My first ever job was at a McDonalds in NJ back in 2012 where I made $7.25. My wage increased to $8.25 the next year as the wage in NJ went up. Now almost 10 years later, I’ve noticed that while many places still have a $7.25 minimum wage, a lot of places that normally pay minimum are now paying more than that even if their state minimum is $7.25. Last year I was on a road trip and stopped at a McDonalds in Kentucky. Even though their state minimum was $7.25, they were advertising outside the building that their restaurant starts off at around $12-$14 if I remember correctly.

21 comments
  1. I can’t help you with the answer directly, but I’ve been wondering the same myself recently. I live in a state (KY) where that’s the minimum wage, but I haven’t seen anything recently under about $9/hr.

  2. Not really. Even McDonald’s is paying 14 an hour here in Idaho because absolutely nobody is willing to work for less than that, and there is such a labor shortage that people can be more picky about where they work.

  3. Not recently that I’ve seen, but a couple years ago there were.

    I also keep seeing things like “*for select positions and shifts” at the bottom of those $12-14 signs around here, which makes me wonder about the base rate.

  4. I work in one of those states (Idaho). I’ve never been paid the minimum wage, and I’ve never known someone to be paid the minimum wage (tho I’m sure it happens with some employees at some jobs). Even at jobs where the interview was basically just check to see if I had a pulse, they paid more than minimum (but not by much).

  5. Not really. In Utah entry level position warehouse jobs paid an average of $12-$13 in 2020 (not sure what it is now), it sorta proves a minimum wage is not necessary.

  6. No one still pays minimum really. PA still has $7.25 and I think I saw one ad at a retail store that said they started at $10.50 and I almost laughed. Most fast food advertises atleast $12-13. I’ve seen McDonald’s as high as $20. Sheetz starts at $17ish.

    The only places that still pay the minimum are tipped jobs, which is $2.83 here. But, even that’s improving, my bartending job pays me above that.

  7. No, but there are plenty of places that are trying to hire people for $10-$14 an hour. That’s what I made when I was 20 years old and in college…25 years ago.

  8. Movements like those on r/antiwork have tightened the labor market, so, while they’re far from getting what they want, employers can’t realistically hire workers for $7.25 anymore.

  9. My first job in 2005, I made $5.35/hr, equivalent to $7.93 today. That’s not even a good wage for a high school student. It’s really time for corporate America to start paying a reasonable wage. I’m not saying it should be $15 everywhere, but anything under $10 is not a liveable wage even in the backwoods of Mississippi.

  10. I live in a LCOL area in Ohio and many fast food restaurants are starting at $15.

  11. Yes. Loads of minimum wage jobs in small towns out here working at gas stations and local businesses.

  12. The only person I know is my daughter. She coaches gymnastics for a few hours a week. It’s not really a job per se, she mostly does it because she adored her coaches and is thankful for what they taught her and she wanted to do it for the younger kids. She’d probably do it for free, but since she works with young children she has to be an official employee.

    But otherwise no one is paying minimum wage, almost all posting I see are around $15 for fast food work.

  13. Before Covid, you could find some temp jobs close to that even in cities in Alabama, so I imagine there were jobs paying that in more rural areas.

    Over the last year I’ve seen signs up all over for entry-level, no experience required jobs. Part-time or full-time, advertising between $13-15 an hour starting pay.

  14. SC as of 2020 yes (mainly for like park concession tier jobs) but $9-11 was much more the norm

  15. Most places have started offering at least 10$/hr due to the labor shortage.

  16. $15 an hour at McDonalds in my home state.

    After seeing how expensive some other countries with high minimum wages can be to live, I’m not sure a high minimum really helps a whole lot, except people can yell about how great they are for giving people a higher minimum wage.

    Then they all seem content to ignore the fact that it costs $1000 a month just to rent a room in someone’s house.

    I could be wrong, but as far as I can tell, rents have about doubled in 20 years, the starting wage as well, so people are still about where they were.

    May as well put the minimum up I guess, at this point it doesn’t matter a whole lot if everywhere is starting at $15.

  17. Yes. Usually shitty fast food jobs in smaller towns that employ almost exclusively teenagers.

  18. was in fargo north Dakota the other day. 17 $ an hour part time at McDonald’s, opened interview on Tuesday

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