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2013-12-31 8:49 AM
in reply to: crusevegas

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Subject: RE: Protests for $15 an hour minimum wage
Originally posted by crusevegas

Politicians say they want to do something to lessen the gap between the middle class and upper class yet it appears to me almost every time they try to "help" the consequences are that they actually widen the gap.




Yeah I think that is done on purpose.


2014-01-02 7:46 AM
in reply to: crusevegas

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Subject: RE: Protests for $15 an hour minimum wage

Originally posted by crusevegas

Originally posted by Jackemy1
Originally posted by crusevegas

Originally posted by Jackemy1
Originally posted by TriMyBest

Originally posted by JoshR
Originally posted by TriMyBest

Originally posted by JoshR Just to shed some light on the minimum wage debate, here are some numbers for Idaho, which is one of the more low income states.
Today’s median annual salary — the point at which half the people make more and half less — in Idaho is $23,192 for all full- and part-time workers. That’s dead last in the country, according to a U.S. Census report. The Great Recession hit Idaho harder than most states. Based on median hourly wages, Idaho slipped from 34th to 42nd between 2008 to 2011, the steepest decline of any state, the state Labor Department says. The hourly median wage climbed slightly from $14.32 in 2008 to $14.54 in 2010 before dropping to $14.51 in 2011. Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/02/05/2439246/the-history-of-ida...
So as you can see roughly half the people in the state of Idaho would be affected by a $15/hr minimum wage. This report is almost a year old, but it's the most current I've seen.

No, 100% of the people would be affected.

I work at a gym where the average wage is about $12/hour.  The average membership is $30/month.  Using what I know about the monthly payroll costs and number of members, Raising the minimum wage to $15 would raise dues approximately $3.25/month.  That's approximately an 11% increase to our members, and that's assuming that our average wage only goes to $15.  In reality, I would expect it to go higher, because we would then need to compete with other employers who had been paying their employees less than $12 previously.  In the end, the entire wage scale slides up, driving inflation, and everyone's back where they started, only we're using bigger numbers.

 

I meant half the people in this state would have their pay increased all else being equal.

I understood that.  My point was that raising minimum wage affects a lot more than just increasing the amount that a percentage of workers take home in their pay check.  There is a domino effect that ultimately ends with everyone making more and paying more for everything.  That part isn't really debatable.  What's debatable is whether in the end it's a net-zero change or if there is a marginal benefit to the minimum wage workers based on the assumption that their wage increases will be a greater % than the inflation that raising minimum wage causes.

 

 

 

There is a marginal benefit in the short term while the economic markets are artificially out of equilibrium. But the market will always find equilibrium and minimum wage workers will eventually have the same economic buying power whether you pay them $7.50 or $100 per hour. The economic casualty in all this "living wage" fallacy is that you'll have less minimum wage workers. If you happen to check out teen unemployment numbers, especially for minorities, you'll see what I mean.

I am curious if you could provide support for this statement. I would think the higher you make the minimum wage the more people you would have earning the minimum?

Taking my position to the extreme, prior to any minimum wage there were 0 people earning a minimum wage, after it was legislated you had more. When they increase the minimum wage not everyone gets a raise of the same amount or percentage increase as what the minimum wage earner gets, thus leaving more people making the minimum or closer to the minimum. 

Maybe when we increase the minimum wage we should also put in a clause that increases all other workers wage by the same dollar amount or percent? What would be wrong with that? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGKUyBuYieQHere you go. This is taught in the first two week of any Econ 101 college course. Minimum wage is the price floor. Unemployment equals the difference between supply quantity and demand quantity.

I agree with the concept that there will be fewer jobs and I think that is what you are saying. 

What I am saying is that there will be more people (a higher % of people working) earning the minimum and more people earning closer to the minimum/bottom wage if the minimum is raised. To add I would think that the higher they raise the minimum wage the fewer jobs there will be and the more people will be earning the minimum or be closer to earning the minimum.

Politicians say they want to do something to lessen the gap between the middle class and upper class yet it appears to me almost every time they try to "help" the consequences are that they actually widen the gap.

Here's the problem as I see it with the bold part.  Let's say I'm making the minimum wage, and you're my supervisor making $2/hour more.  The minimum wage is raised by $2, so now we're making the same.  Now, you need to be paid more, because very few people will take on additional job responsibilities for no additional compensation.  So, you get a raise of $2.  Now, you're closer to your supervisor's pay level, so they need to get a raise too.  In the end, everyone is paid more, so everything costs more.  All we've accomplished was drive inflation at a quicker pace.  No one has more buying power than they did before.

There are other ways to help minimum wage workers increase their buying power and standard of living.

 

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