Dallas $12,00 minimum wage needed!!! (Houston, Abilene: apartment complex, rent, lawyers)

[jd433]

It's time for Dallas bring itself into the 21st century. If the state does not want to raise minimum then Dallas needs to take the lead.
$12 /hr for Dallas and eventually $15. . No one can survive living in the City on less than $12 an hour. The city doesn't need the types of businesses that cant afford to pay a livable wage. This would affect almost 10% of jobs.

[Rakin]

MW was never meant for someone trying to "survive" on. It's a place you start as a teen and work your way higher with hard work and education.

It's not that hard to get a starting job here now making $12-15 an hour. Amazon and others start at $15 and hire daily. I see help wanted signs at MC.D's here saying they pay $12 an hour to start.

OP you are in Houston. Stop telling Dallas what it needs.

People want to make good money? Stay in school, don't do drugs and work hard.

[Sunbather]

Originally Posted by Rakin

MW was never meant for someone trying to "survive" on. .

Only took one post for this argument to come up. It's not quite that simple. Yes there are lots of low-level jobs that pay more than the minimum wage. That's still not an argument for keeping other jobs at an outdated minimum wage. Someone is still expected to do those other jobs and it can't all be kids.

Otherwise, if every job that only pays $10 an hour or less still is truly intended for school-age kids only, let's close all those businesses down until 6pm M-F so their intended workforce can be in school and get some homework done before coming in to work. And by proxy, you're also basically saying that all these kids should be in school from 9am to 4pm, have a very small time frame to get their HW done and study and still get to work (possibly having to time it with a bus), and then go from 6pm to close, go home and get up and go to school again. This doesn't make sense for a lot of kids. Very few well-off families make their kids do this - they want their kids engaged in sports, clubs, activities, jobs with more networking opportunities after school.

I'm not saying that $15 is the answer. I don't know what that number is, but regardless, the idea that these jobs should and can all be filled with nothing but teenagers is a tired, old argument that is helplessly out of touch.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by Sunbather

I'm not saying that $15 is the answer. I don't know what that number is, but regardless, the idea that these jobs should and can all be filled with nothing but teenagers is a tired, old argument that is helplessly out of touch.

As I said, Micky D's nows starts at $12 / hr and Amazon at $15.
Raising the MW is not the answer for most of these people.

Did you see the lines to buy Legal pot in IL this morning? I'd bet most of these people are the same ones that want a raise in the MW, argue they can't live off today's economy while they buy their weed and talk on their $800 Iphone.

MW is where you start your work not where you stay. Even that amount is meaningless in today's job market. Go work construction in DFW and you'll make a whole lot better. If you don't mind working.

Plus MW should be set by the City locally if at all. What it costs in Dallas is nowhere near what it costs in Abilene or Brownwood.

[GoldenHair]

Originally Posted by jd433

This would affect almost 10% of jobs.

What is your source for that statistic?

Originally Posted by jd433

The city doesn't need the types of businesses that cant afford to pay a livable wage.

What is a so-called livable wage and what/who are your sources? Who are you to say what types of businesses are needed?

….

A young kid looks for his first job at a local small business offering $11.50/hr, He gets the job and starts learning valuable life skills.

The local government has set the Minimum wage at $12/hr. A young kid looks for his first job a local small business. It turns out that business is not hiring. It is not hiring because it presently cannot afford to pay $12/hr for that job that would have been offered. The kid never knows the reason he was not hired.

----

And what exactly is magic about $12/hr (or even $15/hr)? Why not $11.99/hr (or $14.99/hr)? Heck. if making a law for this solves everyone's problems, why not make the minimum wage $50/hr (or even $100/hr)? Then everyone will be well off and no one will be poor!

----

Professor Walter Williams in his columns make a persuasive case that the minimum wage should be $0/hr.

[Sunbather]

Originally Posted by Rakin

As I said, Micky D's nows starts at $12 / hr and Amazon at $15.
Raising the MW is not the answer for most of these people.

Did you see the lines to buy Legal pot in IL this morning? I'd bet most of these people are the same ones that want a raise in the MW, argue they can't live off today's economy while they buy their weed and talk on their $800 Iphone.

MW is where you start your work not where you stay. Even that amount is meaningless in today's job market. Go work construction in DFW and you'll make a whole lot better. If you don't mind working.

Plus MW should be set by the City locally if at all. What it costs in Dallas is nowhere near what it costs in Abilene or Brownwood.

What do the lines to buy weed have to do with minimum wage? At least half of my friends smoke. Lawyers, nurses, doctors, teachers, architects, a CEO. Weed usage is only viewed as wholly negative if you're already poor. If you're not poor, no one really brings it up. Whether someone does or doesn't smoke pot is a complete straw man in the discussion at hand. Besides drugs are only viewed as wholly negative if you're rich. How many six figure jobs do you know of these days that have drug tests? Not very many from my personal experience.

I am not gung-ho about a $15 minimum wage. It's a complex subject and I do not have a silver bullet answer. There are compelling arguments on both sides. That being said, their 'pot', and '$800 phones', and 'only kids should be working these jobs' are not really compelling arguments.

And what exactly is magic about $12/hr (or even $15/hr)? Why not $11.99/hr (or $14.99/hr)? Heck. if making a law for this solves everyone's problems, why not make the minimum wage $50/hr (or even $100/hr)? Then everyone will be well off and no one will be poor!

Enter Yang. Not saying I support him, just saying this is not a new idea, as you are I am sure well aware.


And again, everyone says kids/teenagers for all of these jobs. Yet a lot of people frequent these minimum wage establishments during hours kids should typically be occupied with school. Who should be working at these places M-F 8-5? .

Mostly I dislike the apparent attitude that 'anyone who is less well off than I am doesn't work as hard as I am'. I grew up without much. Both my parents grew up relatively poor and put themselves through college later in life. I graduated college with a full set of debt and <$1000 dollars to my name. I had to get the apartment complex to give me a couple week grace period to get my first check to pay first month's rent (luckily they accepted this based on my salary offer letter and me being a new graduate) because I couldn't afford it until then. 13 years later, I'm in the top 5-10% net worth percentile for my age group. So sure, I know that people can go from a low net worth to high. It takes a lot of hard work but almost as much luck + a lot of life context that is sometimes out of your control. But for many people, it takes a lot more than 'staying in school, not doing drugs, and working hard' to get out of the paycheck to paycheck world. If you don't believe in a minimum wage or want to look down on people for making less money. Fine. But don't make the backbone of your argument the fact that anyone who is poor is smoked out, indulgent, and lazy otherwise theyd be successful.

[Stelletti]

I run a warehouse down in south Dallas area. Our starting pay if you a literally just breathing for warehouse work is $17.50. We literally can't get any applicants. This is a large corporation too. Quit telling business how to do it's job. We don't need more government.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by jd433

It's time for Dallas bring itself into the 21st century. If the state does not want to raise minimum then Dallas needs to take the lead.
$12 /hr for Dallas and eventually $15. . No one can survive living in the City on less than $12 an hour. The city doesn't need the types of businesses that cant afford to pay a livable wage. This would affect almost 10% of jobs.

Raising minimum wage to a level where working folks can afford basic necessities is a must for any prosperous society. We should support this issue at every level, city, state, national, international, public or private.

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Raising minimum wage to a level where working folks can afford basic necessities is a must for any prosperous society. We should support this issue at every level, city, state, national, international, public or private.

No not really. What would be more helpful is a economic situation which generates more jobs therefore increasing the demand for labor. That is already happening. Mandating higher wages will have the opposite effect.

I remember in 1999-2000 while in high school there were decent jobs available everywhere. Fast forward a year or two and regardless of how low the pay was, there were zero openings and mass unemployment. It was quite a shock to me in college to see that, and shaped how I have saved/invested since.

[numbersguy100]

I don’t know what minimum wage SHOULD be, but I know that Dallas should not be setting it, and putting itself at a disadvantage to its adjacent neighbors. Low wage employment will simply move to neighboring cities and towns if Dallas tries to set its own minimum wage.