Reply #11: based on

[Kenneth ken]

the excerpts (I don't like registering at Wapo or the NYT)

I would point out that
a) trigonometry and geometry are not "basic math"
b) "mold into a $20-per-hour" is NOT the same as saying the job pays $20-per-hour to start.

May be shoddy reporting, or may be that the person quoted has a whiny agenda and really isn't willing to pay a decent wage.

In re FL as a cheap cost-of-living state; land is relatively cheap; I found everything else there was pretty much the same as in CO, where I had moved from. The first month or so I was there, I compared prices to what they had ben in CO and saw very little difference on most things. Unfortunatley, my wages did reflect a "cheap cost of living" - which is why I don't live there now.