In today’s world I think the biggest factor in a hourly wage is health insurance, if the employer pays for it then obviously the price per hour would be lower.

The fair wage for picking berries is mathematical. How many containers of berries you can pick in an hour times the market value of those berries minus berry farmers production cost minus berry farmers profit margin.

Would I pick berries for that wage? That would depend on what my other options are. If none and I was hungry I guess I would.

An entry level employee does not deserve a "living wage" to raise a family. They deserve what the other millions of low skill entry level employees are paid. They need to take that job at that rate and be the best berry picker or ditch digger that ever was, then either work towards moving up the ladder or look for a better paying entry level job and do the same.
You'll never make it in this world if you don't continuously make every effort to better yourself.

hard to put a price on unskilled labor. Learn a trade.

hard to put a price on unskilled labor. Learn a trade.

Cathryn. Your question leads me to ask............"fair " to whom ?

I inferred from your post that you mean "fair' to the employee. But what about the employer ?

If I own a company that makes widgets and I hire you at 20/hr, you need to be able to produce enough widgets to cover your wages plus a return on my investment and other overhead costs of employing you. Otherwise it isn't 'fair' to me even though you may feel it is 'fair' to you.
It's a two way street.

It's kind of funny reading trappers say Mexicans work cheap. I personally have never met a Mexican trapper.

Wish everything would come back down, to improve the value of a dollar. If grocery store prices, fuel/oil , agricultural products would come down we could once again live on reasonable wages.

It’s all relative, this thing called inflation.

I don’t agree with a set minimum wage, should be no floor or ceiling for wages. Drives away values and creates laziness, entitlement.

That makes zero sense. Plus, you live in Alaska.

"I've never met a Somali welder." Which I haven't .

I prefer to bid everything

I've seen plenty of Mexicans skinning coon, beaver, coyotes and rats. Does that count?

Coat coon will shine again!

skilled labor needing some sort of certificates , 2 year degree , apprentice , hazard pay or deep on the job training , take the price of a 3 bed house not big ,1 maybe 2 bath , 1 car garage or carport just something a guy could raise a family in and divide by 3 and then divide that by 2000

some skill labor without as much skill , not the stuff specified above divide by 4


general labor divide by 5 (this is where I would put milking and general farm labor)


low impact labor , low or very minimal training , like cashiers , retail and such divide by 6

that is what you would basically need to make to live in the area you are in , so it isn't A number it is a what does it cost you to reasonably live some place.

the place has to support it's residents one way or it will support them the other in social programs or other drains on the economy.

Unions no longer exist to benefit the members. They exist to benefit the union employees and management. Each raise for the members is also a raise for management. I know a govt. employee union here in Alaska whose employees make 6 figures.

^^^This^^^.

You must be worth your wage.

No one deserves anything. You have the earn it. I wish they would take the word deserve out of the dictionary. It shouldn't be a word if you ask me.

I highly recommend keeping a record of the things you do that add value to the job. These would be things outside the normal performance. This is helpful during those year end reviews.

I always worked piece-rate. By the tree, board foot or truck load. If you were in a good area and put in some effort you made great money. I been in some jobs where no matter what you do you came up short. Some hourly people I know/see work so slow I just want to walk up and slap them.