Posted on 07/20/2014 12:03:29 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
SEATTLE (VR) – Does raising the minimum wage kill jobs? Most probably not. Does it increase jobs? We don’t know for sure, but it might. Or at least these are the inferences one is likely to make from a recent report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. It turns out that 12 out of 13 states that raised their minimum wage on January 1, 2013 are experiencing increases in employment. The report also states that the average change in employment for these 13 states is +.99% while the average change in employment in the remaining states is +.68%.
This data provides strong support for states and even cities that have gone against conservative opposition to raising the minimum wage. In June, for example, the Seattle City Council announced that it had approved a city ordinance to gradually raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021. This hourly rate is more than twice the federal minimum wage rate set at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Although this move has come under widespread criticism – and even litigation -- according to some estimates it will benefit about 100,000 low-wage workers in the Seattle area.
The federal minimum wage is obviously a cruel joke. A 40-hour work week for four weeks at $7.25 an hour yields a monthly income of $1,160 before taxes. What can you do with $1,160? Let’s start with rent. If you decide to rent a place for 30% of that salary then your rent would be $348. In most places in the country, a decent dwelling will cost you more than this amount. Not to mention, in most cases this place will only be available to you if you can put together a security deposit – which you may not be able to afford if you are already a minimum-wage worker.
Your cell phone – mandatory in this day and age -- will cost about $50. Now, add to this all the various other expenses and bills – utilities, credit cards, car insurance and gas (if you drive), or a monthly pass for public transportation, groceries, household essentials, and taxes. Admittedly, a very frugal and calculating individual on a strict diet can make ends meet on this wage.
But what if you have a child? A parent that needs care? Or a partner who doesn’t have a full-time job? Or all of these things? As it turns out, this is very, very likely. The average age of minimum wage workers is 35. Half are older than 30 and about a third are older than 40. About 55% are women and about 27% have kids. For most of these people, the federal minimum wage feels less like a living salary and more like a slap on the face.
President Obama’s somewhat moderate call in his State of the Union address this year to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour is a step in the right direction and it has wide support from Democrats. But most Republicans in Congress are strongly opposed to the passage of any such bill. In fact, in April this year Senate Republicans blocked the passage of a bill securing the White House-backed increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10. It is also well known that any such bill would face much stiffer opposition from House Republicans even if it cleared the Democrat-majority Senate. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), for example, claims “Voting for an increase for the minimum wage is saying your jobs don’t matter to me because they will get taken away.”
But this makes no sense. First of all, there is now clear evidence to the contrary provided by the 13 states that did increase their wages on January 1 this year. In addition, there is a nation-wide recognition that the federal minimum wage is laughably low. 71 percent of Americans surveyed in a recent poll said they would like to see a hike in the federal minimum. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has recently noted: if increases in minimum wage kept pace with increases in productivity since 1960, we would today have a minimum wage of $22 an hour!
It is no wonder that Massachusetts has recently voted to gradually raise the minimum wage to $11 an hour by 2017. While it is not without controversy (the raise in the minimum wage for tipped workers is arguably not high enough), it is a sensible move. Michigan has also voted to gradually increase its minimum wage to $9.25 by 2018. In the recent past, Vermont, Maryland, Minnesota, Delaware, West Virginia, Connecticut, New York, California, and Hawaii – have each approved bills to hike their minimum wage. As of now 22 states and Washington D.C. have a minimum wage above the federal minimum. About 34 states are currently considering increases to their minimum wage.
Washington’s paralysis on the minimum wage question is unpardonable. There can be no question that the current rate of $7.25 an hour is a dehumanizing wage. In this bleak climate, Seattle has offered a glimmer of sanity and hope. It has demonstrated to the rest of the country that when Washington is paralyzed, state and local authorities – with the support of the people – can and need to go it alone.
Voters in San Francisco, which has a current minimum wage of $10.74, are going to decide in November whether they want to increase their minimum wage to $15 an hour. Other cities should also follow Seattle’s example and set their own -- and humane -- minimum wage. It is simply the right thing to do, whether or not Washington gets its act together.
Establishing a minimum wage does nothing more than devalue the basic increment coin of the realm for example the penny and moves that value on to the next increment in our case the nickle. As those minimums increases continue that policy devalues the coin’s of any realm worth furthur. Meaning in our case the dollar until it’s worth nothing.
Which is why we’re paying a $1.00 for what was once upon a time a 5 cent candy bar.
Establishing a minimum wage does nothing more than devalue the basic increment coin of the realm for example the penny and moves that value on to the next increment in our case the nickle. As those minimums increases continue that policy devalues the coin’s of any realm worth furthur. Meaning in our case the dollar until it’s worth nothing.
Which is why we’re paying a $1.00 for what was once upon a time a 5 cent candy bar.
And the retired cittizens grow poorer as the cost of living steepens because of the increase of the cost of essentials made by the entry-level workers.
Mine is $25.
Actually, it pretty much is.
Didn't get my first telephone until I was age 38 (when I married). Never have gotten a cell phone.
Doing fine.
Regards,
Sorry, but in today’s world I don’t recommend telling an employer you don’t have a phone. Will not help you get hired.
Voice of Russia?
Wow...at $15 per hour, that’s our whole service rate.
Prices would have to go up significantly just to cover paying the employer half of the SS, make sufficient money to pay for worker compensation coverage, and 0bamacare!
I really want to start including with every paycheck the amount of ‘extras’ we have to pay ...just to employ someone! You know, that stuff the hourly person never considered part of his GROSS benefit of working here.
Just like most people don’t realize how much they pay in taxes...they often don’t understand their full compensation either.
“It is much better to enact a minimum-wage law even if it deprives these unfortunates of work… better that the state should support the inefficient wholly and prevent the multiplication of the breed than subsidize incompetence and unthrift, enabling them to bring forth more of their kind.”
Royal Meeker, U.S. Commissioner of Labor, under Woodrow Wilson.
Minimum wage jobs were never meant to be jobs held by adults for their entire life. Those jobs are mostly for young people starting out (hamburger flippers, ice-cream scoopers, doughnut venders).
If you raise the wage for those jobs, then the business owner will need to raise the price of the product and service. How much are you willing to pay for a scoop of ice cream or a doughnut? Eventually, these businesses will no longer exist.
Big supporters of Castro and Hugo Chavez.
If increasing the minimum wage does not cost jobs, there is no reason for the minimum wage to be so low. If everything improves by increasing the minimum wage, it ought to be set at $100,000 per year, so everybody is comfortable. Anything less means proponents of an $11/hr minimum wage want people living on the margins.
No cell phone is mandatory, though.
I didn't say that I would tell an employer that I didn't have a phone...
Would an employer necessarily ask? And IF he did ask, couldn't one simply give him the number of one's old maiden aunt, who lives two doors down the street?
The way you're saying it, it sounds as if employers now routinely give candidates the "third degree" about their 24-7 accessibility.
Employer: "Do you have a phone?"
Candidate: "Yes."
Employer: "Umm.. Would you mind telling me what the number is?"
Candidate: "555-6178."
Employer: "Umm... I meant your CELL phone number!
Candidate: "Oh, why didn't you say so? It's 4197-077-6178."
Employer: "And do you keep your cell phone switched ON all of the time? Are the batteries always fully charged? Do you ever find yourself in a 'blind' spot?"
Etc.
And then, a few weeks after your probationary period has elapsed, you cancel your cell phone contract.
Seriously, I don't doubt that there are SOME jobs nowadays that might require around-the-clock accessibility... But I suspect that there are still millions of well-paying jobs that don't require it.
Regards,
This horse’s ash is in the right place. Wagner is a typical liberal crap hole.
Most of these minimum wage increases are in dimes per hour. Worse, the measurable effects will take time. This analysis is an abuse of statistics, particularly averages. What if all the increase occurred at salaries well above minimum wage and therefore essentially unaffected by them?
Whenever liberals claim up is down they’re lying or citing a lie.
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