Should the minimum wage be increased?

Great Debates
1

Several days ago, I heard someone on the radio who was arguing that with the costs of housing and such, the current minimum wage is insufficient, and should be increased to an amount that is enough to reasonably live on (roughly $10 an hour, I think). The arguments against it that I heard are:

  1. Businesses that hire employees at or close to minimum wage (restaraunts, fast food places, etc.) might be forced to downsize their labor force, and some might be put out of business

  2. People generally don’t get stuck in minimum wage jobs forever; they eventually learn the skills they need to start a meaningful career. (I didn’t hear any statistics to back this up, so I don’t know if this is true.)

So given that, should the minimum wage be increased?

2

I don’t know. I don’t work. I’m a stay at home mom and we live on my husbands salary. If anything happened to him though, I’m not quailified to really do anything. I would have 3 girls to take care of and I don’t think I could do it on what minimum wage is.
I guess those are some good points not to raise it, but if it was and people could afford things easier, it could probably cut down on how much is spent on Welfare or WIC or other things people are in need of because what they make isn’t enough to cover everything. $10 and hour would be alot if especially a couple each had a job paying that. They could live quite comfortable at $20 an hour between the two.

3

Oh, dear God.

“It is lucky for rulers that men do not think.” — Adolf Hitler

4

I say let the market determine what a ‘minimum wage’ should be, and stop trying to legislate it.

Peace.

† Jon †
Phillipians 4:13

5

No.

Look at all of the good it does for France. Busineses simply do not hire employees if they lose money, there would be no point. All that minimum wages have managed to do is increase unemployment, they have never increased wages.

You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.

–Lyndon B. Johnson

6

Oh my, Christabel, doesn’t that scare the sh** out of you? I read your post, and all I could think of was how incredibly scared I’d be to be in your position… what if something happens to your husband? Do you have a plan?

I know, I know, there’s a gazillion people in this situation… chalk it up to my own phobias and fears, but I can’t think of a worse position to be in than that.

7

Lib…omg you are a hoot guy…
To answer the question…any time you raise minimum wage…you have to raise all the other salaries in comparision. For example…you have an insurance clerk making $10.50 per hour…been at the job for 5 years…now they raise the minimum wage…and the kid at McDonald’s is cramming fries in a bag for $10.00 an hour…hmmmmmm get the picture?
And a word of warning to any woman who has kids…never have to be in the position to depend on your hubby’s sole income…somehow learn a skill at home…evidently you have a computer…go to the library and check out some books and learn to run it like a pro…if something did happen to your hubby…right now you would be up the creek…cause by the time you were able to straighten out the red tape…everything you had would be gone…don’t mean to sound like the bearer of bad news…but I’ve seen it happen too many times…

“Do or do not, there is no try” - Yoda

8

Minimum wage is the incentive for junior to go out and: 1) learn a trade; or 2) get a degree.

Here in my hometown, there are “Help Wanted” signs at literally every restaurant around. I don’t think it’s the pay that’s the problem, it’s the lack of humans that need or want the job.

9

There are problems with increasing (or even having) the minimum wage generally, and with increasing it now specifically. Some of the problems have already been mentioned, but I’ll recap, if only not to waste a post on which I worked a long time.

Generally, the very same businesses that pay minimum wage are those with the lowest profit margins (restaurants, distributors, farms and the like), making them least able to withstand an increase while remaining profitable. If you increase hourly wage costs, those businesses with high costs relative to their peers will often close, reducing in total employment.

Another reaction to minimum wage increases is to increase productivity by replacing labor with capital (automating). As it happens, this is in the long run a good thing, but it also has the effect of reducing in the short term total employment.

Another way businesses deal with a minimum wage increase is to focus only on hiring those workers with the highest productivity (as opposed to increasing overall labor productivity). I’ll explain. Businesses do not seek to pay the lowest wage possible, but rather the lowest wage possible per unit of work completed. If the minimum wage is too high for businesses profitably to hire low-productivity workers, in some instances they are able to pay more than the minimum and engage higher-productivity workers, (for example, a counter person who can handle 40 customers/hour rather than the 25 or so that a low-productivity worker may be able to) further widening the gap between high and low productivity workers. There are some who say this is not a bad thing in the long run, but it produces short-run externalities such as increasing despair, higher crime, increasing gaps between the poor and middle classes, increased unemployment among the young (especially teens) and the like.

Specifically, the problem with increasing it now is that the labor market is tight. The wages for almost all productive activities should be going up without the insistence of the State. And in most cases, they are (I interviewed a food distributor recently who actually installed metal detectors at his company’s distribution centers because of the high number of recent ex-cons they hired to deal with labor shortages, despite raising wages 10%.)

If you believe in a minimum wage (I do), the two times to increase it with minimal disruption to the economy are when inflation is high (wages are going up anyway, and dragging the bottom of the labor pool along is least invasive then) and in the quarter or two following the end of a recession (when hiring needs have not yet caught up with the labor pool). Now represents neither of those times.

The stat the OP heard about people “cycling through” minimum wage jobs is partially true. I’ll look for a harder stat.

Jesus saves… Gretzky grabs the rebound… He Scores!

10

Athena, yeah it bothers me. More the part of being alone raising them that anything else though.
The responses I’ve read aren’t anything new, or that I haven’t thought about myself on the matter.
I also know people should improve on theirselves. I’m certainly not saying raising it is the answer. I said I don’t know.
I just don’t like to see people in hard times, no matter what put them there unless it is plain laziness.
True there are plenty of jobs and some people just don’t want them, as someone mentioned. My father in law is a prime example. The man pretty much sickens me, and he flat out told me he doesn’t work because he doesn’t want to. Well I’m thinking that is something to really be proud about.
I get the point about the kid making $10 an hour cramming fries. Way on the other hand though, I don’t think throwing a football far etc… justifies making millions either. Some of the things these entertainers do doesn’t take much more skill than you need to bag fries.
Back to my situation for a minute. We own our home, and vehicle. I would be able to keep all benefits like health insurance and still get some of his pay if something happened. But since I’m not qualified to do anything that pays well it would still be hard to do the rest. I know there are many who aren’t as fortuante to have even what I do.
It’s still no excuse to not prepare myself and I know this. I didn’t say I have ruled out the possiblity to better myself.

11

I am in great conflict over the question of minimum wage.

On the one hand, I believe people who want to work and are willing to work should always be paid enough of a wage that they can afford at least subsistence-level housing and food. The only way to guarantee this is through a minimum wage.

On the other hand, I think businesses should be free to pay whatever they want to their employees, and if it isn’t enough, they can look elsewhere.

So, my answer is, “I don’t know.”

“It’s my considered opinion you’re all a bunch of sissies!”–Paul’s Grandfather

12

Then why aren’t people willing to pay $20, $30, $50 a pop to see someone bag fries? Are you in the habit of paying lots of money to watch someone else do something you could quite easily do yourself?

“It’s my considered opinion you’re all a bunch of sissies!”–Paul’s Grandfather

13

If the wage is too low, prospective workers won’t take jobs. Seems to me it would all level out without a minimum wage anyway.

14

I of course wouldn’t pay $20 to watch someone bag my fries. I’m not some moron here. I also don’t go to concerts, games etc… because I’m to tight to waste my money on it.
Are you saying that you think that someone such as Regis and Kathie Lee (I did say entertainers…meaning everything) are deserving of their salaries for sitting around drinking coffee talking about their families and getting people to talk about theirself. I think pretty much anyone is qualified to handle that job. That was the only point I was trying to make.

15

Not to contribute to the thread hijacking, but your point is wrong, Christabel. “Pretty much anyone” is not qualified to handle that job. If I (or, I daresay, you) sat there drinking coffee while yammering on about mundane personal lives and chatting with celebrities, no one would watch. The reason that Regis and Kathy Lee get paid so much is because in the judgment of ABC, more people watch them than would watch the next cheapest hosts available.

Jesus saves… Gretzky grabs the rebound… He Scores!

16

People are worth what others are willing to pay them. Because you don’t like Regis and Kathy Lee does not mean that some people consider them close to Gods.

One point on minimum wage: A large number of the people earning minimum wage and driving the wage for these unskilled jobs down are teenagers. So many are not supporting a family. THey are supporting they “Old Navy” wardrobe.

17

First, I didn’t say anywhere on here I don’t like Regis and Kathie Lee. That was chosen to be said for me. I asked that particular person, which was pldennison, if they thought they deserved that salary. Not what ABC thinks they should get.
As was said they get paid that because it is the judgment of ABC to pay that because more people would watch than the next cheapest host. I can live with it. It’s not me paying them.
How do you know no one would watch if I talked about a bunch of usless crap. You personally don’t qualify as everyone.
People watch Jerry Springer don’t they? It it is on, somebody , somewhere will watch anything.
It was said my opinion is wrong. Fine if you take it that way. I will be the first to admit I’m often wrong. Never the less it is my opinion. What does any of this have to do with minimum wage? Nothing. I said I don’t know for my answer on that, several times now.

18

What ABC thinks they should get (is it ABC or a syndicator, BTW?), is what they deserve. That’s how things like “jobs” work.

I can assure you, having been on the radio 5 days a week, 4 hours (or more) per day, that broadcasting is not the cakewalk everyone thinks it is. Trying to fill several hours of air in real time, with no editing, and making it interesting, is difficult, and it takes talented people to do it. Regis and Kathie Lee aren’t my cup of tea, but I won’t deny that they are good at what they do.

Trust me, when you’re on the air and having trouble filling your time, seconds seem like hours. Two minutes is a lifetime; five minutes is unbearable.

“It’s my considered opinion you’re all a bunch of sissies!”–Paul’s Grandfather

19

I know how things like “jobs” work. Because I don’t work now doesn’t mean I never have.
You said if that is what ABC pays them then that’s what they deserve. Fine, you answered.

20

HAVING BEEN ON THE GOVERNMENT SIDE, I’LL TELL YOU ALL A SECRET. A CONSPIRACY REALLY DOES EXIST, TO KEEP YOU ALL BARELY PAID, (COLLEGE EDUCATED OR NOT), AND TIED TO A COMPANY WHERE YOUR ALLEGIANCE IS FORCED BY MONETARY INFLEXIBILITY. I’VE SEEN THE CONTRACTS AND AGREEMENTS HAMMERED OUT, I’VE HEARD THE BACK ROOM PLANS…

RIGHT NOW THERE IS A BIG PLOT TO KEEP YOU ALL UNABLE TO FUND CHANGE, CAUSE THE G.O.B. (GOOD OLD BOYS)CLUB DOESNT WANT TO LOSE POWER… ITS FOR REAL

TO HAVE WORKED FOR THE GOVERNMENT WAS NO WORK AT ALL,TO REFORM AND REBUILD THE GOVERNMENT, THEREIN LIES THE CHALLENGE.