hi hope this doesn't sound accusatory bc i totally believe u when u say this and i think i may kind of be in the same boat myself rn (living in california) but can u explain a little more what u mean by it "costing money to work" it's something that i struggle to put into words to explain to ppl that it's a thing

nah youre good! [thumbs up] yeah i dont know a great way to explain this either other then "california (+everything tbh) is expensive and even with a higher state min-wage its still unrealistic" my bad but ill try. also sorta disclaimer i guess? very california-centric pov

i think the point when it feels like, or it actually is, more expensive to work is either one of getting paid enough, not enough hours, or both. (though ive mostly seen and experienced it with low hours/okay pay) because state minimum wage can be 15/hr but when average rent in sac is 2k, gas runs around 5/gal, and a single can of pepsi is 3$ (THREE DOLLARS!!!! im personally mad about that one) 15 is like nothing unless youre doing 50+ a week.

that is not considering: having kids + paying for childcare, working in a different city you live in, other forms of transit (when my car shit itself it was like around 80 a day to get to work), literally any other bills, anything that comes unexpected, so on and so on. if you live half an hour away from work its obvs more expensive then ten minutes or less. also not considering work making you need to get things like new clothes/shoes/etc.

it can be hard to explain cause when saying "yeah im only making 17/hr and struggling" that can sound more like, i dont know, a personal problem? and not something closer to a "im making 17/hr and working 3 hour days so its costing me a ton to get there"

though i guess it could just boil down to: things are expensive and where or what your work is, how sporadic the schedule is can make it so work is costing you. which is a hard thing to articulate because yeah im technically getting paid to be here. but not really.

hope literally any of this made sense!