Increased Minimum Wage - Who Does It Help?

[Ram]

Increasing the minimum wage helps the working family, that is what the democratic congress tells us. I submit that working families do not make minimum wage. The true working family makes between $40,000 and $100,000, this is the middle-middle class. A person making minimum wage, at present makes around $8,000.

 

The democratic congress is going to raise minimum wage by $2.50 an hour. Now with that said, how many of the "true working class" are going to get a $2.50 raise over the next two years? Not many.

 

Who makes minimum wage? The entry level employees at such places as restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores; to name some. Do we think the owners of these such businesses are just going to say "that's the breaks", and eat this new expense. No they are going to pay this expense on to the consumer - the "true working class" as well as the people who are making minimum wage.

 

So does this help the "true working class"? No, we will be paying more for milk, bread, restaurant food, and gas. Does this help the people making minimum wage? No, they to will be spending their increase on the same a for mentioned products.

 

It does not matter to the minimum wage worker if minimum wage was $100 per hour, the increase will be taken in the increase of consumer goods that has taken place for business owners to off set the minimum wage increase. Conversely, the hypothetical increase of minimum wage to $100 would be catastrophic to the "true working class", because no working class employee is going to get a $100 raise, and the cost of consumer goods will dramatically increase, causing the working class employee to have to spend additional money on consumer goods.

 

I am not saying let the minimum wage worker suffer by making less money. I am only saying that increasing minimum wages does not hurt or help the minimum wage worker. But by increasing minimum wage my more then the average cost of living raise for the "true working class", it does hurt the working class family.

[Diamond Dandy]

Increasing the minimum wage helps the working family, that is what the democratic congress tells us. I submit that working families do not make minimum wage. The true working family makes between $40,000 and $100,000, this is the middle-middle class. A person making minimum wage, at present makes around $8,000.

 

The democratic congress is going to raise minimum wage by $2.50 an hour. Now with that said, how many of the "true working class" are going to get a $2.50 raise over the next two years? Not many.

 

Who makes minimum wage? The entry level employees at such places as restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores; to name some. Do we think the owners of these such businesses are just going to say "that's the breaks", and eat this new expense. No they are going to pay this expense on to the consumer - the "true working class" as well as the people who are making minimum wage.

 

So does this help the "true working class"? No, we will be paying more for milk, bread, restaurant food, and gas. Does this help the people making minimum wage? No, they to will be spending their increase on the same a for mentioned products.

 

It does not matter to the minimum wage worker if minimum wage was $100 per hour, the increase will be taken in the increase of consumer goods that has taken place for business owners to off set the minimum wage increase. Conversely, the hypothetical increase of minimum wage to $100 would be catastrophic to the "true working class", because no working class employee is going to get a $100 raise, and the cost of consumer goods will dramatically increase, causing the working class employee to have to spend additional money on consumer goods.

 

I am not saying let the minimum wage worker suffer by making less money. I am only saying that increasing minimum wages does not hurt or help the minimum wage worker. But by increasing minimum wage my more then the average cost of living raise for the "true working class", it does hurt the working class family.

 

Your confusing the middle class, 40K - 80k per family, which is middle class with the working poor, under 18k poverty level, but in rality 18-40K

 

Who does it help, you ask? Anyone earning under the new minimum. How does it help? Allows them to pay a few more bills, maybe move from renter to owner status and possibly even continue their education.

[Habib]

Your confusing the middle class, 40K - 80k per family, which is middle class with the working poor, under 18k poverty level, but in rality 18-40K

 

Who does it help, you ask? Anyone earning under the new minimum. How does it help? Allows them to pay a few more bills, maybe move from renter to owner status and possibly even continue their education.

 

No way it does that, simply not enough money. I agree that a lot of economic decisions, such as taxes and the minimum wage, come with secondary consequences. Raised wages comes with slightly higher prices. However, I have yet to see a plethora of evidence suggesting that either the minimum wage improves the overall quality of life for a signifcant number of people or that it increases prices to the extent that it is a detriment. Hopefully I find some either way, or maybe someone else knows of any.

[mcpapa]

My guess is that if the minimum wage earner gets an increase of $100 per week ($2.50 times 40), his or her milk, bread, restaurant food (a very small budget item in most minimum-wage households) and gas won't increase by that same $100 per week. You can't convince me that the minimum-wage earner won't come out ahead.

[ladiesbballcoach]

I read somewhere that around 35 of the 50 states actually already had this amount in place or an amount that was even greater. It did not list the 15 some states that did not have it in place but that this helps only those in the 15 states and not as widesweeping as has been led to believe.

 

And of course it doesn't help those in American Samoa at the present moment thanks to our new Speaker that is determined to do things different but the same.

 

Mostly the minimum wage workers in my area of the country are teenagers or employees that are either a)bad employees; b)no skills to offer to employers because they didn't need no education because they were going to be on the skateboard professional circuit or something along those lines. So we prop up those once again that haven't done much of anything positive for our society.

 

I will absolutely agree that there are exceptions to the above but my view in my part of the country is that it is extremely rare to find a good employee with good skills making minimum wage.

[swamp thang]

The only people that will benefit from an increase in the minimum wage are the democratic politicians that vote for it.

[ladiesbballcoach]

The only people that will benefit from an increase in the minimum wage are the democratic politicians that vote for it.

I believe there will be Republican politicians that will vote for it and benefit also.

[Hearsay]

My guess is that if the minimum wage earner gets an increase of $100 per week ($2.50 times 40), his or her milk, bread, restaurant food (a very small budget item in most minimum-wage households) and gas won't increase by that same $100 per week. You can't convince me that the minimum-wage earner won't come out ahead.

 

An individual minimum wage worker may very well come out ahead by some small amount of money. It will not be enough, as DD suggests, to afford insurance, buy a house, or enroll in school.

 

However, on a macro level, a business which employs hundreds of employees, many of whom are entry level wage earners, may see their costs rise to the point where they will lay those workers off rather than incur the cost. And it will be perfectly legal.

 

You see the wage increase won't just effect those earners. If a minimum wage earner making $5.15 right now gets raised to $7.50, all workers from $5.16 to $7.49 are going to ask for proportionate raises as well. And all workers making at or about $7.50 are going to insist upon a raise themselves so that they are not being paid unequally for work, experience, etc.

 

A wage increase increases the cost along the scale for the entire hourly labor force, not just a few entry level workers.

 

Macro companies simply won't support it. They'll fire them. And it will be legal.

 

I alos enjoy the argument that companies will simply "pass the cost along to the consumer." That is 1970's thinking, but the world is now flat. Goods and services are price-driven. Companies don't want to raise prices they want to cut costs, so they will simply fire the workforce and expect those left behind to work harder and do more.

 

This is not new. It is entry-level macro-economics studied in any freshmen economics course at any college or university.

[ladiesbballcoach]

An individual minimum wage worker may very well come out ahead by some small amount of money. It will not be enough, as DD suggests, to afford insurance, buy a house, or enroll in school.

 

However, on a macro level, a business which employs hundreds of employees, many of whom are entry level wage earners, may see their costs rise to the point where they will lay those workers off rather than incur the cost. And it will be perfectly legal.

 

You see the wage increase won't just effect those earners. If a minimum wage earner making $5.15 right now gets raised to $7.50, all workers from $5.16 to $7.49 are going to ask for proportionate raises as well. And all workers making at or about $7.50 are going to insist upon a raise themselves so that they are not being paid unequally for work, experience, etc.

 

A wage increase increases the cost along the scale for the entire hourly labor force, not just a few entry level workers.

 

Macro companies simply won't support it. They'll fire them. And it will be legal.

 

I alos enjoy the argument that companies will simply "pass the cost along to the consumer." That is 1970's thinking, but the world is now flat. Goods and services are price-driven. Companies don't want to raise prices they want to cut costs, so they will simply fire the workforce and expect those left behind to work harder and do more.

 

This is not new. It is entry-level macro-economics studied in any freshmen economics course at any college or university.

And someone in the "Is college for everyone" thread was just complaining about having to take that class.

[panther15z30]

I read somewhere that around 35 of the 50 states actually already had this amount in place or an amount that was even greater. It did not list the 15 some states that did not have it in place but that this helps only those in the 15 states and not as widesweeping as has been led to believe.

 

And of course it doesn't help those in American Samoa at the present moment thanks to our new Speaker that is determined to do things different but the same.

 

Mostly the minimum wage workers in my area of the country are teenagers or employees that are either a)bad employees; b)no skills to offer to employers because they didn't need no education because they were going to be on the skateboard professional circuit or something along those lines. So we prop up those once again that haven't done much of anything positive for our society.

 

I will absolutely agree that there are exceptions to the above but my view in my part of the country is that it is extremely rare to find a good employee with good skills making minimum wage.

:thumb: It is impossible to be an indepedent person and "live" on minimum wage by its self. How many people do you actually know that are making $5.15 an hour, outside of being a teenager or resturant worker(who normally makes up quiet well in tips.) Or an immigrant working in a factory.

[HHSDad]

I haven't heard anything about an increase in the minimum wage for tips earners. Are they going to increase it? If so, could this hurt a lot of businesses that use tip employees?

[panther15z30]

An individual minimum wage worker may very well come out ahead by some small amount of money. It will not be enough, as DD suggests, to afford insurance, buy a house, or enroll in school.

 

However, on a macro level, a business which employs hundreds of employees, many of whom are entry level wage earners, may see their costs rise to the point where they will lay those workers off rather than incur the cost. And it will be perfectly legal.

 

You see the wage increase won't just effect those earners. If a minimum wage earner making $5.15 right now gets raised to $7.50, all workers from $5.16 to $7.49 are going to ask for proportionate raises as well. And all workers making at or about $7.50 are going to insist upon a raise themselves so that they are not being paid unequally for work, experience, etc.

 

A wage increase increases the cost along the scale for the entire hourly labor force, not just a few entry level workers.

 

Macro companies simply won't support it. They'll fire them. And it will be legal.

 

I alos enjoy the argument that companies will simply "pass the cost along to the consumer." That is 1970's thinking, but the world is now flat. Goods and services are price-driven. Companies don't want to raise prices they want to cut costs, so they will simply fire the workforce and expect those left behind to work harder and do more.

 

This is not new. It is entry-level macro-economics studied in any freshmen economics course at any college or university.

 

Must be of Sophomore standing to take this at NKU.

[Hearsay]

I haven't heard anything about an increase in the minimum wage for tips earners. Are they going to increase it? If so, could this hurt a lot of businesses that use tip employees?

 

Possibly. Restaurants would not be inclined to pass along cost increases to the price on the menu, and the restaurant business is an extremely small margin profit business anyway. I would think they would fire the high school servers (less reliable) and have the other staff serving more tables.

[All Tell]

Who Does It Help?

 

Starkist Tuna workers in American Samoa:D

[Ram]

Starkist Tuna workers in American Samoa:D

 

Well, I guess I should have said "other then people who line the speakers pockets, who does it help?"