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With all the talk about raising the minimum wage, I think the real issue is that people are not getting a liveable wage anymore. This applies to many skilled people too in which their job tries to pay them $10-13hr for $20-30hr type of work.
Not everyone deserves a raise at walmart or other low paying jobs. I think everyone should atleast prove themselves for 6 months to year then start to gradually get a raise. You cant act a fool and get paid the same as people who work hard and try to move up in life. Even if walmart workers weren't making minimum wage and making $11hr, you cant really do much making 22k a year other than live in a cheap/borderline crime infested area
$11hr gets you about $1250 a month after taxes and health coverage at most jobs and ill list just the basic necessities in life
600 Rent
100 Utilities
200 Car Payment
150 Gas
125 Insurance
220 Food
50 Cell Phone
40 Internet
20 Home Alarm System or Gym membership EQUALS $1505 a month, with no cable TV, cooking your own food and not going out to eat, a cheap car payment, a basic cell phone plan, a basic home internet plan, and for $600 a month the place you live in might be in a high crime area unless you want to go the roommate route.
So at $11hr, you are $300 a month short of basic necessities, and means you are now taking public transit and the bus is now your best friend, just to break even.
So the minimum wage would have to be atleast $13hr just to be a livable wage for most people, but the the prices of everything would also go up, including rent since most landlords now you are good for a couple extra hundreds of dollars. Either way your back at square one and then people now making $13-20 hr will demand $20-30hr to separate their skills from minimum wage skills.
If you make $11 an hour, you're not supposed to have your own apartment. People having their own apartments like we expect today is extremely rare throughout the course of human history. Even in other developed countries, people don't have so much housing square footage as Americans do.
When I made more than $12 an hour more than 15 years ago, I rented a room in a house. That's what I could afford. I kept doing that for 8.5 more years until I had paid off my debts and had 100k saved in various accounts (retirement plan, savings account, savings bonds, etc.). THEN I went out and got my own apartment (and it was a studio, not a 1BR). At that point, I was making a good bit more than $12 an hour.
While I certainly agree $11 is not a lot of money, your definition of "the basics" is inflated.
Cell phone and internet are not basic necessities. Car payment and gas are also not necessities; lots of people live in towns with decent public transportation.
Anyone past the age of 21 should have enough skills to find a better paying job than just MW.
Leave and go work the oil fields of North Dakota or Texas.
Stay in school, don't do drugs, get some skills and you will find a job to make a living.
You just may need to move out of places like Detroit to do it.
MW jobs are for students and people just starting in the workforce. (and maybe retirees)
The are only two ways that the market can justify paying more:
1) production ... your skill/ability are earning enough to cover the higher rate
2) competition ... absent 5 warm bodies standing around ready to jump in and do the same job
at least as well with one afternoon of training the first persons rate will be higher.
The first condition has always been and has always been easily understood.
The second condition, that over-abundance of people, is a current phenomenon.
Stopping that over-abundance from being the "norm" (let alone to grow) is critical.
Dealing with this statistical hiccup until then is a social welfare issue not a business responsibility.
Instead of raising the minimum wage, more good could be done if kids were required to stay in school. It's foolish to let kids drop out of school while they are still minors. Without a basic education, they will have little chance of getting a good job. For all of those who complain about a government-mandated minimum wage: make your own job.
Besides, raising the minimum wage will only spur wage inflation for everyone, leading to overall inflation. The benefits of widespread wage increases are only temporary, since the cost of living will likely increase by an equal or greater amount.
Cell phone and internet are not basic necessities. Car payment and gas are also not necessities; lots of people live in towns with decent public transportation.
Funny what people deem "necessities".
Depends where you live. You do need a phone to keep in contact with people and we as a society live online now, so while its not a 100% mus,t having internet at home is a basic need now. Im not referring to a $70-100 a month plan to stream netflix, just basic. A Car payment is not a must, but alot of the times when people buy really cheap cars, the repairs are equal to what a car payment is. So even if I took out the car payment part, they are still short about $100 a month just to live. Alot of jobs are no where near transit either or it will take you 2-3 hrs each way to commute and most towns with decent transportation(NYC, CHI, DC, ATL, MIA), $600 for rent will put you in the projects.
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