Posted on 12/12/2011 8:50:19 AM PST by Hojczyk
David Frias works two minimum-wage jobs to squeak by in one of the most expensive cities in America.
Come New Year's Day, he'll have a few more coins in his pocket as San Francisco makes history by becoming the first city in the nation to scale a $10 minimum wage. The city's hourly wage for its lowest-paid workers will hit $10.24, more than $2 above the California minimum wage and nearly $3 more than the working wage set by the federal government.
While the city is at the forefront of attempting to provide a decent living wage, most employees say it's still not a wage to live on, that the 32-cent hike seems like peanuts. And some employers say it could lead to layoffs by small businesses already forced to pay federal, state and city payroll taxes as well as a slew of other city-mandated taxes.
What the average San Franciscan may not know, he said, is that business owners also must pay another $1.23 to $1.85 an hour per employee for health-care coverage if they don't offer health insurance. San Francisco is also the only city in the state that charges a payroll tax of 1.5 percent; it also mandates nine paid sick days annually per employee.
"So that drives me nuts, that as a chef, I have to cut my kitchen allowance," Scherotter said. "What I pay for a waiter is more than double what Manhattan pays, it's more than double what Chicago pays, and it's four times what Boston pays. And those are ... other big, expensive, pro-labor cities. But I pay what they all pay added together for tipped employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
February headline in the SF Chronicle:
“Economists: January spike in San Francisco unemployment rate ‘unexpected’”
Who would open a business up in SF?
Or more likely he'll be unemployed.
Why would any business stay in Sodom on the Pacific?
10 bucks an hour equals 400 dollars a week equals 1600 dollars a month and that is before taxes are taken out. I can’t imagine living in middle America on that amount much less a major city. Hopefully not many are living on that paltry amount. Today you really should make 25 dollars an hour to really be able to live. I feel sorry for those that make less than that...not many do though luckily especially FREEPERS. Most FREEPERS are wealthy but also very frugal and don’t have bills......awesome group that is for sure. :-)
An aside - “David Frias works two minimum-wage jobs to squeak by...” This wouldn’t be necessary if employers weren’t forced to pay time and a half for overtime.
Parents Fleeing San Francisco - City, Media in Denial About Why
If you can eradicate poverty by just raising the minimum wage, why not just raise it to $1,000,000 an hour? Then we could all retire as millionaires after 1 day!
Life will be so much better now! Instead of $400 p/w they’ll get $480!! Oh wait a minute. A Big Mac will go up by 25% as will a Whopper. A small business owner that employs 10 people will now have to fire 2 and have the other 8 do additional work to make up for it. Yep! Life is sweeeet in SF! ~sarc
Or:
“Economist: January inflation in San Fransico unexpectedly roars ahead of national average.”
And he'll learn that the TRUE "minimum wage" is $0.00/hr.
Why not $20/hr? Come to think about it if more is better, why not $500/hr?
Not to mention San Francisco is an insanely expensive place to live. Ten bucks an hour out there is probably like earning around 5 or 6 where most of us live.
Nowadays, it only promotes employment of Illegal Aliens.
The idea that we have wages mandated by Government buys into the Liberal Dream that Business only exists to employ people, rather than the fact that Business exists to make a Profit.
BTW - What is your definition of “wealthy” and how did you come to the conclusion that most people who post on FR are wealthy? That comment caught my attention because I am far from wealthy and I have been posting here for years.
Maybe I just missed the Sarc Tag. LOL
BTW - What is your definition of “wealthy” and how did you come to the conclusion that most people who post on FR are wealthy? That comment caught my attention because I am far from wealthy and I have been posting here for years.
It was sarcasm. However, many people when hearing a down and out story always say stuff like oh that would never happen to me or I never use credit cards or I have been working for thirty years or such things as that.
*** The city’s hourly wage for its lowest-paid workers will hit $10.24,***
If a set minimum wage is so good why don’t we still have the 45 cents an hour wage from the 1950s?
Inflation anyone?
In a year the workers will be demanding $12.00 an hour, then $14.00, then $18.00.
I live by one thing my Father told me when I was a whining teenager who only got an “allowance” by working at his business on Saturdays.
He simply told me “Nobody owes you a living”.
If people had that attitude, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today. The Democrat spin is “Somebody ELSE owes you a living” and they vote accordingly.
He simply told me “Nobody owes you a living”.
Just by that once sentence, you Dad to me was brilliant. I agree that more parents should say this to their children. Unfortunately those days for the most part are over as the parents are living on the government at least right now.
That ain't going to happen Charley.
As the minimum wage goes up so does every other cost of living including the volatile energy and food markets.
Any member of the military who has seen raises dumped into their housing allowances will tell you - as the housing allowance increases their rent increases.
Any political who thinks he can manipulate one segment of the market (wages) and have the other segment (costs) respond is drinking something much stronger than kool aid.
The “working poor” will remain the working poor and run the risk of becoming the poorer working poor as cost go up, services stagnate, and the tax base continues to flee.
BTW - who gains the most from increases in the minimum wage? It ain't the working poor; its the unions. Many of their contracts are linked to the minimum wage; as it goes up the contract automatically increases the union wage scales - frequently increasing more than the minimum wage increases.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.