well paid job before having my son, alas I cannot work those hours any more. I am doing a job I did 20 odd years ago for far less money. I think employers have much bigger overheads now due to new legislation and I do feel this reflects on wages, Employers have to safeguard themselves against every possible legal litigation/eventuality. It's farcical. You have to subscribe to so many government agencies to prove you are worthy of performing a job to a an acceptable standard. It's all about wheels within wheels, jobs for the boys.

I'm retail management on 26k, DP is retail management on 36k which we are so grateful for as 2 years ago he was on 17k and we struggled due to both having debt and his csa payments too, if we didn't have debt we would be comfortable. Kicking myself now

I'm not on minimum wage but as a freelancer, often feel I'm living hand to mouth due constantly having to wait months to be paid (large firms are the worst). Living like that is very wearing.

I earn £25k full time, DP earns £14k part time and even now we struggle! I don't understand why roles such as store manager carry such a poor salary?! I thought it was usually more towards the 25-30k mark? I found there to be many better paying opportunities in say FS roles, a lot of which require skills that could be transferred from the retail sector. Even our call centre staff are on £15k starting salary?

I know what you mean! Me and DP are over NMW but not by a mile and struggle. Yet you see posters talking of private schools/au pairs/problems with tenants etc, it's a different world.

Pre DS I was working 50 hrs a week and bringing home around £12k OH out of work. That equates to around £2ph. The joys of the self employed! and it only entitled me to a little WTC no JSA for OH or anything.

I now do 30hrs still averaging £2ph but we get a little help now HB , CTC wise. Still applying for lots of jobs for us both. If we could earn £16k between us I'd be quite happy, that would give us an ok disposable compared to what we're used to

Or you've got my DB earning £60k gross between them and claiming poverty :/ strange old world

Sorry £120k gross

My husband is self employed and earns well under NMW most months but I do ok. It is tough though and if means I'll never be able to reduce my hours, we'd sink almost immediately if I couldn't work any I think lots of people are similarly precarious. We're not entitled to any benefits.

We earnt 22k last year, we have 3 dc

Sorry £120k gross

Their outgoings are probably £121k, hence "poor".

DS was talking about retail management and was telling me there were many different levels some only paying about £7 an hour which I was really shocked at. He said there was a lot of responsibility for not much pay. Branch managers are the ones that get a decent wage.

Dh was on 17k and I was on 6.50 an hour full time wage but just training for a profession. We have a mortgage, decent car, foriegn holidays, a few children etc. More than easy enough for us to live this life on those wages tbh.

The key to living a nice life for us on low wages is dont use debt. I think that is what makes life a struggle at all income levels.

I was on minimum wage for years as I work in early years.
I have now got a degree and am a EYP and run a nursery.
I've worked hard to become better qualified and gain promotions but I still only earn £9 an hour. Which isn't a lot but to me it is after being on minimum wage for so long.