5 ms·

Federal minimum wage, times 2000 hours (if you can get it,) is not enough to sustain a living, much less a family. If we want people to work for a living, we'd

by jwatte 9y ago

Federal minimum wage, times 2000 hours (if you can get it,) is not enough to sustain a living, much less a family. If we want people to work for a living, we'd support significant increases there.

sokoloff 9y ago
Is 40 hours a week some kind of natural upper limit? People long ago worked more hours than that for sustenance. I talk to a lot of people hustling and making a living working a trade or a service job and then doing something else on the side. I agree that $15K per year is a meager existence. What I'm not as sure about is whether one earner working only 2000 hours at minimum wage is something we need to make sustainable for a family of four. (Side note: I'm in favor of UBI around $500-800/adult/month and half that for teens as supplemental income for most.)
- ThinkingGuy 9y ago
  The problem is that minimum- to low-wage jobs tend to be the ones with inflexible, unpredictable schedules, making it difficult to juggle more than one job at a time. On top of that, they're also the ones where employers will do anything to limit one's work hours to avoid having to pay them overtime. In theory anyone should be to earn more money just by putting in more hours, but in practice this is really only an option for those in higher-income professions (doctors, lawyers, the self-employed, etc.)
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
nradov 9y ago
Minimum wage increases make it uneconomic for employers to hire workers whose labor produces little value — mainly youths and people without advanced education. So they get stuck in the permanently unemployed underclass, always reliant on welfare or working under the table for cash. A better solution would be to eliminate the minimum wage entirely and make up the difference through income redistribution with something like a negative income tax for the lower brackets.
- wolco 9y ago
  Having groups of people working for 1 dollar an hour but refunding them at tax time is not the answer
- SturgeonsLaw 9y ago
  Higher wages also means more disposable income for workers which flows quite heavily to industries like retail and hospitality, which offer a high proportion of entry level jobs
  - nradov 9y ago
    Disposable income is disposable income regardless of whether it comes from wages or income redistribution. If minimum wages are artificially fixed higher than the value of labor then those workers won't get any wages at all.

by jwatte 9y ago

Federal minimum wage, times 2000 hours (if you can get it,) is not enough to sustain a living, much less a family. If we want people to work for a living, we'd support significant increases there.

sokoloff 9y ago

Is 40 hours a week some kind of natural upper limit? People long ago worked more hours than that for sustenance. I talk to a lot of people hustling and making a living working a trade or a service job and then doing something else on the side. I agree that $15K per year is a meager existence. What I'm not as sure about is whether one earner working only 2000 hours at minimum wage is something we need to make sustainable for a family of four. (Side note: I'm in favor of UBI around $500-800/adult/month and half that for teens as supplemental income for most.)

ThinkingGuy 9y ago
The problem is that minimum- to low-wage jobs tend to be the ones with inflexible, unpredictable schedules, making it difficult to juggle more than one job at a time. On top of that, they're also the ones where employers will do anything to limit one's work hours to avoid having to pay them overtime. In theory anyone should be to earn more money just by putting in more hours, but in practice this is really only an option for those in higher-income professions (doctors, lawyers, the self-employed, etc.)
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

nradov 9y ago

Minimum wage increases make it uneconomic for employers to hire workers whose labor produces little value — mainly youths and people without advanced education. So they get stuck in the permanently unemployed underclass, always reliant on welfare or working under the table for cash. A better solution would be to eliminate the minimum wage entirely and make up the difference through income redistribution with something like a negative income tax for the lower brackets.

wolco 9y ago
Having groups of people working for 1 dollar an hour but refunding them at tax time is not the answer
SturgeonsLaw 9y ago
Higher wages also means more disposable income for workers which flows quite heavily to industries like retail and hospitality, which offer a high proportion of entry level jobs
- nradov 9y ago
  Disposable income is disposable income regardless of whether it comes from wages or income redistribution. If minimum wages are artificially fixed higher than the value of labor then those workers won't get any wages at all.