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So at present, California has a statewide $11 minimum wage, and many cities just outside of San Francisco have an even higher minimum wage. For example, Oakland is $13.23/hr, Berkeley is $13.75, etc.
Right across the Potomac River in Washington DC is Northern Virginia, where the minimum wage is $7.25.
Is it safe to assume there is definitely more competition for the min. wage jobs in the high min. wage areas surrounding San Francisco vs. Northern VA?
if the population density were the same, people would not compete over it at higher rates because they couldn't afford to live there on minimum wage regardless
Is it safe to assume there is definitely more competition for the min. wage jobs...
The competition for decent housing in reasonable proximity is the one to focus on.
How many others are you willing to share a kitchen with? How about a toilet?
How many hours are you willing to drive or bus/train to/from there every day?
So at present, California has a statewide $11 minimum wage, and many cities just outside of San Francisco have an even higher minimum wage. For example, Oakland is $13.23/hr, Berkeley is $13.75, etc.
Right across the Potomac River in Washington DC is Northern Virginia, where the minimum wage is $7.25.
Is it safe to assume there is definitely more competition for the min. wage jobs in the high min. wage areas surrounding San Francisco vs. Northern VA?
Thanks.
No, it isn't. There are a lot more factors in figuring out where job competition is going to be high than just the minimum wage. Cost of living is a much bigger factor, actually. If you're making $11 per hour in a high cost of living area, you may be better off looking at a job which pays $8 per hour in a very low cost of living area.
The biggest factor in COL for San Francisco is rent, at +/- $2023 for a 2 bedroom.
In Richmond, Virginia rent is +/- $966 for a 2 bedroom.
Just with those two pieces of information, would you say it's better to work in Richmond for $7.25 per hour or in San Francisco for $11 per hour? Now add in the insane tax rates in California which keep you from actually keeping the money that you earn, and that $11 per hour drops drastically. Combined sales tax in San Francisco is 8.5% while Richmond's is 5.3%, and that doesn't even take into account the state taxes in California.
In the SFs of the world, the population is essentially economically bifurcated into two camps - the wealthy who can afford it, and the subsidized poor. The vast middle gets the boot.
Is it safe to assume there is definitely more competition for the min. wage jobs in the high min. wage areas surrounding San Francisco vs. Northern VA?
Irrelevant. If there was a lot of competition, wages would rise organically. Instead, they're raised artificially, bu fiat. That will depress the number of those jobs made available. Legislation can dictate that we must pay more for labor, but it cannot possibly dictate that that labor is worth more. If a job is worth $7 an hour to a business owner, and you require him or her to pay $11, it either won't be done or will be doubled-up onto someone else's workload.
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