Comment by dismantlethesun
24 days ago
The were making 8.5 per hour which above the 2026 youth wage.
They also are relating a story from their past and since they have had an account since 2015, I am assuming their youthful past was at least 1 decade ago if not nearly 20 years ago.
No, the 340 were per month, the 40 hours are per week. I usually do back-of-the-envelope calculations with 4.3 weeks per month, which would leave them below 2 EUR/h.
Edit: But you are of course right about inflation! According to this website[1] it would bump them to 3.2 EUR/h.
[1]: https://www.inflationtool.com/euro-netherlands/2005-to-prese...
Sounds about right.
The point was that market value has very little to do with cost but is driven by intentionally limiting construction permits.
Out of the million euro that people have to pay to buy the 350 000 home very little goes towards building it.
The surplus of people looking to live someplace isn't an accident.
Now let us imagine what it is like running a pub. After subtracting the cost and the 5000 rent bill they probably have a sizable negative salary.
Even accounting inflation and the youth wage, that wage sounds too low for the Netherlands.
It should’ve been at least 450 euro equivalent even in 1990, using 2024 value euros.
Source: https://www.boeckler.de/pdf/ta_netherlands_mwdb.pdf
Minimum jeugdloon exists since 1974. Of course the numbers change but the ratio doesn't.
Look at it like this: if 18y minimum wage was €3 back then and would double to €6 at 21y, and you're a construction worker working for €8.50 at 18y, you're sure as shit going to demand a raise at 19, 20 and 21 because all the people making minimum wage are getting those raises too. Maybe not a doubling, but you wouldn't (shouldn't) gnash your teeth and still make €8.50 three years later.