What you're worth

You're not a person. Get used to it, in this shiny new Homeland we're not people, we're “human capital”  ( isn't that an evocative name?)

Four units of human capital

and Human Capital Management Software is the coming thing in business. Corporations love it, so much that only one worker in five is now on a regular schedule.

What it means is that you, the slave,  indentured servant  team member are expected to set aside any plans you have for anything, ever, because you might have to be there for work, and you won't find out till the last minute. Goodbye college, second job, child care arrangements, life.

Also too, full time work? LOL! How quaint. You work as many hours as the company says, and beg for enough to be able to pay a bill. Hoping for a raise in the minimum wage? They've got a way to stiff you even then.

You have to go to work and come home after, not just magically be there. It takes about a half hour each way to cover the average commuting distance of 13 miles, and that's not counting any time you have to spend getting ready—shutting down whatever you're doing, putting things away and such, cleaning up, changing clothes—so every day you work you give your employer at least an extra hour of your time.

Also, most people drive to work so they have to pay for gas and maintenance on a vehicle. The standard mileage allowance from the Dept of Transportation is fifty cents a mile so that 26 mile round trip costs you $13.00. Three or four dollars of that buys gas and the rest, well, auto shops--$80/hour.

Minimum wage is $7.25 / hour. Approximately ten per cent goes to taxes so you take home $6.53. Three hours work gives you $19.59, minus the thirteen dollars you spent to get there, so you get $6.59 for your day's work.

A day's pay: six and a half bucks.

Since you spent a total of four hours to get it,

you're being paid $1.64 per hour.

What if they raise the minimum wage to $10 like in California?

$10 minus 10% tax →$9

X3 hour shift → $27

less transportation → $14

spread over four hours = $3.50 per hour.

What if they let you work a full eight hour shift?

Then the Californian goes from $3.50/hr to $6.50.

The minimum wage worker's $1.64 becomes $4.36.

It puts more money in your pocket to work a full shift than to get a raise in wages.  Not that human capital has any need for money, or pockets.