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Facebook raises minimum pay for contractors to $15 per hour

69 points| var_eps | 10 years ago |reuters.com | reply

65 comments

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[+] PaulHoule|10 years ago|reply
If you work four jobs like that you might be able to live in Fresno and commute on the back of a pick up truck to San Jose.
[+] pyrophane|10 years ago|reply
Your comment was initially amusing, but then I did the math and realized how little $15/hour actually is. If someone were able to work the equivalent of full-time, they'd make what? 15 * 40 * 52 = 31,200? Where could you live anywhere near a Facebook office on that? Seattle? Definitely nowhere convenient to their bay area HQ.
[+] pc86|10 years ago|reply
$15/hr is a $30k a year FT job. Sure it's not going to make anybody wealthy. But I don't think there are many people making $120k a year commuting on the back of a pickup.
[+] omouse|10 years ago|reply
It's a step in the right direction and it's a signal. If Facebook can afford to do this then other companies can afford to do it too.
[+] johnrob|10 years ago|reply
The real issue isn't wages - it's cost of living. If we really want to make people's lives better, we need to address whatever causes prices to increase (limited housing supply is probably the biggest culprit).
[+] gooseus|10 years ago|reply
I was under the impression is was foreign demand for high yield real estate investment vehicles?

I don't know a lot about real estate though.

[+] Sanddancer|10 years ago|reply
For those wondering what this means, it means that a Facebook contractor would still be in the lowest quarter of income earners in Santa Clara County [1]. As such, one would qualify for rental assistance, etc from the county, as the going rate for a /studio/ is $1200/month [2]. The inflated wages of the tech industry have placed an unbearable burden on the average person.

[1] http://www.hacsc.org/section-8-housing-programs/waiting-list...

[2] http://www.hacsc.org/section-8-housing-programs/housing-choi...

[+] johnbabboozle|10 years ago|reply
'Lowest quarter' is a huge range. I don't think it's scandalous that Facebook pays it's lowest skilled workers in the lowest quarter of wages.

If I looked at actual pay and actual expenses I might agree, but lowest quarter isn't a good argument to make.

[+] someonefromsome|10 years ago|reply
Key point here... It would be interesting to see if they have anyone making less than that currently.
[+] mliker|10 years ago|reply
>>>Contractors will also receive...a $4,000 new child benefit for parents who do not receive parental leave

Contractors definitely did not receive that before...So that's another key point

[+] nemmonszz|10 years ago|reply
Wow. It boggles my mind that any contractor working for Facebook would be making anything near that low.
[+] danbruc|10 years ago|reply
A really bold and fair move would be to pay them comparable to their developers and other staff. Of course not going to happen anytime soon.
[+] johnbabboozle|10 years ago|reply
Why is that fair? They don't have the same education (in general), they aren't doing the same job, they don't contribute the same value, etc etc etc.
[+] calibraxis|10 years ago|reply
That I would love. Not only did my colleagues generally have less pay, but less privilege and empowerment too. (They'd labor under an abusive-ass boss while I could determine how I best work.) Pretty rotten system we've got.
[+] nashashmi|10 years ago|reply
Maybe min. pay is supposed to be an entry level work. Duration will probably get you either directly hired or later laid off.

If that is the situation, why would you pay more than $15/hr.

Also, I wish there was a context of this "minimum pay" policy.

[+] vivab0rg|10 years ago|reply
One would be forgiven to think a company like Facebook, with a market cap of 224.82B, would pay a little more?
[+] thfuran|10 years ago|reply
I'm pretty sure $15/hr and 3 weeks paid vacation is extremely good for janitorial work.
[+] mikeryan|10 years ago|reply
In Facebook's defense, I doubt they have many minimum wage folks on staff. These are forcing their vendors, cleaning, catering etc. to pay a livable wage (undoubtedly Facebook will pay for this increase however).

Its not something you normally pay attention too. I have a 8 person office in SF that I get cleaned weekly. I have no idea what those individuals are getting paid of the amount I pay to the cleaning service.