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Most of us on social security are living on less than minimum wage. I certainly have done so for the past 27 years.
It's easy to live on Social Security if you own your home (fixed P&I payment ends after 30 years), not so easy if you pay market rent (never ends and keeps going up)
With all the attention to the minimum wage, only 3% of American workers earn that little. That's because the minimum wage has intentionally been allowed to decline in real terms, so that entry level workers wouldn't be prevented by law from working.
If it rises to $15 an hour, get ready for 10% unemployment. $15 an hour is destructive enough of low-wage jobs in Seattle; think about the impact it would have in Toledo.
Like the federal budget, the economy is a Whack-A-Mole board, where if you constrict one sector, the economic harm causes political pressure for government to mitigate the harm by constricting some other sector.
If regulations make it infeasible for the private sector to build enough housing, housing costs go up and protesters demand a higher minimum wage because The Rent Is Too High, and politically it is far easier to legislate a minimum wage increase than an adequate supply of housing.
The thought is... if you make the lowest members of society worth $15/hr, everybody will want a salary increase to compensate for the new value which (in theory) supposed to drive up wages as people demand higher wages and/or leave their jobs to seek better wages.
But regardless of what the minimum wage is, unemployment is not related to just wages. Unemployment is related to the demand for a specific set of skills. Those with skills not high in demand will eventually be put out onto the streets and those with valuable skills will earn much more money. On the businesses end, regardless of the minimum wage, their goal is always to maximize profits to benefit the shareholders by keeping costs low and prices high. The only thing keeping those 2 sides of the coin in check is the individual markets for the labor and the products they sell. So if you kept the minimum wage at $7.25/hr, McDonald's will still automate and reduce the number of positions they need to fill because... it just makes them more money. The ever growing advancement of technology will continue to infiltrate the economy and more and more jobs will become automated when it gets cheaper and cheaper to do so (which it will given how much it costs to produce electronics these days).
On the flip side though, automation is a good thing as it keeps prices for products low, but on the down side, everyone needs work to make a living and survive. That's where Uncle Sam comes in. Welcome to Capitalism.
Everybody might "want" am increase but that doesn't mean they're going to get it. Any Floyd fan knows that.
At one time I was paid something like 20 cents above minimum wage, and when the MW wend up (something like) a quarter, my increase failed to keep me above minimum.
Of course but it also requires that they SHARE space.
With 3 or 4 in a house the housing cost per person becomes tolerable.
The same is true for much better paid people too...
when you're in a high COL town and/or are putting money away as you need to.
Share. Lower the $$ per person.
$15,080.00 a year for a minimum wage worker. I live in KS in a lower cost of living area about 90 minutes from Wichita, in this city sales tax is 9.5% on ALL items purchased including groceries and prescription drugs, rent for a 1 bedroom that would be in not the best neighborhood (think a combination of welfare, half way house, & college students trying to just get by) would be at least $400.00 (plus gas/electric/cable) and all we have is a county bus system that requires a reservation, runs about $3.00 per day to and from, and there is higher tax on personal property, so that runs up the price of owning a car. Income tax in KS is another hurdle. ALWAYS look at the cost of taxes and just what kind of area that "affordable" rental is. Also, look at the area and consider if you would be able to get another job if you lose the one that you have or are being offered as many places routinely dump workers thus the reason they have opening to begin with.
I have seen a lot of people get into trouble not looking at "the big picture".
You can't make the "lowest" members of society *worth* $15 an hour. You can pay them $15 an hour, but if they aren't adding that much value to their employers, they will quickly be unemployed and worse off than before you started.
Sheesh! Hiring decisions are made based on assessments that unmet demand exists somewhere. There isn't meanwhile a Kelly Blue Book for what individual unemployed people are worth. That whole notion is just economic slop. When expanding, the types of workers you hire are those that are a necessary part of your production. Low-cost labor shows up in lots of places. Demand for it will therefore persist no matter how much "training" you think you can do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Siegel
There is no question that some people would benefit from a minimum wage increase, but a much larger number will be hurt. Economists have studied this for decades and, based on their conclusions, few of them are in favor of a minimum wage at all. A minimum wage is likely to hurt those it is intended to help.
What actual economists agree on is that increases in the minimum wage that are commensurate with historical examples do not result in measurable increases in either inflation or unemployment. Keep in mind that these days every single city and county is being continuously monitored against each of its neighbors to see what if any differences exist. All the old-time Ouija Board nonsense has been blown away as the result.
You need to read the whole article before posting them. It is just a series of clickbaits to get you to the next page. It doesn't tell you where those cities and jobs are. It prompts you to go to the next page IF YOU EARN MINIMUM WAGE.
You can't make the "lowest" members of society *worth* $15 an hour. You can pay them $15 an hour, but if they aren't adding that much value to their employers, they will quickly be unemployed and worse off than before you started.
There is no question that some people would benefit from a minimum wage increase, but a much larger number will be hurt. Economists have studied this for decades and, based on their conclusions, few of them are in favor of a minimum wage at all. A minimum wage is likely to hurt those it is intended to help.
In the 1970's, the man of the house could work f/t and support a family. barely but it was possible
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