It is very difficult to survive on $7 per hour, no doubt about that. This kind of wage usually involves working several jobs, living with roommates and so on. It's not an easy life by any means.

$0 per hour is a lot worse, however.

If you want someone to blame for robots taking over jobs, blame big government regulations and labor unions/minimum wage.
-------------------
Problem #1: Big Government Regulation

The Obama presidency has seen a massive increase in regulation and other burdens on companies, while also increasing immigration and further decreasing job availability. Just to name a few:
*Employees working over 32 hours/week = required to have a health plan provided -> companies forcing employees to limit their hours to avoid having them designated as full time... because they companies are unable to afford it.
*Just recently there was another executive action enforcing additional overtime pay, effectively increasing the minimum wage (read below to find out why the minimum wage destroys jobs and keeps poor people poor)
*1000's of new regulations every year. A recent report estimated the cost of government regulations in America last year at $4 trillion.
*Obama pushing the LGBT "anti-discrimination" agenda (read: affirmative action legal bullying against companies) opening companies up to large numbers of costly and frivolous lawsuits.
*Obama administration non-enforcement of the border allows migrants to flood in onto the government benefit rolls (at taxpayer expense) and take American jobs
*"Big Business" Republicans and corrupt "crony capitalism" companies (such as Facebook) work with the Obama administration to increase H1-B visas, effectively displacing U.S. tech workers

Government overregulation isn't just for Americans though. In France, unemployment had been stubbornly stuck at 10% for years due to a Byzantine labor code making it incredibly difficult to fire or lay off workers (and steep taxes only added to these problems). This made companies paranoid to hire people (because of the cost associated with hiring a lousy worker). The French president and prime minister recently forced labor code reforms (through executive order) intended to decrease burdens on companies (against the will of their own Socialist party) in a bid to bring down unemployment.

-------------------
Problem #2: Minimum Wage

The labor unions and the emptyheaded protesters with their stupid "Fight For $15" slogan. Already many leftist cities in America are phasing in $15/hour minimum wages.

Contrary to popular belief, corporations have limited money and they have to turn a profit. Usually, the choice to hire someone is based on the person's work value versus the cost of employment (wages, benefits, regulations, ...).

The minimum wage is an economic disaster. It effectively prohibits anyone with a work value below the minimum wage from regular employment.

Think of it this way. You're a business owner (could be a business of any size) unlucky enough to end up in a city where the minimum wage is $15/hour. Are you going to hire an employee whose work brings in anything lower than $15/hour? Of course you aren't. As a company, you have to turn a profit, and if your employees cost more than their work value, you're losing money on them. Your only option is to downsize the number of employees (make them stretch, sometimes with the help of robotics/machinery)... and if that doesn't work, you go out of business.

Minimum wage increases break small business. Suppose you're a small business owner and you can afford to pay out $80 an hour. You currently have 10 employees being paid $8/hour each.
Next month, a letter from the city council comes in announcing a new $10/hour minimum wage. You have to balance the budget; you can only afford to keep 8 of your employees and you have to lay off 2 of them.
--------------------
Problem #3: Labor Unions

This might sound counterintuitive since you have probably been given the impression that labor unions "fight for workers' rights". That's only partially true.... labor unions fight for your rights if you're a member - and they fight against your rights.

Remember the "Fight for $15" sham mentioned above? 2 years ago, some labor union bosses were caught agreeing on lower wage rates (under $15) for union employees. They aren't even interested in $15/hour, they're more interested in making everyone else too expensive to hire.

There are plenty of places in America where the labor unions are integrated with the local governments, allowing them to write regulations preventing non-union workers from employment in some areas. In some states there's been "right to work" laws - removing unions' monopolies on the labor market.

Some people say that labor unions are needed to prevent megacorporations from stacking the legal system against the workers. However, this wouldn't be a problem if laws against corruption were strictly enforced. The best solution to keep the people free and employed: Disband the labor unions and dismantle the Byzantine regulations, then strictly enforce harsh penalties for megacorporations and their political cronies caught corrupting the law (such as "20 years in a prison labor penitentiary" or "12 years of exile").

Precisely. We're caring less and less each day, I'm afraid. Let's blame technology, then ;P

Best advice I can give someone is to make sure that you're not just another warm body punching the clock. If I had to choose between two people to lay off, I would retain the one who shows up on time, does a quality job, and doesn't make my own job more difficult. Those aren't high hurdles to clear, and yet so many workers can't even manage those things.

I regret to inform that your donkeys are planning a coup d'état .

That's my biggest gripe with a ton of dudes I know. The amount of "dolce far niente" folks it just too damn high. I, shamefully, include myself in that category 50% of times. Shame on me..

You gotta beat the robot at its own game. Become a lawyer. I'm probably gonna try it.

Or you can go do slave work in the Gulf Countries. Its pays good I hear.

Hey, DivisionByZero is here! :D

Now I know what the weather man meant when he said there was an asshole front moving in across the plains.

Now that's something coined and completely wrongfully used these days -for the past 4 decades, I mean- pal.
Slave work? Folks (not you bro, be cool) who use that in sentences don't know ANYTHING about slavery...

AND THAT doesn't surprise me! :P I'm watching them right now. They're all grouped together in one corner. They're up to something!

Its said the 99% of bad lawyers give the 1% of honest ones a bad rap. Obviously I hold no ill will to anyone and just meant that as a joke.

''Slave work'' can be used to describe bad jobs though, right?

That's also one of the biggest gripes from the employers I know. They can find people to hire, no problem. Keeping them is another matter. Person shows up for the first day, maybe on time. Works until the morning break or lunch time and doesn't show up after the break is over. Couldn't make it through a full day. And keep in mind, this is in shops where automation takes much of the difficult physical labor out of the equation. Roll out the next new hire, with all of the costs that go with bringing a fresh face on-board, and hope this one sticks around. Double-bonus if the new hire turns out to be a good employee.

Too many agendas...

Damn I'm proud of our damp little island.

A few years back I had the option to move to the US and work for Google, after looking at US employment laws and culture I decided to stat put.
Had I gone and similar events happened (a car accident tripling my wife, children developing disabilities and so on) we would be homeless and in severe debt.

As it is we've got a roof and food and live comfortably.

Wife and I both worked and paid taxes for 20years before things got bad. And we'll pay again, once thing settle.

We're going to need lobbyists for the robot workforce...

Will the lobbyist be robots?