Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
No easy answers here...on the one hand, not everyone is smart enough to go to college and get a high paying job. For some people working in fast food is living up to the best of their ability and if they are willing to work hard and put in 40 hours a week, then I do think they should get paid enough to be able to afford a place to live, buy food, and other basic necessities. That's why people go on welfare and sit at home. Why bother to work when you can make more doing nothing staying at home? If we want people to take care of themselves and not rely on government help, then they should be able to work 40 hours and actually be able to take care of themselves.
However, I think 15 dollars an hour is too much. I only made 12 dollars an hour at my first job out of college! I also think part of the problem is that people nowadays count iPhones and expensive cell phone plans, cable, big screen flat TV's, etc. as part of basic necessities when they are not.
Only 4.7 percent of our full time workforce makes minimum wage, and the majority of those workers are very young, and very inexperienced.
I remember, in the 80s (I think it was), when unemployment was low, and fast food places could not find enough workers even while offering well over minimum wage.
The problems people face making a living will not be solved by raising the minimum wage, they will be solved by not crippling business with too many taxes and burdensome regulations. When all business can grow and feel confident enough in the economy to hire more workers, then more people will be able to progress out of starter jobs like flipping burgers.
Only 4.7 percent of our full time workforce makes minimum wage, and the majority of those workers are very young, and very inexperienced.
really??- have you been to McD's lately or Walmart or the mall --? around here what you see is folks middle age who have lost what they had, and making it work the best they can with what is available, I also want to know what minimum? some states have higher wages. Washington state is $9.19 WOW-- NY will be $8 by 2014. I think wages like states are very different, and what you can live off maybe not be what I can live off.
really??- have you been to McD's lately or Walmart or the mall --? around here what you see is folks middle age who have lost what they had, and making it work the best they can with what is available, I also want to know what minimum? some states have higher wages. Washington state is $9.19 WOW-- NY will be $8 by 2014. I think wages like states are very different, and what you can live off maybe not be what I can live off.
In 2012, 75.3 million workers in the United States age 16 and over were paid at hourly rates, representing 59.0 percent of all wage and salary workers. 1 Among those paid by the hour, 1.6 million earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 2.0 million had wages below the federal minimum.2 Together, these 3.6 million workers with wages at or below the federal minimum made up 4.7 percent of all hourly paid workers. Tables 1 through 10 present data on a wide array of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage. The following are some highlights from the 2012 data.
Minimum wage workers tend to be young. Although workers under age 25 represented only about one-fifth of hourly paid workers, they made up about half of those paid the Federal minimum wage or less. Among employed teenagers paid by the hour, about 21 percent earned the minimum wage or less, compared with about 3 percent of workers age 25 and over. (See table 1 and table 7.)
In 2012, 6 percent of women paid hourly rates had wages at or below the prevailing federal minimum, compared with about 3 percent of men. (See table 1.)
About 5 percent of White, Black, and Hispanic or Latino hourly paid workers earned the federal minimum wage or less. Among Asian workers paid at hourly rates, about 3 percent earned the minimum wage or less. (See table 1.)
Among hourly paid workers age 16 and over, about 10 percent of those who had less than a high school diploma earned the federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 4 percent of those who had a high school diploma (with no college) and about 2 percent of college graduates. (See table 6.)
Never-married workers, who tend to be young, were more likely than married workers to earn the federal minimum wage or less (about 8 percent versus about 2 percent). (See table 8.)
About 11 percent of part-time workers (persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week) were paid the federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 2 percent of full-time workers. (See table 1 and table 9.)
By major occupational group, the highest proportion of hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage was in service occupations, at about 12 percent. About three-fifths of workers earning the minimum wage or less in 2012 were employed in service occupations, mostly in food preparation and serving related jobs. (See table 4.)
The industry with the highest proportion of workers with hourly wages at or below the federal minimum wage was leisure and hospitality (about 19 percent). About half of all workers paid at or below the federal minimum wage were employed in this industry, the vast majority in restaurants and other food services. For many of these workers, tips and commissions supplement the hourly wages received. (See table 5.)
The states with the highest proportions of hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage were Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Idaho (all between 7 and 8 percent). The states with the lowest percentages of hourly paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage were Alaska, Oregon, California, Montana, and Washington (all under 2 percent). It should be noted that some states have minimum wage laws establishing standards that exceed the federal minimum wage. (See table 2 and table 3.)
The proportion of hourly paid workers earning the prevailing federal minimum wage or less declined from 5.2 percent in 2011 to 4.7 percent in 2012. This remains well below the figure of 13.4 percent in 1979, when data were first collected on a regular basis. (See table 10.)
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
really??- have you been to McD's lately or Walmart or the mall --? around here what you see is folks middle age who have lost what they had, and making it work the best they can with what is available, I also want to know what minimum? some states have higher wages. Washington state is $9.19 WOW-- NY will be $8 by 2014. I think wages like states are very different, and what you can live off maybe not be what I can live off.
Only 4.7 percent of our full time workforce makes minimum wage, and the majority of those workers are very young, and very inexperienced.
This is probably true. I'd love to see data on how many in this country are making $10.00/hr or less, though. Many companies start people at .50-1.00 above minimum wage, which isn't exactly generous these days.
really??- have you been to McD's lately or Walmart or the mall --? around here what you see is folks middle age who have lost what they had, and making it work the best they can with what is available, I also want to know what minimum? some states have higher wages. Washington state is $9.19 WOW-- NY will be $8 by 2014. I think wages like states are very different, and what you can live off maybe not be what I can live off.
The country does not revolve around what happens at McDonald's, Walmart or the Mall. Get out of the Mall, eat better than McDonald's and stop running to Walmart 5 times a week and then maybe things will get better.
People lose what they had because they didn't plan for their own future. A job is good to have but thinking for one second you are entitled to it is a mistake.
A lot of people could learn something from airplane pilots. I once flew with someone to Las Vegas for a trade show. It was in a small plane, one of those 4 seater prop jobs and one engine. It bounced around with ever bit of turbulence. As I sat there next to the pilot I noticed he was constantly looking out the window in addition to watching the instruments. To me there wasn't much to see I hadn't see a lot of times. I continued to watch the pilot and noticed he wasn't simply watching the sites so I asked him about it. He told me that a pilot must constantly scan the flight path not only ahead but around and even to the rear of the plane, just in case there was a problem and he had to set the plane down. He told me that flying a plane was like a plan that never ended and could change at any second so it was always important to know what was below in case that was where you ended up.
Some, even many people lost what they had through no fault of their own. What was their fault was not planning for what happens next. While working at McDonald's might be a last resort plan for some people who lost everything, it isn't McDonald's fault that they did nor is it McDonald's fault that working in the fast food place was their backup plan.
I've read most of the comments in favor of a higher minimum or living wage and not once does anyone in favor of those ideas ever see fit to blame anyone for the problem except the employers. Somehow it is always the employer's fault for not paying people enough, never the fault of the person who didn't prepare themselves for compete for better pay, never the fault of the person who didn't go to school or learn new skills, it is always someone else's fault.
Blaming others for what you fail to do or the bad choices you make is easy.
The standard line for the pro-min wage increase or living wage side is always "give me". They rarely if ever talk about earning anything, earning is a bad word, giving is so much better because the givee is never the one doing the giving, they only do the taking.
When was that? unless you in NY etc. that is unheard of now.. let just say I used to make $10.75 at the same retail store,,, in 2002- I returned last year to same named store, same job, best they could offer was $7.75- now making $8 wooopeee
and I would be plain nuts to mention the name of the company on any public media period... I'm not that crazy. NOW law firms? I seem to remember that the paralegals make bout $10.00 - I was shocked when I heard that... they work hard.
I dont know why I put law firm in there with Petco. Must have been tired. I made $18/ hr and up as a paralegal. (2008-2013)
These are not the only jobs Ive had but to give you an idea:
2000- Age 18 - 0 work exp. except babysitting - $8/hr as a barista at a chain
2006- Age 25 - receptionist for a real estate company, family owned - $14/hr
Btw...being a recptionist there required zero brains and a little bit of charm
Being a barista was harder. But the pay did not reflect that...so you can't alwys assume that pay
Is commensurate with skill level.
Chickenfried banana - major respect for your post #250.
I really like what you said about infrastructure. Right now I live in Greer SC - the closest bus stop is 5 miles from me. They are in plans to expand the busline but right now it ends in Taylors, so if you have a job downtown, that is the farthest you can go. ( which is not bad - they are about 7 miles apart), but as a young professional who just changed careers (aka starting on the bottom again), I would like the option to use public transit from my place. Yes I'm aware that "I can move" (for several hundred dollars in one chunk). I have taken public transit in Denver, Boulder and Washinton DC and even minor wait times put a kink in your day. It can be tough even with really good transit (which those three examples are) - I can only imagine the frustration where transit is not on time, gets changed around often (eg train track # changes a lot). Trying to get to your child's daycare on time must be scary when the bus is late. Also, trying to find good daycare that is on the busline, plus probably plenty of other things I have the luxury not to worry about, including safety at night on public transit.
I am speaking in generalities - I'm sure there are exceptions.
I can assure you that in most businesses, when the people with the lowest skill level suddenly get a raise of 1/3 more, "just because" - those who have actually worked to further their education and experience are NOT going to be happy about not having their efforts rewarded in the same manner.
1. They probably would not be privy to that info
2. Not being happy about it is irrelevant. *grumble grumble why aren't we getting raises too? Grumble grumble* doesn't translate to all people at higher positions presenting a case for getting a raise that reflects their job performance (which is how you get a raise) and higher up positions are hired at salaries that are: a. Whatever you NEGOTIATE and given raises at b. whatever you NEGOTIATE! Thats why negotiation is such an important aspect of hiring and business in general.
Hourly employees have very little if any power to negotiate - the wage is usually set and not flexible.
When you say "most businesses" can you give some examples from your life or cite an article please that supports your point? Thanks Kathryn!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
