Let me tell you the story of David and Mehdi.
They both have a lot in common. They're 21 years old
and they both work for minimum wage in fast food restaurants.
The differences is that David works in the United Kingdom
and Mehdi works in Morocco
so how do their minimum wage lifestyles compare?
In this video, we're going to find out.
In Morocco, the minimum wage depends on who you work for.
There's a higher minimum wage for public sector workers
and just 14.13 Dirham
or £1.16 per hour for public sector workers
In the United Kingdom, the minimum wage depends on age
The highest is for people over 25.
Because David is 21 years old, he will earn a minimum of £8.20
or just under 100 dirhams an hour
This means: in a normal work day,
David will just about earn in one hour
what Mehdi will earn in one day
but before all Moroccan burger-flippers run away to the United Kingdom,
there are a few things to take into account.
Both countries have a maximum number of hours a boss can make his employee work in any given week
In Morocco, it's illegal to force someone to work more than 44 hours
In the United Kingdom, that maximum is 48 hours
Four hours extra per week
The United Kingdom has one of the longest working weeks in all of Europe
In fact, it's one of the longest in all the world
Let's imagine the UK boss only makes David work the 44 hours that Mehdi works in Morocco
At the end of the week, Mehdi will have earned 619 dirhams
about £51 for 44 hours work
David will have earned nearly £394
or just over 4,760 dirham
Both David and Mehdi will have to pay tax on their income
David is allowed to earn £12,500 each year before he pays tax
at the rate of 20%
This means: David pays £24.59 each week in tax
The equivalent of three days wage for Mehdi
In Morocco, Mehdi can earn 3,000 dirham before tax
which is at a rate of 7%.
This means: Mehdi pays about 37.5 dirham each week in tax
The equivalent of about 20 minutes of David's earnings
Both guys live with their parents
In the UK, there is a culture of children of the family
regularly contributing to the household finances when they start earning
The amount can vary a lot
but for a minimum wage earner like David, it will be a nominal amount
Let's say "£10 pounds" or 121 dirham each week
Moroccans are more likely to contribute on an irregular basis
buying items such as food and basic household items 'as and when'
Both David and Mehdi need to use public transport because they can't afford to buy a car
For Mehdi, six return journeys a week is 60 dirham
For David, it's £31.20
David spends about £13 each week on credit for his phone
Mehdi spends 15 dirhams a week
Both guys work out at a gym, spending £3.50 and 50 dirhams per week, respectively
They also go to the cinema once a week.
For David, the ticket costs £10
and for Mehdi, it's 50 dirham
Both guys buy toiletries, such as deodorants or razors, each week
This comes to £1.40 for David and 25 dirham for Mehdi
Both David and Mehdi like to drink a coffee a day
For David, that's going to cost about £14
and the takeaway coffee will be drunk very quickly as part of his waking-up process
For Mehdi, seven coffees will cost about 70 dirham.
They will be drunk at a leisurely pace as part of his socialising
Cheers!
Assuming neither guy wants to get fat by having a free burger each day for lunch,
David will spend about £30 a week for a simple lunch of a sandwich and a cold drink
Mehdi will spend about 200 dirham
but this could be a nutritional hot meal rather than just a sandwich
If David were to buy the same sort of food, he would pay £50
more than 600 dirham
Being 21 years old, both boys like to socialise a lot
but here's where the comparison starts to become quite difficult
In the United Kingdom, it's much more likely that David is going to socialize with his friends in bars and pubs
over some beers
In Morocco, it's likely that Mehdi will meet with his friends in a cafe
The differences between cafe and bar culture have a huge impact on spending
For Mehdi, socialising can cost him all of his remaining income
especially if cigarettes and beer are involved
This is 2020 and an increasing number of young Moroccans drink alcohol
but if Mehdi didn't smoke or drink beer, he would have about 67 dirhams or £5 remaining
We can expect David to spend two nights a week in a pub with friends
He could spend about £20 during the week on socialising
On a weekend, David could easily spend an additional £100 having fun socialising
If David smoked a box of cigarettes a day, he would have £60 remaining at the end of the week
However, the majority of people in the UK don't smoke,
so it's reasonable to assume that David doesn't want to give himself cancer
This smart decision means David has almost £132
or just over 1,645 dirhams left at the end of the week
about two and a half times what Mehdi earns in a week
or just over one and a half times Mehdi's monthly income
but a minimum wage lifestyle is nothing more than a lifestyle of survival
It's not a way of building a career or starting a family
and that's true in Morocco
but it's also true in the United Kingdom