I just started a new job, but they only pay as little as they are legally allowed.
What is the minimum wage in your area?
In Oklahoma it is $7.25 an hour.
I am not sure what it is in my state, minimum wage is hard to live on.
a modest and decent standard of living.
Legislation State laws.
In the United States, different states are able to set their own minimum wages independent of the federal government. When the state and federal minimum wage differ the higher wage prevails. there were 29 states with a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum. Washington has the highest state minimum wage at $11.50 per hour. A number of states have also in recent years enacted state preemption laws, which restrict local community rights, and bar local governments from setting
economists posit that the minimum wage is in part to blame for structural unemployment, although structural unemployment does exist even in the absence of a minimum wage. They assert that because the governmentally imposed minimum wage is higher than some individuals' marginal revenue product in any given job, those individuals remain unemployed because employers legally cannot pay them what they are "worth." Others believe that in such cases (for example, when a person is intellectually disabled or suffers a debilitating physical condition) it is the responsibility of the state