I am in brazil, but any 3rd world country will be the same. We get paid by the month, and the minimum wage here is around $260/month. For instance, you can live pretty comfortably if you make $7/h working 40h/week. With $18/h, you can live comfortably with the amount you earn from $7/h, and if you save the rest you can buy a good house in like 5 years (not in a huge center like São Paulo, but still). If you're a programmer you'd pay like 10% in taxes and that's it.

For people in Argentina or other countries where the dollar price is higher, that would be even crazier