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First off, I would like to suggest that anyone who thinks people in a low wage job are underachievers, please, think again.
If you walk into Kinkos, I guess it's Fed Ex now, you will see a number of people with varying skills for their jobs. I worked 5 years for Kinkos. I applied myself and rose to making $12 an hour. Then the founder of the company gave back his stock because he couldn't stand what the Board of Directors was doing to the company. At that time, my manager started firing all employees making more than $9/hr and began replacing them with minimum wage workers. I was one of those let go and I'd like someone here to explain to me why a person in this minimum wage job now is considered an underachiever when the person originally doing it (me) was considered to be worth $12/hr?
I also worked for BofA for 15 years. I really was able to improve my lot in life, but I wasn't in upper management. So when all tellers were made salaried part-time employees, guess who suffered for it? Basically, the job I had been doing full time, which was working in the vault and responsibility for over a million dollars a day on some days, was worth no more to the company in terms of wages than what they'd pay to someone slinging hamburgers at McDonalds. Explain to me how the company's decision on that makes me an underachiever.
Things happen in life. Jobs get lost, sickness and medical bills prevail, and sometimes it's a minimum wage job or nothing. Kudos to you if you can work your way up the corporate ladder when you're young. You know who the real heroes in my book are? The people who struggle to get ahead, get knocked down, and get back on their feet to keep going, even if it means starting over at the bottom. And that gets incredibly harder as you get older - take it directly from me. The gall of some people who actually look down on these older people in low wage jobs is more than just bad manners, it's downright ignorant.
Likewise, it's so easy for someone who has a grant, or a loan, or a parent to help them out when it comes to school to just tell someone to get an education. No one has ever worked a part-time job while simultaneously going to college part- or full-time while paying for that college and a place to live and utilities and clothes and books with that part-time job, unless you're selling drugs or hooking for a living. One way or the other, you're on parentfare or governmentfare under the name of grants, scholarships, or loans. With a two year certification from a community college, there are plenty of jobs I can get to improve my circumstances. Without the $4000 a year it will cost, I can no more afford college than the man on the moon. Not only that, but I happen to live in subsidized housing. We're not allowed to be students - I don't know why, but if I had the money, my choice would be college or a roof over my head. So don't anyone think it's just a walk in the park to go back to school, get a degree, and improve your situation.
Some of us are working two jobs to make ends meet and can't arrange the jobs around the schooling. Some can't afford to go (when I was taking calculus, my teacher had to loan me his calculator for a month because I didn't have and couldn't afford to buy a graphing calculator). Some people have had financial problems - I will never work in a bank again because my car was repossessed when my unemployment benefits quit. That makes me ineligible for any job where you need to have perfect credit. It's not a one size fits all situation. So please show these people working in minimum wage jobs just a little respect.
I look at all the folks who have spent big bucks in college, yet can't get a job.....why not learn a TRADE? We NEED folks who can fix our roofs, replace the water lines, fix the AC and heat, repair our cars, fix faulty foundations....whatever! TRADES make GOOD money...and you don't have to spend a freaking fortune in college. Most companies in the trades will give you "on the job" training. Sure, it's "grunt" work, at first, but you are learning something VERY valuable!
This is what you do to "get ahead"...you learn to do something that others can't do....rather than flipping burgers and getting food stamps.
I look at all the folks who have spent big bucks in college, yet can't get a job.....why not learn a TRADE? We NEED folks who can fix our roofs, replace the water lines, fix the AC and heat, repair our cars, fix faulty foundations....whatever! TRADES make GOOD money...and you don't have to spend a freaking fortune in college. Most companies in the trades will give you "on the job" training. Sure, it's "grunt" work, at first, but you are learning something VERY valuable!
This is what you do to "get ahead"...you learn to do something that others can't do....rather than flipping burgers and getting food stamps.
The "trades" are all being done by illegal aliens, with one legal running the crew, that speaks spanish, in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona & California.
No one would argue against that valid point you made.
If you have no desire, why should anyone have some on YOUR behalf?
I have desire; I know exactly what I'd like to do. I didn't expect I'd be renting a room in a soap opera house from a volatile drunk who is making the whole house miserable. If I could charge the neighbors admission to see the fights in this house I'd be rich.
It is the responsibility of the citizen to improve themselves, in order to become self-sufficient.
Truthfully, food stamp use should be limited to 26 weeks, just as unemployment insurance is. The same should be true of every social welfare program.
The McJobs are perfect for 16 year olds with acne needing date money, but when I see a 40 something at one, I ask why they lack the skills and motivation to have gotten past these jobs. That is not the employer's fault.
Some jobs are not meant to support a family. It's up to the individual to improve themselves so they can support their family.
As a teacher who is looking for a second job, don't assume that 40 something lacks skills. Some are working second jobs because their first job doesn't pay enough. I'll have two kids in college next year and my district has only given one step increase in 5 years and just made us take a cut that took that away and then some (this is on top of doubling our cost for medical two years ago). I will be working a minimum wage job not because I don't have skills but because of schedule flexibility. I'm limited as to when and how many hours I can work but 16 hours a week at minimum wage makes up for what my district just took away.
Minimum wage jobs are for teenagers needing date money, college students needing book and gas money and people like me who need second jobs. They were never intended to support a family. So no, employers should not be penalized for paying minimum wage. Employers are only obligated to pay what a job is worth. If it's worth minimum wage it's worth minimum wage. If it's worth more, no one will take it for minimum wage.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 01-18-2015 at 04:31 AM..
I have had zero desire to manage minimum wage workers ever since I worked literally flipping burgers. But I have no marketable job skills and no money to go back to school to get those skills.
What scholarships? My grades were in the top 3 percent of my class and my SAT scores were in the top 3 percent nationally. The only scholarship I got was a New York State scholarship (similar to scholarships offered by many states) good for a whopping $100 per year for books.
Now I cannot afford education and training at all.
You'd be surprised what's out there. I have an aunt who used to work in financial aid and she says there is millions in scholarships that go unused because people just don't apply. You have to research and find them. Also community college isn't that expensive and getting an associates degree can open doors to other scholarships. I got my associates and then won a full paid scholarship to complete a bachelors degree. There was one caveat. I had to sign off on any financial aid the school could find me. I was there three years. During that time they managed to cover 100% of my tuition for two years and 75% the third year (the year my husband was not in school at the same time I was). It's out there. It's just hard to find. They found it for me because it was their money since I had a free ride either way.
You'd be surprised at how many scholarships are out there for specific situations. I remember seeing a very thick book in the book store listing scholarships people could apply for. If you can't get a scholarship try loans or work/study.
In the year 2015 maybe about 25% of all jobs pay at a rate that allows full time workers to get government benefits. Even if the current people who are working in these jobs get training and move out of the low wage workplace someone else will take their place. So the argument that low wage workers just need to get more skills and education to move up does not really help the situation. Face it, no matter who is working in these jobs at any time, a large number of jobs in America pay under $10 an hour. And these are the jobs that are growing in today's economy. If you want a job, these are the jobs the typical American can get. And they are not jobs for kids and senior citizens anymore. Lots of the folks working at McDonalds are bring up a family on that job's income.
So, who should pay for the government benefits for the 25% of households whose primary bread winner is making $8 an hour or less than $20K a year?
Is it the responsibility of the employers of low wage labor? Or every taxpayer? Or should we just eliminate things like Food Stamps, reduced lunches at school, Medicaid, government paid housing, etc. for people who work?
Remember, someone is going to be doing these low wage jobs regardless of the hopes and dreams of people in them today.
Your head isn't screwed on straight. Elizabeth (you-didn't-build-that) Warren, is that you?
It is the responsibility of the citizen to improve themselves, in order to become self-sufficient.
Truthfully, food stamp use should be limited to 26 weeks, just as unemployment insurance is. The same should be true of every social welfare program.
The McJobs are perfect for 16 year olds with acne needing date money, but when I see a 40 something at one, I ask why they lack the skills and motivation to have gotten past these jobs. That is not the employer's fault.
I couldn't agree more. This topic has been beat to death on this forum; but, these leftists continue to start thread after thread with the same meme, that the government "subsidizes" businesses that pay minimum wage for some positions.
There will always be minimum wage jobs available, and there will always be people who have not yet gained the skills for higher paying jobs.
You don't do anyone any favors by making it easy for them to remain in low skilled jobs. Raising the minimum wage, only decreases the number of jobs available for these low skilled workers, and endless welfare payments (which are transfer payments) does not encourage one to learn better skills. Making one comfortable in their "poverty" is not the way to improve lives.
Is it the responsibility of the employers of low wage labor?
No.
Quote:
Or every taxpayer?
No.
Quote:
Or should we just eliminate things like Food Stamps, reduced lunches at school, Medicaid, government paid housing, etc. for people who work?
Yes.
Quote:
Remember, someone is going to be doing these low wage jobs regardless of the hopes and dreams of people in them today.
A good first step would be to remove the millions of illegal aliens who compete for these jobs and keep the wages low.
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Some jobs are not meant to support a family. It's up to the individual to improve themselves so they can support their family. 
