Get rid of minimum wage entirely and replace it with UBI and universal healthcare - now you can at least survive without having an income. If you want more than just the bare necessities of food, shelter, and healthcare, you can get a job to earn more money. But, because you're not forced to work to survive, you can be much more selective about the job you take. Businesses will be forced to offer better pay, better working conditions, more flexibility, etc. because now nobody is forced into working a shit job just to make ends meet.

$0. Cover everyone’s basic needs by default whether they work or not.

Then you will have no need for a minimum wage, and people who do work will be in much better positions to negotiate their pay because getting fired or quitting has zero chance of being deadly.

US answer because I live in the US.

It should be the livable wage of a single person for each US state. It should be calulated each census with an annual cost of living increase based on the prior 10 years.

It would be a lot easier to calculate if universal healthcare and UBI existed.

It should be at least $25 by now for even the poorest state.

adjusted for inflation unless the us gets a UBI that pays well enough to live in small towns.

Setting it to any single number is pointless, it will inevitably stagnate and fall behind inflation, leaving us in the exact same position.

The first thing we need to do is redefine a livable wage to being able to afford shelter, food, and utilities. Then, we can tie the minimum wage to the current livable wage, which will continue to rise in future alongside inflation.

Whatever happens, pin it to inflation

Minimum services, not minimum wage.

Guarantee food, housing, healthcare, transport, etc to every person first. Then we can talk wages.

72 bucks. Read somewhere a little under that is what the buying power of our grandparents was when they could afford a house and comfortable life with a wife with a single job, so 72 since the billionaires have too much anyway.

$68 an hour.

In 1988 I was a single head-of-household mom without child support, and a full time college student when there was no tuition. I worked 30 hours a week as a bartender. I had to spend wisely, but was able to pay all bills with 75% of my pay, and have enough disposable income (and time) left to actually enjoy life. In today’s dollars and including tips, my take home pay was $54 an hour.

In 2025, a single HoH parent working 30 hours a week would be able to pay all bills including daycare and have a reasonable ~25% of their income left for living life on a gross income of $68 an hour.

That number would need an annual CoL adjustment. Also, college should be free.

It certainly shouldn't be static, waiting on legislators to increase. Tie it to some kind of economic metric that is determined by an independent (non political) body

$0 with UBI

$30 if implemented instantly. $35 if it takes more than two years., add $5 for every three years after either of those cases.

Circa 1960, the minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the price of a US home averaged $11,000.00

In "Hell's Angels" Hunter Thompson ran down the economics of being a biker/hippie in 1965.

A biker could work six months as a stevedore, and then take a two year road trip. A part time waitress could support herself and her live-in boyfriend.

Whatever is needed to afford the basic necessities of living:

• Food

• Water

• Shelter

• A minimal level of enrichment

And it should vary from region to region, as the cost of living is not equal everywhere.

Asking about a dollar amount in a system with inflation is asking to fail.

Cost of living varies drastically across the US so there is no one number that would work for the whole country right now.

Gotta stop inflation and reduce exorbitant prices in popular areas. Then the idea of a minimum wage can serve the people.

IMO minimum wage should be set to something like $25/h, and then automatically adjusted for inflation annually. The downside would be that inflation can be calculated in many different ways, and would probably be calculated in the way that's best for dicking over the working class, but that's still better than what we've got now.

It should be a living wage in whatever market the job is in. Executive pay should be capped to a multiple of the minimum employee wage and the average employee wage. No company should be able to make profit or pay dividends or bonuses unless every employee is making at least a living wage. If they do they are stealing the value of the labour.

I think it should be Enough™️. Not just enough to scrape by with 3 roommates, or to barely make it on your own, but enough so that you're never a single paycheck from homelessness; enough so you can live on your own, modestly, comfortably, without struggling unduly; enough so that if a medical issue arises, you can handle it without worrying.

People should be paid Enough™️ so that they can do MORE than just live, but so that they can THRIVE. And every day that doesn't happen is a stain on Humanity's record.

I say we make the federal minimum wage equal to 20% of the salary of a Congressperson.

That's likely to be $180k in 2025, which means a minimum of $17.30/hr. We know they never fail to give themselves raises, so it makes sense to tie their pay to the minimum wage.