$27.63 is such an absurdly low amount that it wouldn't even be considered a livable wage in some major metros.
$27/hour comes to about $56,160 a year
According to HUD [0], that qualifies and individual as "very low income" in San Francisco, CA (threshhold $65,250)
For California overall, you would merely be "low income" (threshhold $56,450)
In Houston Texas, that would be "low income" for a family of 2. (Threshhold 56,700)
It might not be fun to live on, granted, but if more than 50% of the data points are lower, it's probably not reasonably described as "low".
"Absurdly low to be considered exempt"? That's not "privilege of the developer", that's "we shouldn't screw over employees who aren't getting adequately compensated.
This is one of those things that hasn't been updated in a long time. The original law was https://www.congress.gov/101/statute/STATUTE-104/STATUTE-104... from 1990:
> Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Labor shall promulgate regulations that permit computer systems analysts, computer programmers, software engineers, and other similarly skilled professional workers as defined in such regulations to qualify as exempt executive, administrative, or professional employees under section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(a)(1)). Such regulations shall provide that if such employees are paid on an hourly basis they shall be exempt only if their hourly rate of pay is at least 6 1/2 times greater than the applicable minimum wage rate under section 6 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 206).
(note, there may be transcription errors above)
The federal minimum wage in 1990 was $3.80. In 1996, this value was frozen at $27.63 which was 6.5x the federal minimum wage of $4.25 at that time.
If it was not frozen, that value would be $47.13 today.
Factor that by ten and I’ll consider taking salary. My personal time is nearly priceless and anyone giving theirs away for 684/wk needs to learn about our forefathers that died to earn us overtime.
They want 7 days of sick time per year. Sure, they get decent overtime, but if they get sick and miss a few shifts, or can’t get to their site within an hour of their call in 24/7/365, or have literally any life events then that money dries up real quick.
We shouldn’t have to demand reasonable working conditions but here we are. A proletarian being mocked by an anonymous green named capitalist belittling the severity of abuse salaried workers endure.
Slap a managerial title on someone, pay them a pittance and keep them around just as long as they’re profitable. Once they’re not toss them and laugh while they try to collect the absolutely gutted social services.
On one side it meant that my employer would be very unhappy if I worked less 40 hours punched in. On the other hand, when punched in for 50 hours I had a nice bit more on the paycheck (the 40h one was $1100 before taxes; the 50h one was $1500 before taxes).
I'll also note that the median per capita income was about $25k/year and I was able to buy a house on a double lot (large fenced yard) for $60k.
> The average personal income in the U.S. is $63,214.
> The median income in the U.S. is $44,225.
> The average American annual real wage was $67,521 in 2020.
> The average U.S. household income is $87,864.
> The median U.S. household income is $61,937
The problem is that the amount is not relative to CoL but a flat amount.
Not all major metros make building housing illegal. San Francisco and New York are not the only major metros in the US. You can build in Seattle and Houston at least.
Seattle has a much higher median cost of living than your comment.
Also the entire Bay Area has high cost of living, even when you can build in other areas other than SF.
It doesn't include mean data but the mean personal income in cities may very well be below the 55k/year cutoff.
This is why you can’t take nationwide averages because the USA is a giant country , and the cutoff might be fine for one region but not another.
The weekly salary cutoff is $684/wk. If a firm is employing software workers and using hourly-wage exemption at $27.63, they are probably not getting 40 hrs/week regularly.
> US GDP per capita (which is basically average earnings) is $69K a year.
GDP per capita could be considered a very loose estimate of average income including capital accumulation, but...that's not super relevant to a claim about major metro living wages or appropriateness as an FLSA exemption point.
I’m not sure you deserve the downvotes, I think the way you phrased it might make people think you’re out of touch.
I help support my spouse and without my major contribution (almost 4x theirs) to our income pool (where they can only find part-time work), we'd be much worse off. So in some regards I am earning close to this rate as I help pay not for just myself, but my partner too (I have multiple pets but no kids, thank god). If that give you some idea of how much I make and they make.
To be clear, I am still paid hourly. I am not a developer either, so that kinda goes to my point (but I do work in IT). My company doesn't want us to go over 40 hours though, so if I reach it mid-day Friday, I leave early.
If it wasn't for paying _well below the average_ in the area we live at for rent, we'd have some struggle as we have high utility rates, car payments, insurance, 401k, medical bills, entertainment/social lives, etc, etc that everyone needs to balance and still avoid major anxiety over something ruining the routine financially. Inflation is the dark cloud over every horizon at the moment. I can't finance a home like I wanted to. I'll have to hold off a little longer.
The idea is that it's absurd that the Govt. has not increased this scale with CoL/inflation. To categorize someone exempt at such a low rate is a bit of a slap in the face.
EDIT: As for people much more educated, that's a similar but tangential argument. People who put in their time and money to be educated and become experts/pioneers in their field should be compensated appropriately. This is another societal failure that needs attention.
The exemption thresholds for computer workers in California are $53.80/hr or $9,338/mo on a salary basis, instead of the federal $27.63/hr or $684/wk on a salary basis.