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The MW sets the the... minimum. If you only offer MW you are scraping the bottom of the barrel. You may get lucky and find a good person at that price. But if you don't raise their wages, then they will probably leave to work for someone who will.
If you want/need more than the "minimum worker" then you need to pay more than MW.
Exactly, and for that reason US will not get third world wages, even if US drops the Minimum wage. Stores will need to pay more to ensure they can get a decent person.
Since we are now talking about the free market... has anyone been keeping up with the phenomenon of "wage theft" and how it applies to even corporate entities like... McDonalds? Apparently it does. It is a real thing... that's why they can offer better than minimum wage. Because they have no intention of actually paying the wage they offer!
We should not be challenging the simplicity of raising the minimum wage. People should look at the purported "standard of living" thats promoted in imagery via media, commercials, even down to the cost of a fast food burger.
We can look at companies who now care nothing about making some millions in profit, small companies wants 10's of millions, and larger companies want 100's of million and billions to multiple billions. We sees Start ups in the news selling for multiple billions, many which produce nothing, except digital social media content, and the customer base is used to sell customer info to merchant systems for Advertising purposes by every product maker who seeks such info. Yet, no one wants to pay the people who make the system of economy function. Thus what we have is all the money being left in the hands of a few, played with by brokers, traders, bankers and other being hidden offshore.
There is no way to sustain American without paying its people !!!!! Some of the biggest industry today is what?
"Advertising"; well someone has to buy this stuff and they need money to buy it.
Anyone who works know, that in general if you expect to have lunch without packing it from home, then you can expect to spend $8-$12 for the average working person in the average job sector. This is not about the high income earners who make over 70K or higher who can spend more at more expensive places. We are talking about the average Joe and Jane.
We have people struggling to open business, and anything above a "Dollar Store", is dependent on people patronizing their establishment.
A bottle of cola cost what? $1.69 a simple cupcake cost $1.00 and some place up to 1.50. If one goes to a community grocery store of any big chain name, "just try and buy fresh fruit", the per pound cost is far more than anyone making $7-$8 can afford on any level of frequency.
Yet, we talk about Obesity and Health, but none on such low wage can buy any nutritional value item. The more nutritious the more expense it cost.
We need to rid our system of the "indentured servant wage mentality", and pay people what it takes to live.
Our system has become crazy, we IMPORT EVERYTHING!!! The retailer is happy to get it based on Chinese and India production wage, and then the mark up goes from 300% to 3000% and the profit margin they expect fits within those same ranges. What is wrong with people? what happen to the once respectable, 30%-40%-60% profit margin? Everything and everyone now is expecting 300% to 3000%. Even some of the Dollar Stores have high mark up on some items they carry and promote, when its very often they buy bulk from China, India and other places of low quality mass produced disposable and non durable items, or they buy surplus and going out of business stock for pennies on the dollar.
The cost of living will rise even if people wage is stagnant, so that's not a good argument. It just sends people to spend more on non durable and disposable goods in higher frequency, unaware they are doing so, by their thought of being driven by the delusion they are saving, when fact is over time they spend more and result to take on more debt to keep frequently replacing the cheap quickly disposable items. Sadly, people have been groom to do so by the imposition of low and stagnant wages and below base minimum wage salary.
What can one do with $56-$64 dollars a day, when tax is taken, tax is charged when they spend whats left, and the expense of living is factored; it equals nothing except what is suitable for a kid living at home with their parents supporting them and their parents paying the bulk of living expense.
We need to get beyond the mentality of trying to relegate people to an "indentured servant status".
Fact is corporate America sold us out. I think if the parents and grandparents of leading ceo's of companies saw what they have done to the nation, they would turn in their graves.
Forget this 5% unemployment rate touted to us by the labor dept. The reality check comes when you go to any large food store and see how many are pulling out those food stamp cards to pay. They even have a food stamp icon on the payment screen at the checkouts. All in a very decent middle class to upper middle class neighborhood.
But , from this euro ex pat viewpoint, nothing will change in the United States. All this first amendment right to free speech is good in theory but in practice just has too many irate people screaming at each other. The land of extremes, and extreme opinions. Though, most europeans feel some sympathy for the United States, when they look at the ailing health system, toxic prison system and mind boggling scary school system in this country. Any reason there is so much anger and hatred in the country. There has to be wholesale changes to the systems governing our daily lives. Because they have not worked well enough to prevent very serious questions on why we don't deserve better.
My neighbor insists that every time they raise the minimum wage here in the US the cost of living goes up too so that nothing ever improves financially for anyone and often they are worse off then before . He said he has seen it happen over and over again in his life and if they raise the minimum wage again to $15 dollars and hour all over the US the same thing will happen again things will become more expensive.
Is that true ? Does the cost of living always go up when the minimum wage increases?
In theory, it leads to greater unemployment. The connection between that and the cost of living index is not direct.
This will not affect fast food. I worked fast food for years, how many of you have? Labor is 15-20% MAX of a fast food franchise's gross sales. 20% probably means it's poorly managed, 15% is typical. They also pay more than minimum for the most part, so their percentage increase in labor costs will not be drastic.
Higher end restaurants that have higher gross sale:labor cost ratios will probably raise prices on drinks by 10-15%, that is where they really make their money. A hack for lowering your restaurant bill by 30% is to drink water. Or did you think a splash of alcohol, sugar syrup and soda really costs $7.00?
It's amazing that people have no problem with all the subsidies those industries get, yet B**** and moan about minimum wage increases like it's the end of the world. Do you REALLY think that a McChicken sandwich ACTUALLY costs $1.39? Do you think all those inputs that went into that sandwich are reflected in the retail price? LOLOLOL! There are all kinds of agricultural subsidies for that crap from the flour for the buns to the chicken which come from factory farms to the potatoes. Without subsidy, the "real" cost of a burger would be around $10.00 for the burger alone if sourced from subsidy-free ingredients.
They will not change the dollar menu prices because those are loss leaders. They bank on people getting the McChicken or 4 piece McNugget but THEN ordering the $1.00 coffee which probably cost them 10 cents which is mostly for the cup.
The hourly labor costs are irrelevant to most of that. A few cents.
This will not affect fast food. I worked fast food for years, how many of you have? Labor is 15-20% MAX of a fast food franchise's gross sales. 20% probably means it's poorly managed, 15% is typical. They also pay more than minimum for the most part, so their percentage increase in labor costs will not be drastic.
Higher end restaurants that have higher gross sale:labor cost ratios will probably raise prices on drinks by 10-15%, that is where they really make their money. A hack for lowering your restaurant bill by 30% is to drink water. Or did you think a splash of alcohol, sugar syrup and soda really costs $7.00?
It's amazing that people have no problem with all the subsidies those industries get, yet B**** and moan about minimum wage increases like it's the end of the world. Do you REALLY think that a McChicken sandwich ACTUALLY costs $1.39? Do you think all those inputs that went into that sandwich are reflected in the retail price? LOLOLOL! There are all kinds of agricultural subsidies for that crap from the flour for the buns to the chicken which come from factory farms to the potatoes. Without subsidy, the "real" cost of a burger would be around $10.00 for the burger alone if sourced from subsidy-free ingredients.
They will not change the dollar menu prices because those are loss leaders. They bank on people getting the McChicken or 4 piece McNugget but THEN ordering the $1.00 coffee which probably cost them 10 cents which is mostly for the cup.
The hourly labor costs are irrelevant to most of that. A few cents.
Myopic views reign supreme in most of the opposition to min wage hike posts, I think you've nailed it as far as the overall effect of this wage raise. Most people have become brainwashed by a media that is beholden to the moneyed interest, the lobby money going to congressional elections tell the real tale of who is behind the controlling mechanisms of American labor policy. But that seems to be out of the range of consideration for most voters, instead they listen to "the news" which is really the business news, minus the interest of labor. No, I won't be cutting my throat over the raising of min wage.
Decades of this business slant in the news has garnered a ton of support for whatever business deems necessary, from legalizing their form of tax evasion to the squelching of labor law, not to mention their recent robbing of the treasury, big business wants the federal laws to conform to their interests, often to the detriment of workers. Witness the various semi secret trade agreements that we've seen as the gutting tool used on labor's interest. The min wage will impact business and they will need to adjust their prices to levels that attract customers without going broke in the meantime. It's generally regarded as a consequence resulting in smaller margins, not to mention a motivator for greater efficiency.
Like the wowsers who "prepared" for the end of the world at the dawning of the new century, buying generators, prepping their pantries with huge food stocks, hoarding fuel, and a sundry of other stupid stuff, the fear mongers are out again, this time it's the min wage that has their feathers ruffled, it's one big yawn on my end, I've got a life to live and this isn't worth the worry that others are desperately calling for. For what it's worth---Wages chase prices, prices have been going up regardless of wages remaining static.
This will not affect fast food. I worked fast food for years, how many of you have? Labor is 15-20% MAX of a fast food franchise's gross sales. 20% probably means it's poorly managed, 15% is typical. They also pay more than minimum for the most part, so their percentage increase in labor costs will not be drastic.
You are right that it will not affect the fast food industry profits, but it will affect the workers in the fast food industry. By doubling wages, the benefit of replacing workers become greater, and business who has few employees per customer will do better.
This leads to less fast food jobs. The same thing will happen in retail.
Quote:
Higher end restaurants that have higher gross sale:labor cost ratios will probably raise prices on drinks by 10-15%, that is where they really make their money. A hack for lowering your restaurant bill by 30% is to drink water. Or did you think a splash of alcohol, sugar syrup and soda really costs $7.00?
You are forgetting about a huge industry, what about the normal restaurant business. You know all those small restaurants, that doesn't cost too much and are frequently travelled by local citizens. They are the places that sell steaks, burgers, buffets, foreign food and breakfast.
They are the ones who will really suffer, because if they cut the number of employees their service will decline, and if they raise prices then a lot fewer will visit their store. That is because their customers can't afford to spend more and their substitutes (fast food and groceries) do not need to increase their prices too much. The people who go to these places are not MW workers, but middle class workers who will see stagnant wages and rising costs.
You are right that it will not affect the fast food industry profits, but it will affect the workers in the fast food industry. By doubling wages, the benefit of replacing workers become greater, and business who has few employees per customer will do better.
This leads to less fast food jobs. The same thing will happen in retail.
You are forgetting about a huge industry, what about the normal restaurant business. You know all those small restaurants, that doesn't cost too much and are frequently travelled by local citizens. They are the places that sell steaks, burgers, buffets, foreign food and breakfast.
They are the ones who will really suffer, because if they cut the number of employees their service will decline, and if they raise prices then a lot fewer will visit their store. That is because their customers can't afford to spend more and their substitutes (fast food and groceries) do not need to increase their prices too much. The people who go to these places are not MW workers, but middle class workers who will see stagnant wages and rising costs.
Well, in your view the restaurant business should have caved in years ago when wages were rising, in the fifties and sixties wages were going up, along with prices, yet---the world of restauranting didn't suffer some catastrophic crunch, nor did the world tilt too far in response...Business does suffer, and some go under, it's the way of the world, but for us it's just another day in paradise...Prepare thyself for the end brother.
You are right that it will not affect the fast food industry profits, but it will affect the workers in the fast food industry. By doubling wages, the benefit of replacing workers become greater, and business who has few employees per customer will do better.
This leads to less fast food jobs. The same thing will happen in retail.
You are forgetting about a huge industry, what about the normal restaurant business. You know all those small restaurants, that doesn't cost too much and are frequently travelled by local citizens. They are the places that sell steaks, ribs, burgers, buffets and breakfast.
They are the ones who will really suffer, because if they cut the number of employees their service will decline, and if they raise prices then a lot fewer will visit their store. That is because their costs will rise faster than the cost of substitutes such as fast food and groceries. In addition, the people who go there are middle class people who will not see any benefit of a MW increase.
It also means that turnover may decrease, which saves money.
It won't affect fast food. I just ate lunch at McDonald's today. There was a sign on the wall by the soda machine that said they are hiring, starting @ $10.40 an hour and offering a $250 bonus to be paid after 90 days, which indicates they can't hold on to people even offering more than a dollar over minimum. This is in Oregon where the minimum wage is currently $9.25. It will go up to $9.75 this July and continue to increase every year until it hits $13.50 in my county by 2022.
I doubt it will cause any job LOSS in any niche of the restaurant sector. It may influence some managers/owners to think about how to avoid hiring another dishwasher or busser. We may see restaurant managers demand a higher level of commitment from the people they hire.
Conservative economists have jumped on Seattle in particular, but there is no data yet that shows any immediate negative effects. University of Washington has been commissioned by City of Seattle to produce in-depth analysis of the effects, which will probably become one of the definitive studies on the subject.
Minimum wage does cause some job losses. But then again so can a bunch of other factors that are probably more pertinent. As the report put it, the job losses caused by minimum wage are "a small drop in aggregate employment that should be weighed against increased earnings for still-employed workers because of higher minimum wages."
I also question whether restaurants house the majority of "least skilled workers" the document talks about. While it doesn't take a genius to navigate the restaurant industry, it does take some skill, mental wherewithal & physical requirements. I've worked plenty of those jobs and not everyone makes it. About 25-30% wash out because it's too stressful for them. I remember people who started work and quit the same day; they couldn't take the pace or stress of it.
Well, in your view the restaurant business should have caved in years ago when wages were rising, in the fifties and sixties wages were going up, along with prices, yet---the world of restauranting didn't suffer some catastrophic crunch, nor did the world tilt too far in response...Business does suffer, and some go under, it's the way of the world, but for us it's just another day in paradise...Prepare thyself for the end brother.
Those minimum wage increases were done nationally, and was in a period with very high inflation. So of course it didn't affect much.
It is not a problem to have a minimum wage, the problem comes when it gets too high. Minimum wage has historically been between $8-$9 real dollars, not $15.
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