u/Additional-Turn104

The matter is very simple. If you give a company 40 hours of your life every week, you should be able to live a decent life. You should receive a salary sufficient for your effort that covers all your bills, and also have something left over to save, invest, or even enjoy yourself once in a while. This is the bare minimum of what should happen.
And don't let the hustle-culture folks convince you otherwise: 40 hours a week is a very large part of your life to dedicate to just one thing.
We must end the phenomenon of unlivable wages for people who are committed, go to their jobs, and do what's required of them. No one who sacrifices this much of their life and energy should be just barely getting by.
I don't care if you're designing software in an office, or laying bricks in the scorching heat, or serving food to rude customers, or answering phones in a call center, or stocking shelves in a supermarket, or even driving people around town. As long as you work 40 hours or more, it is your right, and one of your most basic rights, to receive a salary sufficient to live with some dignity.
And look, I get it. Jobs that need more specialized skills should have higher salaries. I don't object to that at all.
But let me be very clear and direct: if you work a full 40 hours a week in a so-called 'low-skill' job, you should also be living comfortably. Not just surviving.
And if your 40-hour job requires a specific trade or a degree, then financial stress shouldn't even be part of your equation. And poverty should be just a distant memory.
And when I say 'living comfortably,' I don't mean you have to rent a room in an unsafe area where you don't feel secure at night.
I mean being able to afford a decent one-bedroom apartment on your own. Being able to pay rent, bills, your car payment, and your phone bill without having a panic attack every time a due date comes around. This must be the minimum acceptable standard for anyone working full-time.
Let's start demanding this. I'm tired of feeling like I'm sacrificing a huge part of my life for 40 hours of work, only to receive peanuts that amount to nothing compared to the real cost of living. (And I say this while my salary is considered better than the minimum wage, and yet it's still a constant struggle. The whole system is broken.)