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Well, in a big-picture economic standpoint, it's debatable whether this is good or bad, I guess. It's obviously a good thing for lower-class, unskilled workers. Bloomberg's scope of their article is extremely narrow - it will obviously help Wal-Mart employees. (The Forbes article wouldn't open on my computer, for some reason)
But I know for sure that average, middle-class slobs like me are going to suffer, at least in the short term. My employer has already said that they have no plans to increase salaries for anyone who is making more than minimum wage, and yet we are already seeing price increases for cost-of-goods, in order to make-up for higher labor costs.
How is this a good thing for the middle class, again?
Sure isn't a great thing for those of us on SSA. We received a .3% COLA this year but Medicare Part A went up $5 so we received a net loss. We will see our cost of living go up because something is going to have to give somewhere. At least some people will have an improvement in their lives but minimum wage is not much to live on even at $11 an hour.
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"Home is where the heart is"
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Location: Northwest Peninsula
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PS90
Yes, but you are assuming that there is an adequate career supply-and-demand throughout the state. When this minimum wage increase was limited to Seattle, that may have been true.
But now, it's all over the state, including tiny rural areas like mine. There is no way a demand for many rural jobs (of which skilled jobs are already rare) will be stimulated enough to force wage increases. So, unless I want to relocate hundreds of miles away, or out-of-state, that's not an option.
It's just another result of having a dominant urban center that controls the entire state without regard for the rest of that state, I guess.
I agree...a minimum wage of $15 in the Seattle area may be reasonable but there are few jobs there that pay that low to start with. Minimum wages are not set for long a term living wage...its used as a entry level wage. Learning the job and increase your skill and increase you wages in time.
Now if the minimum wage was set to, lets say $15 an hour in New York, San Francisco that may be fine but a $15 minimum wage in places like Mississippi or even Eastern Washington would be disastrous to small businesses.
I went into my neighbor tavern/bar and the price of draft been went up .50 cents on January 1. Prices in the grocery store will follow shortly. So there goes your dollar or so raise.
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"Home is where the heart is"
(set 24 days ago)
Location: Northwest Peninsula
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clikrf8
Sure isn't a great thing for those of us on SSA. We received a .3% COLA this year but Medicare Part A went up $5 so we received a net loss. We will see our cost of living go up because something is going to have to give somewhere. At least some people will have an improvement in their lives but minimum wage is not much to live on even at $11 an hour.
I received an increase of $1.38 on my SS.
You are right about the minimum wage being not much to live on. If you take the $11 times 2080 hours a years worked it come to less than 23K. But with things like the ACA which actually keeps employers from working employee more than 30 hours a week to save them the cost of the ACA its even worst.
Solution: stay in school and get an education. Take control of your own life. Stop relying on the government to bail you out.
I agree...a minimum wage of $15 in the Seattle area may be reasonable but there are few jobs there that pay that low to start with. Minimum wages are not set for long a term living wage...its used as a entry level wage. Learning the job and increase your skill and increase you wages in time.
Now if the minimum wage was set to, lets say $15 an hour in New York, San Francisco that may be fine but a $15 minimum wage in places like Mississippi or even Eastern Washington would be disastrous to small businesses.
I went into my neighbor tavern/bar and the price of draft been went up .50 cents on January 1. Prices in the grocery store will follow shortly. So there goes your dollar or so raise.
Yep - exactly. I just watched a piece on the Davenport in Spokane on the news (which is a semi-high-end independent hotel) - they are laying-off 30 people and cutting back on a number of amenities.
So, in their case at least (and probably many others), this will hurt both the patrons - who are mostly middle class- and the low-skill employees. Better to have a $9.00/hr minimum wage job than a $0/hr job because you got laid off.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,938 posts, read 82,060,860 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PS90
Yes, but you are assuming that there is an adequate career supply-and-demand throughout the state. When this minimum wage increase was limited to Seattle, that may have been true.
But now, it's all over the state, including tiny rural areas like mine. There is no way a demand for many rural jobs (of which skilled jobs are already rare) will be stimulated enough to force wage increases. So, unless I want to relocate hundreds of miles away, or out-of-state, that's not an option.
It's just another result of having a dominant urban center that controls the entire state without regard for the rest of that state, I guess.
Yes, and this is why the individual cities should set their own higher minimum wage if they want to, and let the cities with lower cost of living keep theirs lower.
Just think about the waitstaff in restaurants. $11 hourly, plus tips.
Let's just say a server in a Denny's type restaurant has 3 individuals at 3 different tables
And let's say each of those customers leaves a $3.00 tip.
Just that right there is $20 hourly.
I imagine the servers at the high end restaurants will do very well indeed.
Just think about the waitstaff in restaurants. $11 hourly, plus tips.
Let's just say a server in a Denny's type restaurant has 3 individuals at 3 different tables
And let's say each of those customers leaves a $3.00 tip.
Just that right there is $20 hourly.
I imagine the servers at the high end restaurants will do very well indeed.
Apologies in advance, this post turned out novel length.
How dare a service industry worker maybe have an hour or two where they make a good living? Of course we'll ignore the hours that they work when it's slow/dead or how employers make them work before and after they are closed when they can only make min. wage or the fact that they have to split tips with busboys and other staff or how many people don't tip or think some change is good enough.
For Mother's Day all that my mother wanted was just a cheap breakfast place, the place was overwhelmed and talking with our server for some reason the people were taking out their frustration on the waitstaff, which probably meant they were stiffing her on tips. The bill came out to something like $18, as we were leaving I slipped her a twenty and wished her a happy Mother's Day (she had three kids herself), she nearly cried and gave me a hug.
I rarely eat at high end places, so the difference between an okay tip and a great tip is usually several bucks, leave a little more, pay it forward and let that server know that you don't blame them when the kitchen is backlogged. Eleven bucks, after deductions and for living in such an expensive state isn't a lot of money, especially if people have kids.
There have been studies done on border towns where one city raised their min. wage and the other didn't, surprisingly [or not] the towns that raised their wages didn't suffer. Mom and pop places need customers and low wage earners spend their money, on top of that raising wages push all wages up, so it opens up the customer base.
We're in one of our infamous boom cycles, so now is a good time to absorb this cost and hopefully it will stabilize our working base for if/when our crash comes. There are countries that have higher wages and they still have McDonald's and we've been working on more automation since Henry Ford's time. There is a couple of great charts that show the amount of coal mined vs coal mining jobs and it has shown the number of people it has taken to mine ever greater and greater amounts of coal has been plummeting.
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"Home is where the heart is"
(set 24 days ago)
Location: Northwest Peninsula
6,338 posts, read 3,481,007 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by perigee
Apologies in advance, this post turned out novel length.
How dare a service industry worker maybe have an hour or two where they make a good living? Of course we'll ignore the hours that they work when it's slow/dead or how employers make them work before and after they are closed when they can only make min. wage or the fact that they have to split tips with busboys and other staff or how many people don't tip or think some change is good enough.
For Mother's Day all that my mother wanted was just a cheap breakfast place, the place was overwhelmed and talking with our server for some reason the people were taking out their frustration on the waitstaff, which probably meant they were stiffing her on tips. The bill came out to something like $18, as we were leaving I slipped her a twenty and wished her a happy Mother's Day (she had three kids herself), she nearly cried and gave me a hug.
I rarely eat at high end places, so the difference between an okay tip and a great tip is usually several bucks, leave a little more, pay it forward and let that server know that you don't blame them when the kitchen is backlogged. Eleven bucks, after deductions and for living in such an expensive state isn't a lot of money, especially if people have kids.
There have been studies done on border towns where one city raised their min. wage and the other didn't, surprisingly [or not] the towns that raised their wages didn't suffer. Mom and pop places need customers and low wage earners spend their money, on top of that raising wages push all wages up, so it opens up the customer base.
We're in one of our infamous boom cycles, so now is a good time to absorb this cost and hopefully it will stabilize our working base for if/when our crash comes. There are countries that have higher wages and they still have McDonald's and we've been working on more automation since Henry Ford's time. There is a couple of great charts that show the amount of coal mined vs coal mining jobs and it has shown the number of people it has taken to mine ever greater and greater amounts of coal has been plummeting.
Did anyone make it through the entire thing??
Okay I hear you and somewhat agree. However I disagree we are in a boom cycle. Our local county unemployment rate is above 7% and I live on the border. Good paying jobs are scarce.
The Job participation rate is at or near an all time high. Employment rates are false because they do not include people who have given up looking for work. Jobs available are only part time minimum wage service type jobs mostly due to automation and, yes Obamacare. Illegals are taking jobs formerly held by Minorities and getting paid under the table. Don't believe that? Go to where the trade foremen go in the morning to pick up workers.
Just think about the waitstaff in restaurants. $11 hourly, plus tips.
Let's just say a server in a Denny's type restaurant has 3 individuals at 3 different tables
And let's say each of those customers leaves a $3.00 tip.
Just that right there is $20 hourly.
I imagine the servers at the high end restaurants will do very well indeed.
Like the PP said, your thinking is highly flawed. I have worked as a server before and your tips depend on what section you're working, what meal is being served/time of day, and your service- which sometimes aren't your abilities/personality, but the kitchen serving time, bar staff, etc. Your tips rely on others doing their jobs well. Plus, when people leave, you rely on your bussers to turn your tables quickly. Most restaurants if not all, wait staff do not keep all their tips for themselves. You are obliged to give a % to the kitchen, % to the bar, % to the bussers, etc.
So, providing everything runs smoothly and everyone enjoys their meals in a timely manner, you might make over your wage for a couple hours out of your shift.
Please don't comment or make assumptions about things you know little about based on a flawed math equation you conjured up yourself.
Status:
"Home is where the heart is"
(set 24 days ago)
Location: Northwest Peninsula
6,338 posts, read 3,481,007 times
Reputation: 4434
Quote:
Originally Posted by DogLovinGal
Like the PP said, your thinking is highly flawed. I have worked as a server before and your tips depend on what section you're working, what meal is being served/time of day, and your service- which sometimes aren't your abilities/personality, but the kitchen serving time, bar staff, etc. Your tips rely on others doing their jobs well. Plus, when people leave, you rely on your bussers to turn your tables quickly. Most restaurants if not all, wait staff do not keep all their tips for themselves. You are obliged to give a % to the kitchen, % to the bar, % to the bussers, etc.
So, providing everything runs smoothly and everyone enjoys their meals in a timely manner, you might make over your wage for a couple hours out of your shift.
Please don't comment or make assumptions about things you know little about based on a flawed math equation you conjured up yourself.
If I may interject a story here....I was married to a women who worked in a large Casino, long ago in north Idaho, just over the border from Washington. She was a cocktail waitress and was not paid a wage...all the money she got was derived from tips.
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