I skimmed the linked article and it’s pretty clear to me that the rise in the 10th percentile (which is sub-minimum wage income as far as I can tell) is because inflation made the cost of working more than the fucking wages and that measly 8% increase from 15,700 to like maaaybe 17,000 a year (pre-tax, etc. etc.) was needed to make people not just stay home because the health, economic, and opportunity cost of going to work was more than just staying home for most people.
I skimmed the linked article and it’s pretty clear to me that the rise in the 10th percentile (which is sub-minimum wage income as far as I can tell) is because inflation made the cost of working more than the fucking wages and that measly 8% increase from 15,700 to like maaaybe 17,000 a year (pre-tax, etc. etc.) was needed to make people not just stay home because the health, economic, and opportunity cost of going to work was more than just staying home for most people.