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If they stay at minimum wage for a career then they have either hopped around from entry-level job to entry-level job, have not done anything but the minumum that's required to get paid, are unreliable or have not learned any skills. Most of the workforce in these jobs does not stay very long. If people stay and do a good job, very few have a career at minimum wage.
You are not considering Americas low income black population. Here in New Orleans there are many black Americans who can't afford cars (and many are forced to work min wage jobs as a career.)
Look around at Walmart, McDonald's, Save-a-lot, ex.ex. there are HUGE numbers of people who work min wage jobs as their career. (And republicans being against high min wage laws cause these Americans to have careers with low pay.)
I know a woman who started working at Walmart ten years ago as an associate. She was a single mom with only a high school diploma, and in seven years worked her way up to store manager making well into the six-figures. She makes more money than my sister who is a lawyer. I know that doesn't happen for everyone, but every single person working at Walmart has a job to put on their resume, which is a hell of a lot better than nothing.
You are not considering Americas low income black population. Here in New Orleans there are many black Americans who can't afford cars (and many are forced to work min wage jobs as a career.)
That has a lot to do with being a tourist town. I have a friend who moved here from New Orleans after Katrina (she's black), and she refused to move back because she got a job making double what she was making back home. You'll find that the wages in San Antonio are lower for the same reason - tourist town, but add in the fact that a lot of retired veterans will work for less because they're still getting retirement from the military.
In all the discussion of a livable wage and the minimum wage law, I never see any discussion about how well the poorly educated folks who worked in a factory did in the 1950s to 1970s.
I have a number of relatives who graduated from high school went straight to the factory and made a nice middle class income which would be similar to $20 an hour today. They were not trained in anything, they just did grunt unskilled labor.
If these guys could make such nice incomes in the 50s, 60s and 70s, why can't restaurant workers and retail clerks, who come from a similar background, be paid well today?
Because back then immigration was restricted, we had a strong manufacturing sector that needed workers, and there was a good balance between labor and business owners. This is what a productive economy looks like: actual wealth and value is created by the cooperation between labor and capital, and everyone prospered.
Then came open-door immigration in 1965, and within a few years the unskilled labor force became drastically overpopulated. The value of labor, particularly unskilled labor, began dropping.
Then came automation, which reduced the number of employees needed in almost every field.
Then came Free Trade, and federal tax policies that rewarded Big Business for sending jobs and manufacturing overseas. The manufacturing sector, which produced wealth for both workers and business owners, was basically sent to China. All we were left with was a "Service" economy--no real wealth being created--just moving the same dollars around with huge chunks lost to taxes and Big Business profits, leaving almost nothing for the service workers.
In order to fix the fundamental problems of our nation, we would need to severely restrict immigration and stop making it profitable for illegals to remain here; change the tax laws so that they punished sending jobs and manufacturing overseas and encouraged American manufacturing; impose strict trade barriers and tarrifs that prevent Big Business from importing all the nation's goods.
Too bad all power is now in the hands of the unholy alliance of Big Business and Big Government; neither the working class nor the economy as a whole will see anything but decline under the socialist model our leaders openly follow.
If these guys could make such nice incomes in the 50s, 60s and 70s, why can't restaurant workers and retail clerks, who come from a similar background, be paid well today?
Retail and restaurant workers were paid minimum wage back in the 60's & 70's also.
How many jobs did you have that paid $1.25-1.60 an hour back then. That was the minimum wage and we were glad to have the work.
$1.25 an hour back in 1968 was NOT equivalent to $20 an hour today.
In all the discussion of a livable wage and the minimum wage law, I never see any discussion about how well the poorly educated folks who worked in a factory did in the 1950s to 1970s.
I have a number of relatives who graduated from high school went straight to the factory and made a nice middle class income which would be similar to $20 an hour today. They were not trained in anything, they just did grunt unskilled labor.
If these guys could make such nice incomes in the 50s, 60s and 70s, why can't restaurant workers and retail clerks, who come from a similar background, be paid well today?
Because restaurant workers and retail clerks were never well paid even in the 50's and 60's.
In 1950 the average new house built in the United States was 948 sq. ft. with one bathroom and a one car garage. You wanna guess why the average middle class home had only a one car garage?
How much do you suppose it would take to live a middle class existence if you moved into a 948 sq ft house having one bathroom and you owned but one car? While you are at it save money by not purchasing cable television, internet connections, personal computers, video games or cell phones for starter. Go back like we did in the 1950's and opt for a party line phone and do not make any long distance calls.
The notion that we had it so much better in the 50's and 60's always seems to be set forth by those that weren't even alive yet.
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