As an ongoing worker shortage has many employers questioning employee benefits and pay requirements for the lowest paid workers, a survey released by a moving services company has tagged Atlanta as the worst city in the country for minimum wage workers.
The experts at Move.org identified the best and worst cities for minimum wage workers and found that minimum wage workers in the country’s biggest cities are struggling to make ends meet.
According to the report Atlanta, is the No. 1 worst city for minimum wage earners. Minimum wage earners in Atlanta earn $7.25 an hour and would need to work 177 hours a month to afford a one-bedroom apartment. As a point of reference, a minimum wage worker who works 40 hours every week, would only work 160 hours each month, so that one-bedroom apartment would not be affordable without a side gig or overtime hours.
Here are some additional highlights from the report.
- The average minimum wage in the 75 largest cities in the US is $10.40 and the average rent is $1,040 —that means rent requires over 60% of monthly gross minimum wage income.
- Out of all the cities with over a million people, Chicago is one of the best for livable wage earners
- Two cities still (theoretically) allow minimum wage earners to only work one job and live there affordably: Bakersfield, California, and Tucson, Arizona.
You can read the complete report here: https://www.move.org/least-livable-us-cities-for-minimum-wage-earners/
