Twenty- one dollars!
That is not per month,
or per week
or even per day.
That is twenty-one dollars per hour!
That is what I heard the other day while driving to or from somewhere or other. The car radio was on and the current news was being broadcast and that is when I heard it.
Some major bank was offering twenty-one dollars an hour as the entry level wage. They were announcing that, at least for their employees, twenty-one dollars an hour would be considered the minimum wage!
Of course, with our current situation and so many hesitant for one reason or other, mostly fear of returning to on site workplaces in light of the still evident pandemic and others hesitant because of the difficulty of providing proper childcare and such, prospective employers are offering greater and greater incentives to recruit workers.
I have seen oh so many "Help Wanted" signs.
I have seen signs offering a starting salary of fifteen dollars an hour, eighteen dollars and hour and, of course, those offering to cover young workers' college tuition costs.
And now - twenty-one dollars an hour!
That took me back and perhaps I can even take you back a bit as I share my journey.
I started working as a delvery carrier for the Detroit Free Press. That was back in the early 1950's and my route, considered a rather large one for the time, involved delivering the evening edition of the newspaper. In addition to delivering the papers, weekly it fell to me to also collect from the customers. My pay for this work consisted of a percentage of what I collected plus any tips given.
A good week might bring me around $5.00, sometimes even a it better. That was for the week not the hour!
In high school I managed to get a part time and then summer job in a drug store. I was the stock boy and my duties mostly consisted of unloading deliveries, replenishing merchandise on shelves an occasionally, when busy, waiting on customers. That drug store was located a block from a local "stadium" and Friday evenings were especially tension-filled. The store had an ice cream counter and if a stadium game ended before closing time, fans flocked to the counter for a treat. That meant filling in as soda jerk to a mob of frenzied fans, working late but not for overtime.
Pay for that job, as I recall, was a straight twenty dollars.
Per week - not per hour.
Had a couple of other summer jobs - one year processing traffic tickets for the City of Detroit and another processing property tax payments.
A dollar something per hour for that work, and a straight forty hours per week.
One summer I got a really good paying job!
I worked on the Wayne County Road Crew- tarring roads, painting weigh scales and fun stuff like that while making the grand sum of $2.14 per hour!
That summer I was rich!
And I had a great tan!
There were also a couple of summers when I worked and lived on campus at Orchard Lake doing office clerical work. Didn't earn as much as that Road Commission job but there was that extra perk. I could "'sing" Masses early mornings.
In those days places like that had multiple altars and early mornings the priests on faculty would descend for their Masses. They were able to collect stipends for those Masses and the usual stipend was $3.00 for a Low Mass and $5.00 for a High Mass.
A High Mass meant a sung Mass and so the priest had to find someone to sing certain parts of the Mass. For that special service the singer received $1.00. And because altars were so nice and close to each other, it was possible to be present and singing for a couple of Masses almost simultaneously!
In an hour on a good day that could mean five/six dollars per hour! And that all before actually going to work.
When I was ordained, I arrived.
I now had a guaranteed, regular paycheck.
My starting salary was a whole seventy-five dollars.
Per month!
Ah! But there was a perks hidden here as well.
Those stipends for those daily Masses were ours. That meant an extra five dollars a day every day.
Add it all up!
And that was then.
This is now - twenty-one dollars an hour, fifteen dollars an hour, eighteen dollars an hour!
And here we are.
And you just might make the observation - Yes, but way back when, things were way less expensive than they are today. Just look at some prices - gas today is what? $3.29 a gallon? Back when - eighteen cents a gallon! Bread - back when twenty cents? Today - $3.00 and up a loaf! Back when a night's stay at the equivalent of a Motel Six was $18 but today, well, let's talk about pushing a hundred dollars and up just for a place to sleep for the night!
Yes, things cost more now, no question about it.
And we cost more - workers today expect more, request more, even demand more.
Is it that things cost more because we earn more or is it that we earn more because things cost more?
And which came first - chicken or egg?
Fact is that we probably did just fine back in the days when . . .
And we are doing just fine today as well.
The numbers may have changed but the basic human circumstances are rather the same today as they were back in the day.
We still can afford (even if we tend to complain about cost) and we still have a little to put away for that rainy day.
And very, very likely today, just like yesterday, we even have some extra to share with those who for whatever reason cannot possibly realize anywhere near twenty-one dollars an hour.
Of even a day.
Or sometimes even a week!
Times were good for so many of us back in the day . . . and times are good today.
“Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable,” Pope Francis
