Considering your columns about tipping, I’ve decided to entirely stop tipping – besides in restaurants. Fast food, coffee shops, and the like? Not anymore. As a tradesperson, I’ve invested in tools, vehicles, and years of training while earning close to nothing. I refuse tips when offered, as I do my job. Low-paying jobs are the economy’s way of suggesting you should look for better work. The more places that ask, the less I feel like tipping. It doesn’t stop spreading. Am I wrong?
All Tipped Out
You’re incorrect about one crucial point: It’s a mistake to blame employees for low-wage jobs, especially given that many of the lowest-paid jobs involve the most labor-intensive, grueling work – in factories, cookingthe service sector, leisure, and hospitality, and education and health services. As countless people realized during the pandemic, these jobs form the cornerstone of the U.S. economy. Not all workers in low-wage jobs ask for tips, and to lump them all together does a disservice to millions of people.
There are around 30 million prime-age, low-wage workers earning less than $16.98 an hour in the U.S., according to a recent report from WorkRise. WorkRise is a platform hosted by the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank devoted to identifying and sharing ideas for transforming the labor market. “In total, low-wage workers comprise more than a quarter of the overall workforce,” the report states. “These jobs are often the most vital Experience the least security“
“An individual working full-time at that limit makes about $35,000 a year,” WorkRise reports. “In America’s 3 biggest cities, the average annual rent for a one-bedroom apartment accounts for at least half of that amount.” Factor in utilities, groceries, and any other essentials, and it’s evident that these workers don’t have it easy. Less than a quarter of low-wage workers have a work-based pension, compared to 47% of higher-wage workers, and only 57% have an employer-sponsored health care plan, versus 88% of higher earners.
More than 70% of Americans say they are expected to tip more often than they used to, but only one-third of people say they know when they should tip and how much, according to a recent study By the Pew Research. The mistake is to take that frustration and blame the workers for low earnings rather than, say, large corporations not treating their employees better or not creating opportunities for them to improve their skills and climb the corporate ladder.
