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D.C. has pursued an aggressive minimum wage increase schedule since 2014. Employers affected by the proposed increase to a $15 minimum wage were asked if they had either reduced the number of employees on their staff, or reduced the hours of current employees, to adapt to recently enacted minimum wage increases. Nearly half of employers surveyed had already taken one of these steps—suggesting that 2014-16 minimum wage increases haven’t been absorbed through higher prices alone.
I've said this before and I I'll say it again. Why do we have an inflationary monetary system but a fixed wage system?
because it isn't a fixed wage to me, it's a fixed skill set competing against advancing technology
even if minimum wage kept up with inflation, it does little to keep them employed... if all they can do is made obsolete by a machine, does it make them feel better to tell them that "well you could have been making $100/hr if the machine didn't cost $50/hr to run"
instead of basic income, we need a basic skills push, high school doesn't teach "life" skills, and parents gave up on doing that decades ago.. why are mechanics paid $40/hr? because most people can't or won't bother learning to change a tire/oil/waterpump...
why do plumbers get paid well? because people don't fix their own leaks...
If they lower the hours of full time people, they will simply apply for unemployment to make up for the lost hours. So wont the company be better off in paying said employee or paying for their unemployment?
In most cases working 30+ hours or more (it's not a hourly calculation but a wage calculation) will make you enough money so that you would not be eligible for unemployment on those weeks. Your unemployment benefit is typically approximately 60% of your wages (until you reach the maximum benefit amount) . In most states if your earn more than 125% of your weekly benefit amount (weekly unemployment benefit) you are not eligible for UI that week. Unless employers cut hours by 50% they wouldn't be paying anything more in unemployment.
Also it is a lot longer explanation, but a specific employer isnt actually paying out those benefits. All employers pay a certain Unemployment Insurance Tax rate that goes into a pool of money used to pay UI benefits. Should an employer's reserve account go negative, their tax rate would increase the next year; but it's not like they're paying unemployment benefits out of pocket. They pay an insurance tax regardless of if their employees are claiming UI or not.
If they lower the hours of full time people, they will simply apply for unemployment to make up for the lost hours. So wont the company be better off in paying said employee or paying for their unemployment?
You can't apply for unemployment for reduced hours. Only if you completely lose your job.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eyeb
because it isn't a fixed wage to me, it's a fixed skill set competing against advancing technology
even if minimum wage kept up with inflation, it does little to keep them employed... if all they can do is made obsolete by a machine, does it make them feel better to tell them that "well you could have been making $100/hr if the machine didn't cost $50/hr to run"
instead of basic income, we need a basic skills push, high school doesn't teach "life" skills, and parents gave up on doing that decades ago.. why are mechanics paid $40/hr? because most people can't or won't bother learning to change a tire/oil/waterpump...
why do plumbers get paid well? because people don't fix their own leaks...
Yes, I agree, but also, wages are fixed for those not skilled nor ambitious enough to get the skills to qualify for jobs that pay well with periodic raises and opportunities for promotion. They get minimum wage or just a bit more because there are so many others like them available for those jobs, and no need for those employers to pay more. Raising that minimum wage just makes the payback on technology more cost effective, and will eventually eliminate many of those jobs.
Note also that 1/3 (37%) of all businesses surveyed intended to reduce store hours or staff if the wage is increased to $15/hour.
The Employment Policy Institute? They're the people who disagreed with David Card's and Alan Krueger's research on increasing the minimum wage and sponsored research by David Neumark and William Wascher to show that Card's and Krueger's initial research was wrong. The problem was that it was later shown that EPI supplied rigged data to Newmark and Wascher in order to get the results that EPI wanted.
The Employment Policy Institute? They're the people who disagreed with David Card's and Alan Krueger's research on increasing the minimum wage and sponsored research by David Neumark and William Wascher to show that Card's and Krueger's initial research was wrong. The problem was that it was later shown that EPI supplied rigged data to Newmark and Wascher in order to get the results that EPI wanted.
"The Employment Policies Institute (EPI) is one of several front groups created by Berman & Co., a Washington, DC public affairs firm owned by Rick Berman, who lobbies for the restaurant, hotel, alcoholic beverage and tobacco industries. "
"In its annual Internal Revenue Service return, EPI states that it "shares office space with Berman & Company on a cost pass through basis"."
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