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This is a 70% increase in pay for folks who, for the most part, decided not to go to school or pick up a trade, or work their ways up into management roles...
Meanwhile, middle class wages are practically stagnant.
I received a whooping 5% COL raise this year -- still more than most.
It's a sad world when the lazy can go protest and whine against the government and the government gives in.
In many places, fast food workers are now making more than crane operators and medical technicians.
This is going to become interesting. If $15. an hour is the norm for this type of unskilled labor job, then what will be the attitudes of kids graduating with Associates and Bachelors degrees? Will they just "chew the fat," or demand greater wages than $15. an hour? Don't get me wrong, everyone in this country should make a decent living, but this situation once again, will become interesting. It is going to bring about, both very good and very bad feelings, and probably contribute a to a U.S.A. that continues on a downward spiral.
This is going to become interesting. If $15. an hour is the norm for this type of unskilled labor job, then what will be the attitudes of kids graduating with Associates and Bachelors degrees? Will they just "chew the fat," or demand greater wages than $15. an hour? Don't get me wrong, everyone in this country should make a decent living, but this situation once again, will become interesting. It is going to bring about, both very good and very bad feelings, and probably contribute a to a U.S.A. that continues on a downward spiral.
I agree , this is one concern . If people see fast food workers making $15 an hour , the $20 or less that many might be making now is going to look like peanuts .
People will think ... Wait a minute ... I spent 4 or more years to get a degree and tens of thousands ( or hundreds of thousands ) to get a degree ... Just to make $5 an hour more than a fast food worker ?
In some cases I could see this giving people less incentive to go to college . Especially in lower cost areas .
Personally I don't think all these workers should expect to be employed. As someone else mentioned employers will be a lot pickier about who they hire when they are paying $15/hr.
It will also motivate owners to invest in technology to automate.
Look at the auto industry . We still have car factories in USA but a lot more of the work is done by robots.
A lot of times I hear the argument from pro $15 hr wage people that .. " too bad if these busiensses can't survive ... They will just be replaced by more profitable businesses "
The problem with that thinking is that the businesses replacing the old ones might be places that employ less people .
Or they might be businesses where today's min wage workers might not be fit to work in .
The problem with this is that it's an " experiment" I think it was foolish for so many cities to sign up for this when they have no idea what the results will be .
Especially with a huge economy like Los angeles and the SF Bay Area . I think it's very risky .
I don't know why they didn't wait until another city had some data that could be looked at.
Of course for the politicians it's no big deal .. They'll still have a job and in LA the city council members each make over 180,000 ... They probably don't care if they need to pay a bit more for a burger .
Imagine -- working-class people with disposable income in their pockets! Stop the presses! We cannot allow this to happen! What will become of the economy?!
Imagine -- working-class people with disposable income in their pockets! Stop the presses! We cannot allow this to happen! What will become of the economy?!
A p/t job at McDonald's is hardly the "working class".
Imagine -- working-class people with disposable income in their pockets! Stop the presses! We cannot allow this to happen! What will become of the economy?!
Sounds good as long as the business owners paying them don't get fed up with making little or no profit and shutdown or move, lay off employees , drastically cut hours .
Another question if raising the wage to $15 actually doesnt have any side effects for business owners and the economy , why not make it higher? Why not $20 or more ?
Even $15 in LA or SF or NYC is still barely enough to get by on right ?
I believe 1 bedrooms in SF and NYC are about $3000 month or more in the city .
And if you have several kids like many of these workers seems to have living in 1 bedroom isn't great.
Since the pro $15 hour people think that raising the wage significantly won't have any effect on the economy or put businesses out of business .. I don't know why they wouldn't stop at $15 .
Who came up with $15 ? Is it just because it sounds better than $16 $17 $18 etc?
A p/t job at McDonald's is hardly the "working class".
Most economists expect a 'ripple effect' which will result in wage increases for all workers. Coincidental with the impetus to increase the minimum wage is a new SEC ruling which will require for the first time in US history that corporations reveal the pay gap between CEO and worker pay. CEO's in other countries only make a fraction of what US CEO's earn Just the Facts: CEOs and the Rest of Us - The Globalist If you think about it, it looks really ugly for a US corporation to whine about raising wages a few dollars an hour when the average CEO earns almost $6,000 an hour.
I think people are finally waking up from their stupor about what is happening to the US wage earner, wage stagnation for 35 years in the face of increasing prices and the lowest rate of home ownership in decades. Adults living with their parents so that they can save to buy a home, but with every year that passes home prices increase and push that dream a little further from ever becoming reality. I would expect that anyone who wants to be elected President will have to address these issues and not expect the American public to patiently wait another 40 years for 'trickle down' to finally get to them.
Sounds good as long as the business owners paying them don't get fed up with making little or no profit and shutdown or move, lay off employees , drastically cut hours . Another question if raising the wage to $15 actually doesnt have any side effects for business owners and the economy , why not make it higher? Why not $20 or more ?Even $15 in LA or SF or NYC is still barely enough to get by on right ?
I believe 1 bedrooms in SF and NYC are about $3000 month or more in the city . And if you have several kids like many of these workers seems to have living in 1 bedroom isn't great. Since the pro $15 hour people think that raising the wage significantly won't have any effect on the economy or put businesses out of business .. I don't know why they wouldn't stop at $15 .Who came up with $15 ? Is it just because it sounds better than $16 $17 $18 etc?
So, what is your answer? Wait until businesses decide on their own that they are making enough money that they can give employees a pay raise? An environment like this one, where corporations are making huge profits, worker productivity is up and wages flat are exactly the conditions that brought about trade unions in the US. Don't be surprised to see a resurgence of that movement.
Sounds good as long as the business owners paying them don't get fed up with making little or no profit and shutdown or move, lay off employees , drastically cut hours .
That hasn't happened anywhere its been tried, including this country in the late 1930s. Some countries peg their minimum wage to the consumer price index so when costs rise, wages automatically follow. This hasn't led to hyperinflation anywhere it's been tried.
The people who are against this aren't afraid that it will fail. They're afraid it will succeed. That would be the end of the "Fearful States of America."
I don't understand how it would be some new requirement to reveal CEO wages for publicly traded companies ?
Hasn't that already been public information ? You can just take the CEO pay and divide it by the salary of a min wage worker.
Also the issue is complicated because many franchise locations are not owned by the parent company but by small business owners .
The parent company (McDonald's) is likely not paying the employees at your local McDonald's , it might be John Smith LLC paying them .
John Smith paid McDonalds a lot of money to use their brand he also gives them a percentage of his sales for using that brand .
I agree that CEO pay is pretty ridiculous in many examples but I don't agree that the government should decide or regulate CEO pay for corporations .
One thing people could do is not buy the stock or sell stock in a company where they don't agree about the CEO pay .
Many people are invested in index funds though like the sp 500 index so this can be difficult .
There are even " socially conscious " types of stock funds out there . One would have to research them though .
Most people have no idea what they are invested in
Most people also dont realize they can use their retirement account to invest in things besides stocks or bonds .
One can invest in real estate or even your own business through a self directed Ira or 401k .
You can even use a self directed account to flip real estate too .
Of course your HR department and your stock broker will never tell you this because the brokerage houses don't make money on this .
There is a ton of wealth in retirement accounts that can be used elsewhere .
"As of June 30, 2014, 401(k) plans held an estimated $4.4 trillion in assets and represented nearly 18 percent of the $24.0 trillion in U.S. retirement assets, which includes employer-sponsored retirement plans (both defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) plans with private-sector and public employers), individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and annuities. In comparison, 401(k) assets were $2.2 trillion and represented 16 percent of the U.S. retirement market in 2004."
It's pretty amazing to think of how the economy would change if some of those trillions were taken out of the stock market and put into other places like real estate , small business , etc .
I don't understand how it would be some new requirement to reveal CEO wages for publicly traded companies ?
Hasn't that already been public information ? You can just take the CEO pay and divide it by the salary of a min wage worker.
Yes, correct, CEO compensation is already disclosed in SEC documents. It's a dumb gimmick, just divide by minimum wage (because someone makes minimum wage for a publicly traded corporation).
Mick
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