Ikengawo:

the US minimum wage can't feed anyone in the US either

it's called the MINIMUM wage no the LIVING wage, its the lowest legal amount you can pay someone.
NOBODY is expected to be able to survive comfortably on minimum wage.

the ignorance of you people is staggering. it's like anything done by a nigerian your will and able to stop using through to process it and start using hatred and frustration to insult them.

Ikengawo:

research before reciting.

minimum wage in my state is 7 dollars an hour. If you were making 7 dollars and hour you wouldn't be able to feed yourself, buy gas, pay for housing ect.

jobs like that are for kids in highschool, they're not meant to help someone survive or guy by in life let alone get comfortable.

also you can't receive assistance in the US if you are working. the government takes it away. unless you're crippled, legally insane, a veteran, or retired.

waitresses make 2 dollars an hour but it's legal cause they're expected to get tips, but this is literally the same as the nigerian minimum wage in a country several times richer then nigeria.











im really not saying this to compare nigeria to america, im saying this to show you want a minimum wage is. because america has a minimum wage, i use america as my example. i can use any country in the world, the minimum wage will never be a comfortable or livable one.

paddy_lo:

@Ikengawo
u forget to mention that that wage is also taxed to the tune of close to 40% in the USA

and it comes straight out of your paycheck. . .so in actuality u are making $4 an hour

u pay,payroll tax,income tax,state tax,medicaire tax,city tax,unemployment insurance tax. . .all from one paycheck

every paycheck u get all these taxes are deducted before u see any pay. . . .

Fhemmmy:

So in a nation that has unemplyment off the roof, how do you classify some jobs for students and some for a married man.
7$$ an hour, worked 40hours a week = 280$$ a week and do the math for a month, many Nigerian Father and mother will kill to have such compared to 17K a month, for a man with family in a nation where no other choice.

Mind you in Nigeria the people on minimum wages are not even asking for comfort but basic things.

There is bracket of taxing, no one making minimum wages pays 40% taxes

So in a nation that has unemplyment off the roof, how do you classify some jobs for students and some for a married man.
7$$ an hour, worked 40hours a week = 280$$ a week and do the math for a month, many Nigerian Father and mother will kill to have such compared to 17K a month, for a man with family in a nation where no other choice.

There is bracket of taxing, no one making minimum wages pays 40% taxes

@Ikengawo
u forget to mention that that wage is also taxed to the tune of close to 40% in the USA

and it comes straight out of your paycheck. . .so in actuality u are making $4 an hour

u pay,payroll tax,income tax,state tax,medicaire tax,city tax,unemployment insurance tax. . .all from one paycheck

every paycheck u get all these taxes are deducted before u see any pay. . . .

So in a nation that has unemplyment off the roof, how do you classify some jobs for students and some for a married man.
7$$ an hour, worked 40hours a week = 280$$ a week and do the math for a month, many Nigerian Father and mother will kill to have such compared to 17K a month, for a man with family in a nation where no other choice.

Mind you in Nigeria the people on minimum wages are not even asking for comfort but basic things.

There is bracket of taxing, no one making minimum wages pays 40% taxes

Lets face it. 17k as minimum wage is quite low. True the tax rate may not be as high as that which obtains in the states and elsewhere.

But the unemployment rate is very high and odd summer jobs unavailable meaning that the worker earning that 17k has too many dependants.

Then there is the issue of lack of infrastructure. The average Nigerian has to provide his own electricity via a generating set which has to be constantly fuelled, water via borehole and several other things so really 17k is a paltry sum espectially when you compare it to the bogus sum that senators and other publicoffice holders are paid.

paddy_lo:

You cannot work in america while living in Nigeria. . .so your arguement holds no water

If u work here u must live here and rent a house here,transport yourself here and so on. .

Then u will see if u will jump up for $7 an hour or not. . .

and that 280 a week,will be more like $150 a week when it hits your bank account

Ikengawo:

yup. So image being a waitress and making 2 dollars and hour and then paying tax on it. mind you you're also going to pay tax of every single thing you buy as well.
280 dollars a week will get you no where in this country. it's just a number you have to put it in real terms.
in my state, apartment rent is on average 400 dollars a month
almost 50 dollars will be taken from that check in tax
gas and electric together are around 60 a month
gas for your car will take about 80 a month if you dont drive that much and have a mid sized car
phone, which you wont survive in the us without will be 70 a month.

so lets do the math
560 a month on mimimum wage if you get 250 a week.
-400
_______
60
-50 for tax
_________
10
- 60 gas electric
___________
-50
-80 gas car
___________
-130



leaving you 130 dollars in debt every month on minimum wage if you live in a bad apartment with no kids, aren't making car or credit card payments and dont eat food or wear clothes.




the reason these jobs are for kids and not adults is because they wage is not meant for someone with adult responsibilities, they're meant for people who want to learn what it's like working and have some spread money to buy clothes and video games.
kids.



that's not how the bracketing is done. everyone pays the same percentage no matter who or what you are, even obama, based on state

your tax bracket is based on how much you % ends up being.

i as a student am in the 'second tax bracket' but just barely because my job pays well for someone my age, but they take the same % out as they did when i was in the lowest tax bracket and take the same % out for my parents who are much higher.

[size=18pt]
Demand for Minimum Wage

Mr. President will recall that long before your recent leave, the NLC had submitted its request for a negotiation of a new national minimum wage. The demand for a new minimum wage has become necessary given the current cost of living. Our arguments for the new minimum wage have always been unassailable. The Nigerian worker, particularly in the public sector, is one of the least paid in the world. This is true when taken against the absolute national currency, as well as wages and salaries based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which adjusts the national currency for the differential cost of living of the relevant nations.



It was in recognition of how bad the situation was, indeed the crisis-nature of the situation that led the NLC to demand for wage increase during the President Olusegun Obasanjo regime which culminated in the signing of an agreement aimed at providing a living wage within three years.



The consequence of the abdication of the agreed approach to the implementation of the phased-wage increases has been that wages and salaries have been sharply depressed.



To compound matters, since the 15 percent increase within the framework of wages and salary consolidation, a number of developments have further depressed the actual take-home pay of workers. Inflation has intensified in the last one year, with the cost of living index in the urban sector increasing by over 14 per cent. The disproportionate increase (20.9 percent) in the costs of food means that the erosion in the real wages and salaries of workers is alarmingly severe.



Worse still, the process of consolidation has resulted in a significantly higher income tax burden on workers. The process of monetizing and consolidating in-kind, benefits which were hitherto not taxed has resulted in an escalation of the tax paid by workers. This has further depressed the real take home pay of workers.



Apart from this erosion in the real take home pay, the relativities in the economy is quite skewed against the working class. For example, a comparison of workers' pay to that of political office holders within the same public sector does not suggest that there is a rationale or principle undergirding salary and wages in Nigeria. For example, while workers' salaries increased by 15 percent between 2006 and 2007, those of political office holders increased by over 800 percent
http://www.nlcng.org/search_details.php?id=136[/size]

Ikengawo:

no, the transit system in american isn't good.


the bus system where im from is irrelevant. people don't use it cause most stops are far from your house and don't coordinate with your schedule

public transport is only reliable in big cities, but if i told you the cost of living in NY and LA you would kill yourself.


i used public transport in NY. i payed 10 dollars to go to the nears gas station in long island looking for Soda (mineral), and 10 dollars back. the mineral its self was 3 dollars but i had no where else to get a drink where i was at in the hotel cause of the time and lack of personal transport.

in reality i payed 23 dollars for a drink.


in NY i blew almost 40 dollars a day easily on public transport. you're better off having you own car, and yeah i heard they pay tax now in nigeria to. it's a great thing and im happy for the country but its no where near US tax and we both know this.

Agibecky:

The fact is, millions of underpaid low income earners in Nigeria spend over 100% more on their welfare than their minimum wage.
Nobody is mistaking the minmum wage for the living wage.

A monthly salary of N30, 000 is not even enough to feed an adult in a month. So, how can he pay the house rent, monthly transport fares and pay other bills?

I am not interested in using the minimum wage in the United States as the yardstick for a minimum wage in Nigeria.
That would be bullshit.

Please, read the following:

Ehoi:

It is too low. The average cost of a plate of food in mama put is N200. Three meals a day is N600. In a month (X 30) is N18,000. Just the cost of food for one person is already above N17,000. For those comparing with the USA. In US you can get a decent meal for $5. Three a day is $15. If you work 8 hours a day, you make $48. This is just food oh.

agitator:

in Nigeria, when you hear minimum wage about 30% of the government workers earn that amount, with the next 30% earning additional 3%-15% on the minimum wage. And the private sector, except for the multinationals companies the Nigerian owned companies pay far below the minimum wage

Fhemmmy:

I am sure someone on Minimum wage will not eat out 3 times a day . . . .  else, he is only signing his own death warrant
And yet some people wanna compare to USA minimum wages?

Ehoi:

That is true. But I was comparing him with someone in the US that is also eating out.

4 Play:

How much is the Federal Govt's revenue that people expect it to be paying N52,000? Simple maths will show you that the labour costs will be too much to bear if the minimum wage was 52k per year.   

Fhemmmy:

Nigerians will settle for a far bus stop from home rather than going thru the window to get inside a molue.

Ikengawo:

the US minimum wage can't feed anyone in the US either

Ehoi:

It is too low. The average cost of a plate of food in mama put is N200. Three meals a day is N600. In a month (X 30) is N18,000. Just the cost of food for one person is already above N17,000. For those comparing with the USA. In US you can get a decent meal for $5. Three a day is $15. If you work 8 hours a day, you make $48. This is just food oh.