If $2,400 / month is enough to drain the entire workforce it says far more about wage suppression & corporate greed than workers being too lazy to work. $28,000/year for a single person is a living, just barely, at least here in the heartland.

Since it’s #MothersDay let’s imagine a single Mom with one child, and what $2,400/month really looks like in middle #America in 2021.

Rent in many smaller areas (say 5,000-40,000 people cities) will be in the $600-$1,000 range for a typical tenement. Usually that does NOT include basic utilities and internet, so add $200/month. Let’s use $800 for rent, so our rent + utilities is $1,000.

Now let’s give them bare bones food, $100/month (lots of pasta and not much meat, almost no fresh fruits and veggies) and car/renters insurance (liability on car) at $75/month. They have a credit card they pay $125 min. on.

Right now we are at $1,300 for this person. We have not provided ANY budget for medical, dental, vision. No gas money. Zero entertainment budget. They don’t have a phone. We have $1,100/month left. For everything else for that month.

Now, let’s add the child. Daycare (cheap version) $400/month (most places you WANT to leave your kid are closer to $700) - increase the food budget for a child to $250 now. The kid needs something to do so let’s add Netflix + Amazon prime ($25) & oh yeah the kids in diapers.

6 diapers a day (if your lucky) with wipes. $75 a month more. Suddenly we’re at $2,050 - we have $350 left. The Mom has to get to work, the store, the kids daycare which she drives extra for to save the money, $50/week in gas. $300 left. Now we have our health insurance.

Thankfully she signed up on the exchange so it’s capped at 8.5% of her income - still $204/month!

The remaining $96 goes in drips and drabs. $1 here for a soda. $5 there for a special school event. An extra cold month, utilities up $30. Medicine for an infection that month.

And we left out a TON of basic spending. Hygiene products, being one. So at $2,400/month it’s hardly enough (maybe it isn’t) to live if you make that while working as a single mom with just ONE CHILD. Just one.

$2,400/month is a regular full time job at $15.00/hour. Right now federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr. We don’t have a worker problem. We have a wage problem. Pay people enough money to live, and they will work. It’s pretty simple.

Macaroni pictures, breakfast in bed, homemade cards. All great ways to honor Mom. How about instead, let’s pay her enough money she gets to spend time at night helping with homework, reading books to her kids, or just spending quality time. Instead of working that second job.