Wonder if this will push more folks out of the county? (Pittsburgh: low income, employment)

[BigPizzaHutFan]

*gets a sweet $15/hr minimum wage city job* "Whew, I'm set for life!" *puts feet up, pops champagne*

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by BigPizzaHutFan

*gets a sweet $15/hr minimum wage city job* "Whew, I'm set for life!" *puts feet up, pops champagne*

Actually, a lot of young, impressionable people will think exactly that if they get such a gig. And its a real roadblock to career progression.


$15 would put them on the same level as 42% of the American people, a lower wage provides motivation for them to work hard and build their lives into something more.


Sure, some people will still be motivated to excel, but others will be stifled in their progress with this.

[BigPizzaHutFan]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Actually, a lot of young, impressionable people will think exactly that if they get such a gig. And its a real roadblock to career progression.


$15 would put them on the same level as 42% of the American people, a lower wage provides motivation for them to work hard and build their lives into something more.


Sure, some people will still be motivated to excel, but others will be stifled in their progress with this.

"We can't pay them fairly, because then they won't improve themselves!"

I thought Calvinism was a thing of the past, but apparently not.

You can judge a society by the way they treat their most vulnerable and their lowest members. Apparently what we do is tell them that their work isn't worth a fare wage and that they just don't work hard enough to deserve better. How sad.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

$15 would put them on the same level as 42% of the American people, a lower wage provides motivation for them to work hard and build their lives into something more.

I'm sorry, but this has always been a ridiculous rationale to me.

Let's say, hypothetically speaking, there was some treatment which would become available that would boost someone's IQ by 30 points and make them into a diligent, hard worker. Let's also say it was affordable and basically universally taken. This would result in a tremendous rise in overall productivity no doubt. There would not be any translation into higher wages overall, however. There would still be low-wage work which needed to be done, and those stuck in these jobs would find it hard to advance, because even if they were now working 200% harder than they had before, so was everyone else. Indeed, with everyone working harder, there might actually be less jobs to go around, which, unless the work week was shortened, might mean higher unemployment.

What I'm trying to get across here is that while you can argue that hard work is a solution on an individual level (which I'm very dubious about for different reasons) it's not a solution on a society-wide level to the issue of poverty. Indeed, I'd argue since they'll always be poor people who cannot (for whatever reason) leave the bottom of the income ladder, we might as well ensure they have enough to get by with a decent standard of living...although I've shifted over the years from supporting a higher minimum wage to a national minimum income.

[SteelCityRising]

It's funny that so many on here consider $15/hr. to be low pay. I don't make that much, and when combined with my partner's income (also sub-$15/hr.) we live comfortably---albeit not extravagantly---here. We pay our bills on time, and once my long-term debts are paid down (less than three years) I'll have ~$500+/month to invest or save. No, we'll never be able to comfortably afford a decent home in the East End unless we nearly double our earnings. So be it.

I also have to laugh at the notion of some of us being "too stupid" to not negotiate what we're worth with our employers. My partner and I are extremely dedicated hard workers who never call off and often work "off the clock", yet if either of us demanded a pay increase our asses would be in the unemployment line. We don't all work cushy jobs with ample benefits at Pitt, Google, or CMU, which it seems like most of you on here do. It was a Monday when someone from PNC's HR department called me to talk about why I was a disgruntled worker. I indicated that my compensation was insulting for the profit I was delivering back to the organization. I was terminated that Friday, and the issues I raised were never addressed. Why work on fixing what ails your organization when you view your workers as being "expendable"?

[BigPizzaHutFan]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It's funny that so many on here consider $15/hr. to be low pay. I don't make that much, and when combined with my partner's income (also sub-$15/hr.) we live comfortably---albeit not extravagantly---here. We pay our bills on time, and once my long-term debts are paid down (less than three years) I'll have ~$500+/month to invest or save. No, we'll never be able to comfortably afford a decent home in the East End unless we nearly double our earnings. So be it.

I also have to laugh at the notion of some of us being "too stupid" to not negotiate what we're worth with our employers. My partner and I are extremely dedicated hard workers who never call off and often work "off the clock", yet if either of us demanded a pay increase our asses would be in the unemployment line. We don't all work cushy jobs with ample benefits at Pitt, Google, or CMU, which it seems like most of you on here do. It was a Monday when someone from PNC's HR department called me to talk about why I was a disgruntled worker. I indicated that my compensation was insulting for the profit I was delivering back to the organization. I was terminated that Friday, and the issues I raised were never addressed. Why work on fixing what ails your organization when you view your workers as being "expendable"?

It sounds like you should brush up on how to negotiate with your employer.

[tclifton]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It's funny that so many on here consider $15/hr. to be low pay. I don't make that much, and when combined with my partner's income (also sub-$15/hr.) we live comfortably---albeit not extravagantly---here. We pay our bills on time, and once my long-term debts are paid down (less than three years) I'll have ~$500+/month to invest or save. No, we'll never be able to comfortably afford a decent home in the East End unless we nearly double our earnings. So be it.

I also have to laugh at the notion of some of us being "too stupid" to not negotiate what we're worth with our employers. My partner and I are extremely dedicated hard workers who never call off and often work "off the clock", yet if either of us demanded a pay increase our asses would be in the unemployment line. We don't all work cushy jobs with ample benefits at Pitt, Google, or CMU, which it seems like most of you on here do. It was a Monday when someone from PNC's HR department called me to talk about why I was a disgruntled worker. I indicated that my compensation was insulting for the profit I was delivering back to the organization. I was terminated that Friday, and the issues I raised were never addressed. Why work on fixing what ails your organization when you view your workers as being "expendable"?

$15/hour is about $30k/year. If you're actually making less than $30k/year working full time then I would think that you need to find a new job (unless you're passionate about your job and the work means more to you than the money).

[BigPizzaHutFan]

The idea of working people saying that they don't deserve $30k a year is kind of horrifying, truth be told.

[Der Schwabe]

Originally Posted by Retiredcoach

It never ceases to amaze me as to how politicians choose to spend other people's money. It is the shortsightedness of their decisions that have created many of the critical issues that we now face in our state/local economy. With his $15/hr. minimum wage for all city workers mandate, Peduto has opened a door for greater cronyism within our city. With the premier health benefit packages, the paid vacation time, the pensions, union job protection/ job security, and now, a $15 minimum wage for little/no job skills, the friends/family of any local politician wanting a job, will always be rewarded by being the first to be hired. No way businesses follow suit. This is another case of a politician's "palm being greased".

This seems ever so slightly hypocritical coming from a retired teacher collecting a state-funded pension, protected by one of those darn unions. I guess it's never too soon to shut the door behind you though. The cost and number of jobs is minimal. I'm far more concerned about the six figure payments made to political appointees who are granted far more costly crony positions.

Beyond that, you are not a city resident. And you are benefiting from a similar crony establishment-controlled public education hiring and retirement system. So please, spare me.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by BigPizzaHutFan

The idea of working people saying that they don't deserve $30k a year is kind of horrifying, truth be told.

I never understand the array of people who are outraged at someone making a decent middle-class living at a blue-collar job, but who don't bat an eyelash that the top 25 hedge fund managers make more than all kindergarten teachers in the country.

I mean, I suppose if you believed in a zero-sum world, you could argue that lowering the wages of the people who provide goods and services would lead to a higher standard of living for the consumer. The problem is, we've been cutting real wages for lower-income Americans for 35 years now, and it has not resulted in increased prosperity overall. It seems that there's no upside to this for anyone but the top 10% of the income scale.