To those who want min wage increase (complaint, workers, average)
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Its actually worse then that. The guy is talking about average wages...not median. Median fell. Average rose. That means the majority of us are worse off. And the distraction of using the average wage makes it sound like we are doing better.
"The guy" is actually the most recent BLS press release on the matter. Considering that there are no internet statistical definitions that BLS is unaware of, why would you suppose that they would publish an average? No clue?
Quote:
Originally Posted by greywar
Even worse is it just uses wages...not incomes.
Actually, it was "earnings". Just as it is every month.
Why do heavy hot roofing if you can earn the same money standing behind a cash register in a fast food place.
Why allow either one of them to be paid at rates that simply externalize a company's legitimate labor costs, putting the onus for such costs onto taxpayers instead of onto customers and shareholders?
This is a great thread. With aggregate demand so low, I can imagine a situation where a high enough minimum wage increase could result in the stagnation of wages for upper management. This would be fantastic to see and great for the economy, too.
Brings a whole new meaning to the corporate buzzword- rightsizing.
I don't feel that profits are increasing for most companies enough to justify increasing wages without changing their internal structure and adjusting their budgets accordingly. I'm not sure if the Economic conditions are favorable for that right now.
I definitely want wages to increase, but understand that the market does play the main factor in that being able to happen.
Instead of min wage increases, I support providing tax incentives for companies who increase wages or re-invest in their employees (bonuses, compensation packages, etc).
Since the higher wages would equal increased spending and more taxes, it could somewhat balance itself out without running a deficit possibly.
I feel that we have to come up with other ways to increase wages or either go into a period of deflation.
The reason profits are not increasing is people do not have extra money to spend. If you can not even pay your employees enough to live on then they should change their internal structure and adjust their budgets. We need to stop this babying and catering to businesses.
One bad thing about this, raising minimum wage to $15/hr would make blue collar working stiffs look like fools, the dangerous, unhealthy etc. jobs they do dont pay much more than $15/hr. Effectively, lower middle class will subsidize minimum wage hike to the point where many blue collar types should fight for minimum wage jobs that dont kill one' s health as fast as hardcore blue collar jobs do.
Folks here on C-D tell the MW, retail, and FF workers that if they want to get ahead, to better yourself (ie. get better connections, trade school, college, certifications, work hard, etc.). People in blue collar work who only make $8K to $12K yearly more than MW wage should already feel like fools by that statement. They should've been working hard and be making $25K+ more than MW, NOT complaining when the wage gap between them and MW closes.
I actually question the business plan of a firm that runs on such tight margins that it can't handle a minimum wage increase that really only catches wages up with inflation (would be about $11).
Business existed in the 1960s last I checked...when the $1.60 minimum wage was in place ($10.96 in our money).
If a business can't handle paying a living wage, that tells me they have a flawed business plan because it relies on one of two things - either 1) poverty forcing workers into deals they can't refuse or 2) government subsidies that make up the difference between wages and survival.
A viable business plan would involve paying people what they're worth.
Its almost like people posting this are in complete denial that inflation is a thing that occurs whether the minimum wage goes up or doesn't.
For those unaware-inflation keeps occurring even if we dont increase the minimum wage. Your argument is literally "Lets ignore inflation and just let the minimum wage keep dropping, because if we don't there will be inflation"
"The guy" is actually the most recent BLS press release on the matter. Considering that there are no internet statistical definitions that BLS is unaware of, why would you suppose that they would publish an average? No clue?
Actually, it was "earnings". Just as it is every month.
So what if it was the BLS press release? That doesnt change the fact that the median and the average are extremely different values. The median has gone down. Thats the number that matters to most of us, and that impacts most of us.
I know why they would publish the average-because depending on your discussion that's a important number. The average temperature for a month is a important number, that gets published. When you're discussing how warm it is outside it really doesn't matter. And thats what you are attempting here. Making you ask me if I have no clue kind of ironic.
Yes earnings......which is earned income. Do you know what unearned income is? Its where most of the money that the walmart family receives comes from. Does that help?
I'm not trying to be mean with this, I really am unsure if its a mistaken understanding on your part or not.
Higher wages will effect "exports" to other states. Companies that have a high % of low wage labor and produce product for "export" will not want to be located in OR. Companies that hire and sell locally will not be adversely effected though. Not on average anyway.
RRuff, the federal minimum wage, (FMW) rate prevents spoilers of our national economy.
It e not require that Mississippi or Alabama conform to Oregon or NY states wage schedules; it does not permit Mississippi or Alabama conform to undermine Oregon or NY states wage schedules and economies.
If (as you wrote), The federal minimum wage should be of greater net advantage wage earners within poorer states, I would not consider that to be an undesirable consequence of the FMW rate.
I actually question the business plan of a firm that runs on such tight margins that it can't handle a minimum wage increase that really only catches wages up with inflation (would be about $11).
In general you'd expect the businesses to raise prices to cover the increased labor costs. If this is done there should not be a loss in sales on average. That's quantity, $ sales should actually rise a little. This is because wage increases, especially among the poor, result in more spending. People tend to ignore that side of things.
That's average. Some businesses will boost sales and others will decline a little. It depends on how much low wage labor you hire and whether your customers are rich or poor. But the aggregate effect on the economy will be nil.
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