To determine the hourly wage required to meet the family’s basic needs, we first need to calculate the total monthly expenses based on the costs provided in the table.
Let's add up the costs:
- Food and groceries: $821.33
- Medical: $751.33
- Housing: $1,324.17
- Transportation: $1,251.00
- Monthly taxes: $882.58
- Other necessities: $745.67
Total monthly expenses = $821.33 + $751.33 + $1,324.17 + $1,251.00 + $882.58 + $745.67
Now, we perform the summation:
\[ \text{Total monthly expenses} = 821.33 + 751.33 + 1324.17 + 1251.00 + 882.58 + 745.67 \]
Calculating this step by step:
- \( 821.33 + 751.33 = 1572.66 \)
- \( 1572.66 + 1324.17 = 2896.83 \)
- \( 2896.83 + 1251.00 = 4147.83 \)
- \( 4147.83 + 882.58 = 5030.41 \)
- \( 5030.41 + 745.67 = 5776.08 \)
Thus, the total monthly expenses are \( $5776.08 \).
Next, we need to determine the required hourly wage. Assume full-time work consists of 40 hours per week, which gives us:
\[ \text{Total hours per month} = 40 \text{ hours/week} \times 4.33 \text{ weeks/month} \approx 173.2 \text{ hours/month} \]
Now, we can find the necessary hourly wage:
\[ \text{Hourly wage} = \frac{\text{Total monthly expenses}}{\text{Total hours per month}} = \frac{5776.08}{173.2} \]
Calculating this gives:
\[ \text{Hourly wage} \approx 33.37 \]
So, the hourly wage required to meet the family’s basic needs, rounded to the nearest hundredth, is $33.37.
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