WTF? How can you survive on that? You would make that here on a Friday night in tips.
God knows how he done it, his wife was a teacher and they lived in the countryside where it is a lot cheaper, but still it's a pittance.
On the other hand many people get jobs because they know somebody, so they are hired not because of what they know, but who they know.
I work for Electrolux in Krakow and I often wonder how some of the "accountants" have jobs there. For example they have people with degrees in Journalism ect working in the accounting teams. No experience but they are there just to punch numbers into a computer.