Yes it would suck, because the motivaton for employers to hire American citizens has gone out of the window. Why pay this larger minimum wage when you can hire illegals for half of the costs? Also, these low wage entry style jobs will dry up and dissapear if it becomes unfeasable for employers to pay for it. Why pay more for a busboy when you can hike the pay of your cashier $2 and have him do it? As far as the $3.30 per gallon gas price, most places have cheap public transportation. Just nobody wants to be inconvenienced so they'd rather whine about gas.
What 16-year-old is going to have any marketable skills or education? Hard work is what sets you apart at that stage. I made roughly $6/hr plus tips in 1995 which was pretty good. Inflation kicks in and suddenly that wage is dated.
Try thinking about the economy and the overall good to the US instead of the worthyness of the minimum wage worker. Many of you are caught up in judging those who earn minimum wage because they failed to go out and get a Ph.D or something. The fact is that in any country there must be a large base of entry-level jobs for young and unskilled workers. Keeping the minmum wage too low just sends more US jobs overseas, which is not good for the country. These people are not going to go to college, they will just become unemployed and turn to welfare or crime or both. It also encourages illegal aliens to come here to get the jobs, since they are still higher wages than are available in Mexico. The economy has grown and our wages have risen. Minimum wage is no different and one raise in nine years doesn't seem excessive.
I only make $6.75 an hour right now. Of course I want more money. But by increasing the minimum wage $2, your increasing inflation. So suddenly I'm making more money, yet can't buy more stuff. What good does that money do me? Since when are minimum wage employees "the consumers"? And we all know how easy it is for 16 year olds to develop valuable skill sets.
I don't think you were talking to me, but I wasn't considering their worthyness in my stated opinions. I was thinking about the overall bad to the US economy. I fail to see how low mimimum wages send jobs overseas. HIGH mimimum wages send jobs overseas because their labor is cheaper. And economists would disagree about jobs going overseas being bad, they would say it increases efficiency & makes everyone better off. So we should increase mimimum wage, which will result in a decrease in overall mimimum wage jobs - thus making more people jobless & turn to crime? Um, so what would increasing the mimimum wage do? Discourage illegals from coming here? That's right - the free market economy has dictated the oppropriate raise in wages. And honestly, I don't mind a .50 raise or so every 10 years. But $2 in 9 years does seem excessive to me.
Cool until you can't get a job because employers will hire less. Congress keeps talking about a "living wage." Minimum wages jobs are not meant to support a family of 4. But you raise that wage to something like $10 or $15 and see how many fewer people these small businesses hire.
Try thinking of a fair market system that pays workers what they are worth. Artificially inflating wages is not healthy for the economy. This economy runs on the back of small businesses and this increase will only hurt them. They'll either hire fewer workers or pass the cost on to the consumers. You don't need to go to college to learn a trade or acquire a skill. It's not as difficult as you make it to be. Low wages are a great incentive to get off your ass and do something to make more money. Why does a 30 year old who is stuck in a minimum wage job for years deserve this increase? What has he done to deserve it? It's another form of a government handout, only the government don't have to pay for this one. Just the opposite, my friend. Increasing the minimum wage will only force more businesses to move their operations overseas to avoid paying the extra costs. The loss of jobs overseas has been going on for years since we passed all these free trade agreements. Increasing mimimum wage will only make employers seek out more illegal workers to avoid paying the extra costs.
I'm interested to hear Red's rebuttal. He usually makes sense, but that last post was horribly illogical.
Great column by an economist on the effects of a minimum wage increase. People need to look at the big picture........ http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2006/04/26/minimum_wage,_maximum_folly The effect of minimum wages is that of causing unemployment among low-skilled workers. If an employer must pay $5.15 an hour, plus mandated fringes that might bring the employment cost of a worker to $7 an hour, does it pay him to hire a person who is so unfortunate as to have skills that permit him to produce only $4 worth of value per hour? Most employers would view hiring such a person as a losing economic proposition.
I'm not really sure that the US economy runs on the back of small businesses. Wal-Mart and McDonald's hire most minumum wage workers as do many, many other very big businesses. A 30-year-old in a minimum wage job should have worked his way up into a skilled labor job or a supervisor job for sure. Incentive is indeed important. But the minimum wage is only intended for entry-level jobs for teens and 20-somethings to make a buck while they are in school or learning some marketable skills. When the minimum wage is so low that a worker cannot afford a small cheap apartment, a used car or bus money, and food for the table . . . then many won't work at all and will just fall back on welfare or turn to crime. Young single Mom's cannot pay for day care on minimum wage and are often locked into welfare at our expense. If the price of toilet paper rises a few cents to allow Wal-Mart to pay entry-level workers more money . . . well, we can handle it, those of us with high-paying jobs. If employers are unable to obtain workers at minimum wage, they will relocate overseas or hire illegal aliens. Mexicans have gone beyond picking lettuce. They are working as hotel maids, lawn services, cooks, stockboys, and many other jobs formerly held by Americans on minimum wage that can no longer make a living here at that rate. I'm not advocating that minimum wages be raised until they can support a house note, a car note, and feed a family of five. But they should be enough that an 18-year-old can move out of Mom's house and start living on his own. And I agree, by age 30 he should be far past minimum wages and most are. Unemployment is low in the US and opportunities are there for the skilled. The unskilled must begin at low wages, but not at poverty wages in a country like this one. We live in the most prosperous country in the world and there are just way too many working people living in poverty. If all of our wages have gone up x% in the last 9 years, the minimum could go up likewise.
