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Comment by matheusmoreira | Hacker News Reader

It's only exploitation if those workers have to live in the US. Something like 50kUSD/y is laughable to an american but is actually a ridiculous amount of money for a lot of people due to exchange rates. More than worth it so long as they can work remotely without paying US cost of living.

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I know plenty of US families who gross less than 50k. They live comfortably, but not extravagantly, and not in California.

I also know a handful of people who make less than $25k/yr. They struggle more, but they still get by.

$50k/yr, $25/hr may be chump change to a big tech company engineer with a degree from a prestigious university, but it's a very normal hourly (non-overtime) wage (maybe even on the high side) for a lot of regular people.

Addition: For example, journeyman electricians average $24/hr in my state.

$25k is close to what international students in the US get paid on average. Postdoctoral fellows get $50k on average. All of them get by, many with families.

I think I'm out of touch then. I thought US had high cost of living everywhere and that people would struggle financially unless they made about $100k per year. At least that's the impression I got while reading salary discussions here.

Is this only true in big cities? Is this true at all?

I live in Florida. Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville are our largest cities, with Jacksonville being the most populous (though it's only #20 nationally.)

Median household income in Florida is $62k/yr. This includes the 13% of our population of 22 million who are in poverty and the about 7% on government food assistance (SNAP). I have personally lived on less than $20k/year as a younger, single man with low cost housing.

Florida is in the bottom third of states by median household income. DC, Maryland, and some of the northeastern states have median household income in the high-80s to just over $90k, but no state in the US is at $100k median. California is at $85k/yr.

To answer your question, HN has a higher than average population of young, childless, city-dwelling people with good education, well-paying careers, and relatively expensive tastes ($8+ cups of coffee, etc.) If they suddenly made the median salary for their state, they would likely struggle financially for a bit.

I don’t live in an expensive area but the general move towards $15/hr minimum has either caused or been a really strong indicative symptom of something like a collapse in the value of wages. A lot of people doubled their wages nearly overnight here, while myself making $25 did not see a raise at all.

I was an account manager at a MSP making $25 and I remember seeing a sign for a rural bar “line cook wanted $25/hour”. Tried to use that as a bargaining chip to show him how bad it was and he told me to go work at the bar if I wanted the same money for less work. No, I’d like to be gain experience and be treated like a professional, please.

Point being, $50K ain’t shit. Even in rural areas.

> Tried to use that as a bargaining chip to show him how bad it was and he told me to go work at the bar if I wanted the same money for less work. No, I’d like to be gain experience and be treated like a professional, please.

That should’ve been your hint to start looking for a new role asap. If negotiation fails, bounce as fast as you can.

H-1B is an immigration visa, if they worked remotely outside of the US they wouldn't have it.

> Something like 50kUSD/y is laughable to an american but is actually a ridiculous amount of money for a lot of people due to exchange rates.

For anyone on the globe able to go through a Google job interview that's also not going to be really that much.

There was a shift in salaries during the pandemic when more companies opened to hiring remote workers.

>Something like 50kUSD/y is laughable to an american

What's laughable is how out of touch you are. US median personal income among workers who work full-time year round is about $56k.

Wow. I guess I am out of touch.

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