Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
B) People working in mw jobs do have skills, but it's a sad fact that these skills are overlooked
or - in a mw environment - are undervalued.
Are these skills you're thinking of material to the job they've been hired to do?
Having a degree in French Lit won't **and shouldn't** get you paid more for being on
the overnight restocking crew even if you can recite Baudelaire as you go along.
Quote:
Long story short, there are people in mw jobs who have valuable skills and roles,
and they should be paid accordingly.
And with rather few exceptions... once those hard and soft values are known... these people
actually will get paid accordingly. There's more to it of course... like their quite reasonable desire
to run off the second a more suitable job shows up... that will also come into play.
But all of this is still a side show to the real problem: Too many people are available for the too few jobs that actually need doing.
This is most acute at the no/low skill end but hardly exclusively.
Until one end or the other of that supply/demand equation changes... not much else will either.
When it does change... higher MW levels should again make more sense.
Competition alone should force it.
In the mean while we're still stuck with the social welfare need that income should provide.
Balloon squeezing with changes in the MW won't do it. Fixing/expanding the EITC will.
Some reading on the topic: LINK
Last edited by MrRational; 02-23-2014 at 03:25 PM..
w
Are these skills you're thinking of material to the job they've been hired to do?
Having a degree in French Lit won't **and shouldn't** get you paid more for being on
the overnight restocking crew even if you can recite Baudelaire as you go along.
No, when I say that there are people working mw jobs who possess valuable skills, I'm not talking about being able to recite Baudelaire, but cute comment nonetheless (I dig sarcasm, just so ya know).
Have you ever been in a fast-food place or retail store that always appears to be clean, well-organized and well-stocked, with helpful, courteous, knowledgeable, reasonably happy staff? AND, therefore, also satisfied, happy, RETURNING customers? Those things don't just happen magically. There are people in those establishments who make that happen, and those are the skilled people I refer to.
They may be rare, but there are people working in retail or the fast-food industry who have top-notch customer service skills, great interpersonal and communication skills, excellent organizational and time-management skills, crisis-management and prevention skills, great product knowledge, and the ability to stay abreast of current industry trends and practices, etc. And behind the scenes, they may have great administrative, financial and tech abilities, as well. A well-organized store or fast-food place doesn't run by itself. It's only as good as the people working in it.
I have an aunt in her 80s, in terrific shape and health, who still works at a job (now part-time) that she absolutely loves - and has loved for over 40 years - for a well-known grocery store chain in NY state. Her employers, co-workers and customers ADORE her, and I'm positive that many of the customers (who know her by name, bring her gifts, visit her in the hospital, etc.) are loyal to that grocery store because SHE'S there. If you saw her in action on the job, you'd know exactly what I'm talking about.
What my aunt brings to that store (and that company) is invaluable. One cannot overestimate the soft and hard skills that she has applied every day for over 4 decades, but you'd never know it by the little money she makes. She, like many other mw workers, have valuable, marketable skills that they could successfully apply to better-paying occupations.
So why hasn't my aunt gone to a better-paying job? I don't know, but I imagine that she's too emotionally connected to her second home. But had she left when she was younger to work elsewhere, her customers would have missed her terribly, and I'm sure the store would have felt at least a temporary financial impact.
Last edited by newdixiegirl; 02-23-2014 at 06:12 PM..
With all the talk about raising the minimum wage, I think the real issue is that people are not getting a liveable wage anymore.
This may differ from place to place.
I have lived in regions where the Cost-Of-Living was high, and I have lived in regions where the Cost-Of-Living was low.
I settled here because it is low here.
Two adults with minimum-wage jobs can support a family here.
I understand that there are other places where the average household income is more than this. But keep in mind that generalizations about how "people are not getting a liveable wage anymore" does not fit for all of America.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knight2009
... For example, in the area where I live in D.C., I know of a house that was worth about $20,000 in 1950's - 1970's dollars, that is worth about $750,000+ today, in 2014.
And we see homes today selling at $40k [but not in high cost cities].
Quote:
Originally Posted by BradPiff
What's a "living wage" to person a is probably different for person b because people live in different places with different responsibilities.
The MW issue is overblown, what percentage of the population is the primary breadwinner on MW?
Around here the MW X 2 = average household income for families.
Quote:
Originally Posted by freemkt
Cell phone is a basic necessity for those who do not have a landline. I live in a house with several other people and nobody wants a landline in the house because nobody wants to be answering the phone all day and taking a message 80 percent of the time the phone rings.
It is a 'need', because nobody 'wants' the alternative?
I think you have 'need' and'want' confused.
Quote:
... Internet very well might be a necessity for anyone with constraints (e.g. limited skills or money) in finding jobs or housing
Everyone has public access to the WWW at the library
$15.00 per hour in Harlington, Texas is $5.55 in Manhattan, New York.
That is Arlington, Tx. There is no such place as Harlington Tx.
And that is exactly why, so many people are moving to Texas.
Median household income Arlington Texas $50,655 In Manhattan New York $66,818
Difference in cost of living----133% higher to live in Manhattan. You would have to make about $120,000 per year in Manhattan to live as well as you can on $50,655 in Arlington, Tx which is just under twice as much as the Median Household income actually is in Manhattan.
No wonder people are moving to Texas. They can afford to live there, and raise a family there. Force the minimum wage to $15 in New York, and that would force up other wages to the point even more companies and more middle class people would flee the state, reducing the tax revenue to support the poor people that are left behind. Especially when the raise the taxes again, to bring in what those fleeing the state are taking with them.
Just raising minimum wages in New York to $15 per hour. will not solve the problems, but will accelerate them. There are a lot more serious problems than the wages for fast food workers.
Having an apartment is not a right, it is a LUXURY. Stay home with your parents until you get married and save your money. In most of the world people do not leave home until they get married.
This new fad where 20 year olds on minimum wage go out and get apartments is insane ... no wonder we have so many bankrupt and indebted people in the US today.
Having an apartment is not a right, it is a LUXURY. Stay home with your parents until you get married and save your money. In most of the world people do not leave home until they get married.
This new fad where 20 year olds on minimum wage go out and get apartments is insane ... no wonder we have so many bankrupt and indebted people in the US today.
Well, considering that many people now wait until they're well into their 30s or even later to get married (my own husband was 37), I'd say that's quite a long time for one's parents to be financially supporting their grown child/children, wouldn't you? I personally would feel bad to continue to live off my immigrant parents (who had the gumption to make it on their own in a new country) while I sock away all my own money. But maybe that's just me. And what if the child/children NEVER gets married?
In other situations, it's the parents themselves who are having financial difficulty. Others want to sell their homes to move somewhere warm, so having their children sponge off them indefinitely may not even be possible *gasp*.
And what if the "child" can only find a job out of the city or the state where the parents reside, or WANTS to move out of state? That will mean that they'll need the "LUXURY" of their own shelter...
Ultimately, I think it's somewhat more complicated than just "live with your parents until you get married."
Last edited by newdixiegirl; 02-23-2014 at 09:27 PM..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,577 posts, read 81,186,228 times
Reputation: 57818
Quote:
Originally Posted by WIHS2006
Having an apartment is not a right, it is a LUXURY. Stay home with your parents until you get married and save your money. In most of the world people do not leave home until they get married.
This new fad where 20 year olds on minimum wage go out and get apartments is insane ... no wonder we have so many bankrupt and indebted people in the US today.
I would say until you get a job that pays living wages. And don't get married until then unless your spouse makes a living wage. In many places (like here) a married couple both making minimum wage cannot afford a decent apartment.
Common sense dictates that if you're currently making minimum wage, improve yoiur skills in order to get a better paying job; it's called ambition!!!
Democrats have never understood betwen tax increases and the resulting change in the revenue stream of the entity levying the tax (raise the former and the latter plunges), so raising the minimum wage will only increase the unemployment rate, as will job-killing entities such as ObamaCare, green jobs fixations, open-space/no-growth/slow-growth mandates and other liberal agendas which do absolutely nothing for the middle class.
If you happen to live in a state or city with higher-than-average COL, motivate yourself in order to be able to move elsewhere and do what's best for you!!!!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I live in a house with several other people and nobody wants a landline in the house because nobody wants to be answering the phone all day and taking a message 80 percent of the time the phone rings. 
But it is not a need.
