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Should I presume most employers would include free health insurance as standard? And what kind of welfare would an average state like Cali provide?
The pay isn't too bad for minimum wage actually, but only as long as it includes extra welfare such as insurance. The key to solving the problem isn't to tinker with minimum wage.
As someone who lives in an expensive major city, I would rather the government focused on lowering average house prices and cost of livings in expensive cities rather than increasing minimum wages.
Of course this is just for one person living alone. If there are other people to support then of course it isn't enough.
Minimum wage in California is currently $9 and going to $10 on Jan 1st. In San Francisco, minimum wage is $12.25.
At this income level, the employee qualifies for Medi-Cal (basically Medicaid).
I'm in middle management for a large convenience store chain. Larry pretty much nailed the situation, whether or not you want to admit it. The majority of people who are working these jobs, especially at the customer service/cashier level, are the next thing to useless. Quite honestly, I could sit here and type out real life situations that I have had to deal with which would make you wonder how some of these people found their way out of the birth canal.
Do we occasionally get good people? Without a doubt, but they are probably 1 in 20 of the applicants. As for your "blame the manager" suggestion, I recommend that you actually attempt to work in retail or food service as a manager and then come back and regale us with more of your sage wisdom. Middle management is like being the sixth crew member on Star Trek. You get all the flak from upper management when the workers don't do their job, and you get all the flak from the workers when upper management makes changes.
Well if you pay better wages maybe you would get better effort. I find it funny when businesses hire people for very little and expect them to be the best workers in the world. You get what you pay for. I have worked retail and in restaurants and I see how a crappy manager can cause distain, unwillingness to work hard, bad customer service.Sure there are some bad workers but it is the managers job to motivate the employees and make their job easier.
blah blah blah. "I'm on an Internet board and I can be an ass to anyone and everyone that I want to."
You can see nothing other than your keyboard. If you think you know a person through an anonymous Internet forum then I cant imagine what your personal and professional life outside of city-data must be like. Get real.
Ah, nice, insult people when trying to help you. Best of luck to you.
Sometimes the single mom needs the minimum wage job because she can't do anything else. Nobody can live on a minimum wage job. Some people have to.
Maybe we need to stop and think that--outside of perhaps her husband divorcing her or dying, or losing a very good paying job--that having children requires a certain level of fiscal responsibility? We have cycles of poverty due to people in poverty having children they can't afford. It's a real and tough problem.
We have too many people on this planet, and less jobs per capita over time due to technology and automation, though I believe that entrepreneurship could be a big tool in assisting this problem.
Well if you pay better wages maybe you would get better effort. I find it funny when businesses hire people for very little and expect them to be the best workers in the world. You get what you pay for. I have worked retail and in restaurants and I see how a crappy manager can cause distain, unwillingness to work hard, bad customer service.Sure there are some bad workers but it is the managers job to motivate the employees and make their job easier.
Minimum wage in California is currently $9 and going to $10 on Jan 1st. In San Francisco, minimum wage is $12.25.
At this income level, the employee qualifies for Medi-Cal (basically Medicaid).
If I use SF as an example, I actually think it's acceptable for minimum wage to provide around $1400 every month with extra welfare. The problem is with cost of living and not with the minimum wage.
Does government really think that the vast majority of SF wants to pay extortionately high prices for everything? Focusing on lowering cost of living would be a far greater vote-winner than increasing minimum wage! This is the same for any major city around the globe, whether it's New York, Tokyo or London!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfpacker
Maybe we need to stop and think that--outside of perhaps her husband divorcing her or dying, or losing a very good paying job--that having children requires a certain level of fiscal responsibility? We have cycles of poverty due to people in poverty having children they can't afford. It's a real and tough problem.
We have too many people on this planet, and less jobs per capita over time due to technology and automation, though I believe that entrepreneurship could be a big tool in assisting this problem.
Adopt the European/Asian policy of sex education then.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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More population means more need for goods and services. Population is not the problem, it's outsourcing. There will always be plenty of minimum wage jobs that cannot be replaced by robotics, but one cannot expect to live on that in San Francisco or Seattle even with the higher minimum wages in those cities. Move to a lower cost area. That $600,000 fixer starter home is only $50k in cities like Detroit, Memphis, Little Rock, or Birmingham.
The increase in salary without a corresponding efficiency/productivity increase in the economy creates nothing but pure inflation so the net effect is absolutely and virtually nothing.
The net effect is wealth redistribution and a decent living for people who work. That's the point.
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Instead of increasing minimum wage focus on improving productivity, encourage people to get more skills. Improve upward mobility by providing easier access to education.
Education does not necessarily improve productivity. Not by a long shot. And it needs to follow demand, not the other way around. Increases in productivity are primarily due to automation and the efficient use of technology, which a high minimum wage will facilitate. If the demand for higher skills is created then the education will follow.
CK78, none of us are born with marketable skills. Yet, some people manage to obtain them somehow. There is nothing "magic" about doing what you need to do to get where you want to go. It does require effort, but no "magic".
On the other hand, doing nothing to improve your market value yet expecting high wages to simply materialize somehow will require some "magic".
I'm not saying don't try. I'd never advocate that. But what I am saying is that people like you think there's some magic bullet.
All getting the right skills does is ups your chances from 0 to a much higher number. But it doesn't guarantee anything.
You know how many people on here are always saying we need machinists. Well I know a guy whose been one for over 30 years and is the top of his profession. Very few can do what he can and he's hurting because even though he's still employed there's a lack of work. He'll be the last to lose his job because he's indispensable but he's hurting. He's exhibit "A" for why young guys don't become machinists. You're dependent on others to get you contracts and still others to need those contracts a.k.a. manufacture.
And he's just one person I know. You know how many excess teachers there are who get teaching certifications and can't find teaching jobs.
Another who went to nursing school graduated and still bartends. And on and on pretty much any profession except medicine because the A.M.A. smartly caps the number of people admitted to Medical Colleges.
Oh and then there are the lawyers. LOL. You know how many lawyers there are who didn't go to top tier law schools and didn't finish at the top half or third of their class who passed the Bar and never worked as a lawyer.
And on and on... There's no magic bullet. There's only so many jobs and 100's of millions of people. Getting a "marketable" degree or the "right skills" gets you a ticket in the lottery. It doesn't guarantee you squat.
Pretending it does is facetious and deserves to met with derision
I'm not saying don't try. I'd never advocate that. But what I am saying is that people like you think there's some magic bullet.
All getting the right skills does is ups your chances from 0 to a much higher number. But it doesn't guarantee anything.
You know how many people on here are always saying we need machinists. Well I know a guy whose been one for over 30 years and is the top of his profession. Very few can do what he can and he's hurting because even though he's still employed there's a lack of work. He'll be the last to lose his job because he's indispensable but he's hurting. He's exhibit "A" for why young guys don't become machinists. You're dependent on others to get you contracts and still others to need those contracts a.k.a. manufacture.
And he's just one person I know. You know how many excess teachers there are who get teaching certifications and can't find teaching jobs.
Another who went to nursing school graduated and still bartends. And on and on pretty much any profession except medicine because the A.M.A. smartly caps the number of people admitted to Medical Colleges.
Oh and then there are the lawyers. LOL. You know how many lawyers there are who didn't go to top tier law schools and didn't finish at the top half or third of their class who passed the Bar and never worked as a lawyer.
And on and on... There's no magic bullet. There's only so many jobs and 100's of millions of people. Getting a "marketable" degree or the "right skills" gets you a ticket in the lottery. It doesn't guarantee you squat.
Pretending it does is facetious and deserves to met with derision
Did you understand petunias post to say that there was a guarantee? Seriously?
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Focusing on lowering cost of living would be a far greater vote-winner than increasing minimum wage! This is the same for any major city around the globe, whether it's New York, Tokyo or London!
