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It seems that words such as 'value, worth, living wage, minimum wage, etc..' are not quite correct.
The 'value' of labour is based on what the employer is prepared to pay.
So, how low should it be,
$1/hr, 2, 3 or maybe even nothing at all?
supply and demand seems to dictate here, and where I live currently the min wage (where it does exist) is only $0.25/hr, and in many places it is even less.
So how about in the West - how low can we tolerate?
Subsistence wages, indentured servants or slavery - could it go back to that one day?
views please....
Whatever the employer and employee accept during wage negotiations. And, ideally, after careful consideration of (for example) the working conditions, requirements, options for advancement, and the potential employee's skills, experience, and knowledge that would be applicable to the job.
[of course, this assumes that both parties are negotiating in good faith]
We are talking about low wage earners here, let's say a 40hr wk at MacDonald's.
Now with that, should the person really be expected to live in a Quonset Hut (whatever that is) with 8 other families?
This is almost exactly what they do here in Cambodia - is that really what how things should be in our own countries when it is entirely unnecessary (other than to boost profits for the rich?)
This is the issue
Not necessarily.
That person has the option of making his own living arrangements.
There are thousands and thousands of people that do so.
You know... a thousand years after Galileo or Copernicus or Archimedes or whoever... a Century after enlightened individuals were working out celestial mechanics it was still the official position of many governments that the earth was flat and the Sun and other planets moved around it and not the other way around. I offer this by way of observation that many here continue to wag talking points of "Free Market" this and individual merit that and Middle Class American migrant worker BS the other... ... the Conservatives of the Dark Ages had no shame about their ignorance nor do modern Conservatives have any shame about theirs. I do believe, however, that ignorance is a curse and willful ignorance is an abomination. There will be a price to be paid for the willing suspension of disbelief. Just saying.
You know... a thousand years after Galileo or Copernicus or Archimedes or whoever... a Century after enlightened individuals were working out celestial mechanics it was still the official position of many governments that the earth was flat and the Sun and other planets moved around it and not the other way around. I offer this by way of observation that many here continue to wag talking points of "Free Market" this and individual merit that and Middle Class American migrant worker BS the other... ... the Conservatives of the Dark Ages had no shame about their ignorance nor do modern Conservatives have any shame about theirs. I do believe, however, that ignorance is a curse and willful ignorance is an abomination. There will be a price to be paid for the willing suspension of disbelief. Just saying.
H
Correction, you are just babbling.
Labor, like every other product and services is priced based on supply and demand. If you are willing to work for $1.00 per hour., that is what it is worth. Nobody forces your hand, you take the offer freely.
let's just say that one day there was a mass demand for burger flippers, but a low supply of workers.
would their wages then go up to say $30, and where would it stop?
Actually, this does happen. See the North Dakota forum, especially Williston. Unfortunately the results are not what workers hope for. You may make $30 an hour, but those same business owners will then turn around and charge you $3000 a month to rent a 400 s.f. studio apartment.
Labor, like every other product and services is priced based on supply and demand. If you are willing to work for $1.00 per hour., that is what it is worth. Nobody forces your hand, you take the offer freely.
You are the one babbling. Of course your hand can be forced. There is enough supply in the American Labor Market to do without wages entirely but it doesn't work that way, does it. Thanks to wasteful government programs, if an employer offers insultingly low wages, workers can snub them and live large on Welfare, Food Stamps or Section 8. So any examples you might come up with ($1.00/hr.??) have to reflect reality.
H
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How low should wages go?
