Is my minimum wage logic correct?

[CountZero]

It would be a voice of reason except its missing a key point. Should every job out there be one capable or fully supporting someone? I don't think it should. There are some jobs where it just will not not be enough to live off by itself and there is nothing wrong with that.

Every job out there that someone works at full time should pay enough that the person isn't eligible for welfare or food stamps (it gets more complex if you consider kids/families not going to bother with that for now). Does the current wage do that? I have no idea honestly.

I think $15 is insane for federal but $10.10 is ok. $15 might make sense in some locations (SF, NYC, etc) but not nation wide.

IMO (and I know everyone's is different) if a company has employees that are receiving government handouts then we have failed and at that point it is little more than a form of corporate subsidy.

 

[Phoenix86]

It would be a voice of reason except its missing a key point. Should every job out there be one capable or fully supporting someone? I don't think it should. There are some jobs where it just will not not be enough to live off by itself and there is nothing wrong with that.

Yes, they are called part time jobs.

There's little reason for a full time job to pay less than minimal living standards. Unless of course, you LIKE having people on welfare and paying more for it in the process.

Would you like $100 or $80 and $20 in government handouts that cost $40 to produce? Which is better for those NOT on welfare programs?

 

[mikegg]

They just write it off!

In all seriousness, some of the costs would obviously be passed on to consumers but not 100%. The rest of the costs would be absorbed by the company, and there's only one place to take it from. Top end earners.

If there really is a shift society away from reducing low income people's ability to earn then businesses would be stupid to pass 100% of the costs down. It would just put things back to square one, forcing another increase.

No, all of the cost would eventually pass to all consumers. Everyone will get a raise eventually and everyone's purchasing power will end up the same.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Increasing the minimum wage is a bribe:

"Here millions of Americans who are uncompetitive in the global labor market, take this living wage instead of rioting in the street because that social unrest will tank my stock portfolio."

The idea of low skill manufacturing in America died like 20 years ago and isn't coming back. The minimum wage is a bandaid for the fact our economy doesn't have enough "real adult" jobs for every adult who wants work. So we will rig what are basically teenager jobs to the point where they can support a family.

I think we need to be honest about it and offer a minimum wage that is a sliding scale with age, and force companies where 50%+ of their workforce is minimum wage to hire a set quota of older workers.

Better than them just quitting the labor market and living off welfare or disabilities.

 

[*kjm]

Increase the minimum wage buy 2X in fast food you will see it automated fast! Example you will go to a McDonalds press on a keypad what you want and PLC’s controlled robots will make your meal and send it out to you. It’s not been cost effective but double wages and benefits and that will change overnight.
Lost low wage jobs but for the one or two to watch the system and the techs to maintain it.

 

[sandorski]

JUst bumping it to $15 is too much too soon. However, one of the benefits of increasing the Minimum Wage is it dumps a bunch of $ into the Economy. All that extra $ is going to be spent, which will increase Economic Activity.

 

[Merad]

The whole argument seems pointless to me. Can someone tell me which manufacturing jobs actually pay minimum wage? AFAIK most of the stuff that's left in this area (some furniture and textiles) don't pay well but at least start you off around $10-12 per hour.

 

[alkemyst]

This should be in P&N and probably if serious outside AT's version.

wages alone are no indicator if export vs import works out.

There are a ton of variable in that.

 

[Anarchist420]

minimum wage hurts those on a fixed income. because they are not only paying for labor, they are hurt by more cash being in circulation

Exactly, as much as people bitch about the concept of redistributing wealth, the entire point of raising minimum wage is to take more $ from the top and push it down to the middle/low end. Look, I don't like the idea of the government getting into things like this but it's seriously out of control. The elephant in the room is exec. pay. The top end is getting significantly higher compensation than they did 20 or 30 years ago. You can't realistically set a maximum wage, but since we already have a minimum wage knob I think it's the best one to turn.

execs wouldnt exist if it werent for the State. the productive would make things people want out of their garage while those who needed structure (which is most people) would be jobless

 

[ultimatebob]

At $15 an hour, I think that will finally become profitable to replace a lot of fast food worker jobs with robotics.

A $50,000 burger making robot would probably cost more than a high school kid making $7.50 an hour to maintain, but at $15? So long kid. Those jobs are going away, and they will NOT be coming back.

On the flip side, I'm sure that software people and engineers (like me) working on fast food automation will enjoy the increase in business