3 ms·

The crux of the issue is at the end of the day, the true "market value" of most 0 or near 0 skill jobs is close to 0$. This is especially true in the case of yo

The crux of the issue is at the end of the day, the true "market value" of most 0 or near 0 skill jobs is close to 0$. This is especially true in the case of your hypothetical homeless person for whom any employment represents a significant percentage marginal increase in income (hard not to beat 0). Given the power asymmetry between "people offering low skill jobs" and "people forced into taking low skill jobs" minimum wage is morally superior than forced feudalism. Now, the US (and most governments) miss out on the other side of the in that, we want to force people out of low skill effectively worthless jobs, and into higher skill positions that drive the economy. That means reeducation programs, community involvement, and a social safety net which all costs tax money.

rsync 9y ago
"The crux of the issue is at the end of the day, the true "market value" of most 0 or near 0 skill jobs is close to 0$. This is especially true in the case of your hypothetical homeless person for whom any employment represents a significant percentage marginal increase in income (hard not to beat 0)." I don't think that's true at all ... as a Californian, I am surrounded by zero skill tasks related to agriculture that pay well more than zero. I pay workers in my vineyards and orchards for zero-skill tasks like weeding, mowing, digging, etc. over minimum wage. Granted, this is in a coastal area (Marin County) but even in the central valley the value of zero-skill labor is much more than zero. In fact, I will bet that anywhere in California a worker that can show up on time and work hard for a full shift will consistently be paid over minimum wage for this zero-skill labor (absent employer trickery). The real problem, in my opinion, is that there is a great social migration taking place towards high-priced cities with low housing stock and lots of wealth driving up prices of all goods and services in these areas. So it's not that zero-skill work has zero value, but rather: zero skill work cannot meet basic living standards in an expensive city - and these days, all of the cities are (relatively) expensive. We are talking about Seattle, after all ...

rsync 9y ago

"The crux of the issue is at the end of the day, the true "market value" of most 0 or near 0 skill jobs is close to 0$. This is especially true in the case of your hypothetical homeless person for whom any employment represents a significant percentage marginal increase in income (hard not to beat 0)." I don't think that's true at all ... as a Californian, I am surrounded by zero skill tasks related to agriculture that pay well more than zero. I pay workers in my vineyards and orchards for zero-skill tasks like weeding, mowing, digging, etc. over minimum wage. Granted, this is in a coastal area (Marin County) but even in the central valley the value of zero-skill labor is much more than zero. In fact, I will bet that anywhere in California a worker that can show up on time and work hard for a full shift will consistently be paid over minimum wage for this zero-skill labor (absent employer trickery). The real problem, in my opinion, is that there is a great social migration taking place towards high-priced cities with low housing stock and lots of wealth driving up prices of all goods and services in these areas. So it's not that zero-skill work has zero value, but rather: zero skill work cannot meet basic living standards in an expensive city - and these days, all of the cities are (relatively) expensive. We are talking about Seattle, after all ...