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Hey this got me curious as well
If Minimum wage is increasing to 15 an hour in 2020
Does that mean we as professionals will get a raise as well?
Like entry level teachers, help desk techs, entry accountant jrs, electricians?
Do we all get a raise or are we all screwed?
I think the entry level professionals might be screwed if the min. Wage is increased to $15 HR because companies won't feel the need to give their higher skilled workers a raise after giving their lower skill workers a raise. I am not sure about government jobs like entry level teachers who currently start out at 38k a year in my county and entry level police officers who start out at 35k in my county. If cashiers and fry cooks start making 31k a year at 40 hours a week. I don't think anyone would want to be a teacher or police officer in my area perhaps any entry level professional job so I think all private sector and government workers would go on strike and demand a raise if the cook at McDonald's is making 31k a year Lol! I know for a fact if they do raise minimum wage to $15 a hour in all 50 states and don't raise the salaries of entry level white collar and skilled blue collar jobs we would be a socialism nation. we would be just like Cuba and there would be no incentive to go to school or learn new skills. But everyone's argument would be that the entry level school teacher and police officer won't be stuck making $17-18 bucks an hour forever like burger flippers. Their salaries will increase every year and they will be making decent money 10-15 years down the road eventhough they would start off only making a buck or two more than the cashier/burger flipper the first couple years in their career.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Professor Oak
Hey this got me curious as well
If Minimum wage is increasing to 15 an hour in 2020
Does that mean we as professionals will get a raise as well?
Like entry level teachers, help desk techs, entry accountant jrs, electricians?
Do we all get a raise or are we all screwed?
Why do you think you would be screwed? Just because someone else earns more, it doesn't mean I'm earning less or am less respected.
The answer is, if your contract (generally union) has a tie to the minimum wage for adjustment, then yes, you will receive a raise. If it does not, you will not.
It would never be increased to $15 an hour. And if it did, $15 would just end up being the new $7.25 or whatever it replaced.
Agreed. I live in Georgia and the minimum wage here is actually $5.15 an hour eventhough there is no employer paying that but Minimum wage will never reach $15 a hour in Georgia. Our governor would veto that bill before minimum wage can came out of a Georgia residents mouth.
It makes no sense to increase all wages. That just makes everything more expensive. If the intent is to reduce economic injustice, then the effort must be targeted at the problem, the inconsistency between the valuation of the work of the lowest income workers and the cost of the necessities of life they use their income to purchase.
That inconsistency can be addressed a number of different ways, most obvious either by increasing the valuation of their work and/or by decreasing the cost of the necessities of life. If the choice is to increase the valuation of their work, then increasing all wages would likely increase the cost of the necessities of life they use their income to purchase, defeating the purpose of the wage increase (which was, supposedly, to reduce the inconsistency between the valuation of the work of the lowest income workers and the cost of the necessities of life they use their income to purchase).
There are a lot of different parties that benefit from the status quo, so they have a vested interest in fostering that loss of focus on the purpose (again: to reduce the inconsistency between the valuation of the work of the lowest income workers and the cost of the necessities of life they use their income to purchase). That's why finding a better way to achieve the purpose is the Holy Grail of ethical labor economics.
But if you are increasing the valuation of their work, you must in proportion increase the value of everyone's work. If a high school drop out working as a cashier is entitled to $15 an hour (because that is the value of his work), isn't the person with an associate's degree who is currently making $15 an hour entitled to a raise? Isn't their work and education more valuable? If it is not, what is the purpose of getting an education and learning a skill?
But if you are increasing the valuation of their work, you must in proportion increase the value of everyone's work.
Not true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joe from dayton
If a high school drop out working as a cashier is entitled to $15 an hour (because that is the value of his work), isn't the person with an associate's degree who is currently making $15 an hour entitled to a raise?
Not necessarily. You're drawing an inference that doesn't exist, effectively crafting an argument for what you want to prove by doing nothing more than declaring by your own personal edict that it is true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joe from dayton
Isn't their work and education more valuable?
We're talking about changing valuations. Reading between the lines of what you didn't write, you seem to be hinging your argument on the assumption that the only index of the value of human work is how much profit it generates for investors. That's a very one-dimensional and callous way of considering the value of human work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joe from dayton
If it is not, what is the purpose of getting an education and learning a skill?
It involves the difference between sustenance living and the enjoyment of luxuries.
Everyone is not underpaid. The proportions are way out of whack at the top and bottom. Businesses don't have to compete for unskilled labor, so they have to be forced not to take advantage of them.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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In companies with minimum wage workers and higher pay workers, they will just eliminate the minimum wage jobs and either automate, outsource, or add the duties to others. No company is going to double or even increase everyone's wages to maintain the appropriate pay difference for additional responsibility and skills just because the minimum wage doubled.
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I know for a fact if they do raise minimum wage to $15 a hour in all 50 states and don't raise the salaries of entry level white collar and skilled blue collar jobs we would be a socialism nation. we would be just like Cuba and there would be no incentive to go to school or learn new skills. But everyone's argument would be that the entry level school teacher and police officer won't be stuck making $17-18 bucks an hour forever like burger flippers. Their salaries will increase every year and they will be making decent money 10-15 years down the road eventhough they would start off only making a buck or two more than the cashier/burger flipper the first couple years in their career.
