The Minimum Wage

[magekillr]

What are your opinions on a minimum wage, and how helpful it is to citizens?

 

 

 

Many argue that it increases unemployment among unskilled workers, and inflates their "worth" beyond what it actually is. This decreases the amount of labor a company can withstand, reducing productivity, etc etc etc.

 

 

 

They also argue that the costs are put on customers, but that's not backed by any clear data.

 

 

 

It seems to me that opponents of the minimum wage argue with only theoretical models out of the text book, and none hold any water in reality.

[usahellyes]

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[dragoonson]

I think that the minimum wage is good for teens to get jobs,but not great for adults looking to support a family.Also,the American wage is high already.Ours is slightly less than two dollars,and most students that haven't dropped out wouldn't be able to work as many hours,so its not an effective source for income.

 

 

 

By the current exchange rate,our wage is roughly 1/3 the American minimum wage.

[purfishx]

I think that the minimum wage is good for teens to get jobs,but not great for adults looking to support a family.Also,the American wage is high already.Ours is slightly less than two dollars,and most students that haven't dropped out wouldn't be able to work as many hours,so its not an effective source for income.

 

 

 

By the current exchange rate,our wage is roughly 1/3 the American minimum wage.

 

 

 

Wow, seriously?

 

 

 

Our minimum wage here is like 3/4 the Americans but 1/3... wow.

[BlueLancer]

As mentioned.. It's good for students, temporary workers, but that's it.. It's the "minimum" wage for a reason, you'll want to move away from it as soon as possible.

 

 

 

If you want to sustain a family with a house, car and a kid or two... Minimum wage is a joke. You'll end up on the streets... A humane wage in the US for an average middle class person would be around $2,500-$3,500 a month. You'll earn peanuts compared to businessmen and entrepreneurs, but it will guarantee a safe life, access to credit, and a good standard for living.

 

 

 

You can survive on less than that, but if you have a family & you're the only one working, you will have financial problems/deal with poverty.

 

 

 

To put in perspective, working 10 hour shifts at minimum wage with weekends free is $1100 per month. You can *barely* sustain one person living alone on that in the US, if you rent an apartment, have no car, no credit, probably no internet connection/phone.

[purfishx]

 

To put in perspective, working 10 hour shifts at minimum wage with weekends free is $1100 per month. You can *barely* sustain one person living alone on that in the US, if you rent an apartment, have no car, no credit, probably no internet connection/phone.

 

 

 

This is an exaggeration rite?

[Toxic388]

 

To put in perspective, working 10 hour shifts at minimum wage with weekends free is $1100 per month. You can *barely* sustain one person living alone on that in the US, if you rent an apartment, have no car, no credit, probably no internet connection/phone.

 

 

 

Don't agree. Minimum wage differs in various states. Here in Oregon, it's 8$. That means you will get arond 1200 each month working 10 hour shifts Mon-Thursday. Average rent for a single room/bath apartment is 500-600$. You can definately survive but you're going nowhere in life.

[Sbrideau]

Minimum wage is a good thing to have nonetheless. My whole town would be people in poverty if it wasn't for that. People would be getting like $5 an hour instead of their current $7.75. They work the most hours they can to have as much money as the can to have less debts. There sure are some that work at $10 an hour, but they're pretty rare in my town.

[BlueLancer]

 

To put in perspective, working 10 hour shifts at minimum wage with weekends free is $1100 per month. You can *barely* sustain one person living alone on that in the US, if you rent an apartment, have no car, no credit, probably no internet connection/phone.

 

 

 

Don't agree. Minimum wage differs in various states. Here in Oregon, it's 8$. That means you will get arond 1200 each month working 10 hour shifts Mon-Thursday. Average rent for a single room/bath apartment is 500-600$. You can definately survive but you're going nowhere in life.

 

 

 

Add to that food costs/groceries, possible electricity/water bills, clothing, public transport to your work, necessities like paper towels/toilet paper/soap... You're barely going to survive on minimum wage. Don't even dream of medical insurance; If you get sick on minimum wage and have no savings, you're screwed.

 

 

 

Feeding a family, at least in the US, is literally impossible with a single minimum-wage job. You can't fit 3 or more people into that budget. You'd have to get a second job and work it on weekends just to survive. The second parent would also definitely need to get a full time job.

 

 

 

Minimum wage in Kansas is $2.65 per hour by the way: http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

 

Have fun surviving off that.. It's sickening. In general the median seems to be about $6 per hour which is still a ridiculous wage for a full grown adult.

[Quoi_Tu]

In theory, if minimum wage increases, businesses who pay minimum wage have to decrease their supply and the number of workers they employ. So, yes it does, at least temporarily, increase unemployment.

 

 

 

As time progresses, the minimum wage workers who kept their jobs will have more money to spend (and they will spend almost all of it), which will increase demand and increase prices. Companies can then increase their supply, which will require more minimum wage workers to be hired and decreasing unemployment. At least, that's an over simplified example of what would happen, obviously keeping everything else static.

[PoorLepRecon]

For Missouri the minimum wage is $6.65 and hour. I can't believe that Kansas has such a low minimum wage.

 

 

 

I agree that minimum wage is not meant to be a permanent wage. It is only good for students looking for a easy job to pay through high school/college expenses and for anyone just needing a little bit of extra cash. If you are relying on minimum wage, then you are in some trouble.

[deloriagod]

 

To put in perspective, working 10 hour shifts at minimum wage with weekends free is $1100 per month. You can *barely* sustain one person living alone on that in the US, if you rent an apartment, have no car, no credit, probably no internet connection/phone.

 

 

 

This is an exaggeration rite?

 

 

 

That's not an exaggeration at all. I've done a bit of the math for myself and it would be very difficult to get by on minimum wage.

[Sbrideau]

Wow surprises me that the Canadian minimum wage is higher than the U.S. wages :shock: . Just to think the Canadian dollar is worth more than the U.S. dollar, no wonder we had trouble the moment our dollar got higher than yours.

[Orpheus]

You're not gonna get far on minimum wage, so you'd need to find a better job, hell, even a job working at places like Wal-Mart or something like that would be better. deloria and Bluelancer are right though, mathematically, you won't get terribly far. And because it's America, you don't get free healthcare.

[Sbrideau]

You're not gonna get far on minimum wage, so you'd need to find a better job, hell, even a job working at places like Wal-Mart or something like that would be better. deloria and Bluelancer are right though, mathematically, you won't get terribly far. And because it's America, you don't get free healthcare.

 

 

 

We do in Canada :P. But what you're saying is true for the U.S. people though. Maybe that's an important reason of their situation right now?

[Who]

Wow surprises me that the Canadian minimum wage is higher than the U.S. wages :shock: . Just to think the Canadian dollar is worth more than the U.S. dollar, no wonder we had trouble the moment our dollar got higher than yours.

 

You can wash dishes in Canada for $10-12 an hour, assuming you don't mind endless repetitive tasks (But aren't all jobs like that?).

[jackattack]

It's not helpful. So few people actually earn the minimum wage for an extended period of time. I think it's like less than 2% of people in the country earn it. And of those probably half are teens, and 49% are first time workers or part time workers and more than half get a raise in the first year. Something like only 1 in 5 people who make minimum wage live below the poverty level. And it's funny how last year Republicans in the Senate brought up a bill to raise the minimum wage and the Democrats killed it.

 

 

 

[hide=]-The minimum wage reduces employment

 

-The minimum wage reduces employment most among black teenage males

 

-The minimum wage helped South African whites at the expense of blacks

 

-The minimum wage hurts blacks generally

 

-The minimum wage hurts the unskilled

 

-The minimum wage hurts low wage workers

 

-The minimum wage hurts low wage workers particularly during cyclical downturns

 

-The minimum wage increases job turnover

 

-The minimum wage drives workers into uncovered jobs, thus lowering wages in those sectors

 

-The minimum wage reduces employment in low-wage industries, such as retailing

 

-The minimum wage hurts small businesses generally

 

-The minimum wage causes employers to cut back on training

 

-The minimum wage has long-term effects on skills and lifetime earnings

 

-The minimum wage leads employers to cut back on fringe benefits

 

-The minimum wage hurts low-wage regions, such as the South and rural areas

 

-The minimum wage increases the number of people on welfare

 

-The minimum wage hurts the poor generally

 

-The minimum wage does little to reduce poverty

 

-The minimum wage helps upper income families

 

-The minimum wage encourages employers to hire illegal aliens

 

-Few workers are permanently stuck at the minimum wage[/hide]

 

http://www.house.gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/ ... 0years.htm

[deloriagod]

 

-Few workers are permanently stuck at the minimum wage

 

 

 

Just had to comment on this one bullet here. It is correct, it's not hard to get away from minimum wage. But say you get a raise of $0.25, you're magically no longer working at minimum wage. That extra $.25 amounts to very little and keeps you from being a minimum wage worker at the same time.

[RSBDavid]

I think it is just fine. In fact, even having a job will help you down the road. It is best to build a resume in your teens so after you get out of college and have a shiny degree, you Might have an easier time getting a job.

[das1330]

 

Minimum wage in Kansas is $2.65 per hour by the way: http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

 

Have fun surviving off that.. It's sickening. In general the median seems to be about $6 per hour which is still a ridiculous wage for a full grown adult.

 

 

 

Not true. Federal law supersedes state law, so if the state law has a lower minimum wage the federal law takes precedent. The national minimum wage in the US is 5.75$ an hour. In no state can it be lower then that.

 

 

 

Wow surprises me that the Canadian minimum wage is higher than the U.S. wages :shock: . Just to think the Canadian dollar is worth more than the U.S. dollar, no wonder we had trouble the moment our dollar got higher than yours.

 

 

 

What? 1 Canadian dollar is only worth about 79 American cents right now.

 

 

 

 

 

As to minimum wage, while there is no particularly pressing need to rasie it, I see no problem with it going up to about 10 dollars an hour. Business studies have shown that raising it would not impact business profits in any significant amount, and it would help some workers.

[Tim]

I think it's very helpful to teens, as the jobs they hold offer no unionizing capability (no point in unionizing with such high turnover) and it ensures that they get a wage that can actually buy something.

 

 

 

try telling the australian government that. i get 1 shift a fortnight, im 18 and only paid about 100-200$ a month. makes living impossible and i cant claim any compensation etc on it. plus moving out is out of the question for 5 years on that rate. -.-

[Furah]

I think it's very helpful to teens, as the jobs they hold offer no unionizing capability (no point in unionizing with such high turnover) and it ensures that they get a wage that can actually buy something.

 

 

 

try telling the australian government that. i get 1 shift a fortnight, im 18 and only paid about 100-200$ a month. makes living impossible and i cant claim any compensation etc on it. plus moving out is out of the question for 5 years on that rate. -.-

 

 

 

 

 

ouch, try looking elsewhere? People in my year already are getting pretty good pay (1 person was getting $100 a week)

[BlueLancer]

 

Minimum wage in Kansas is $2.65 per hour by the way: http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

 

Have fun surviving off that.. It's sickening. In general the median seems to be about $6 per hour which is still a ridiculous wage for a full grown adult.

 

 

 

Not true. Federal law supersedes state law, so if the state law has a lower minimum wage the federal law takes precedent. The national minimum wage in the US is 5.75$ an hour. In no state can it be lower then that.

 

 

 

The State law excludes from coverage any employment that is subject to the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

 

 

 

Straight from the website of the Kansas Department of Labor:

 

http://www.dol.ks.gov/ES/HTML/laws_RES.html

 

 

 

Kansas Minimum Wage and Overtime Law (K.S.A. 44-1201 et. seq.)

 

 

 

Guarantees a minimum wage of $2.65 per hour for workers 18 years of age and older. Overtime pay is required after 46 hours of work in a work week.

 

 

 

Federal law doesn't surpass it, and there have been many attempts to raise the pathetic minimum wage of $2.65:

 

 

 

http://www.unionvoice.org/kansas_workbe ... id=1551213

 

 

 

As the article says, if you were to work full time in Kansas at minimum wage, you'd earn $5,000 per year. You can't live on that.

 

 

 

Minimum wage employees that would be eligible for the FLSA are schools, government agencies and large companies; For which few poor people have qualifications to work for (should include the Burger Kings and fast food restaurants though)

[Ginger_Warrior]

$5,000 is insanely low. Assuming you work full time with three weeks holiday a year you'd be earning four times that amount here on the minimum wage.

[obfuscator]

Minimum wage is a necessary evil imo. Obviously it is important to make sure that people are earning fair wages, but honestly, minimum wage controls the economy. When minimum wage goes up, prices go up, and vice versa. Really just going to keep going back and forth like that.