4 ms·

This is very good news for teenagers and the low skilled.

by baggy_trough 7y ago

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jumbopapa 7y ago
I wish more people understood this.
- moate 7y ago
  Understood what? Their point is a bad faith argument and a misunderstanding of who makes low wages.
- dangus 7y ago
  It's more nuanced than this, in my view. It's not just "high minimum wage bad for teenagers!" There are a lot of reasons for decreased teenage employment: - Older employees who should be retired hanging on to jobs longer because they can't afford retirement - Students finding part time work an inferior return on investment compared to college preparation and other resume-building activities like volunteer work - College costing so much that high school summer jobs can't possibly pay for a significant fraction of it, essentially making it a less time efficient option than just using future wages to pay for it (loans) - Lengthened academic years with shorter summers https://www.apnews.com/66a5d6cade1743fb897aad56e300c99c https://www.apnews.com/66a5d6cade1743fb897aad56e300c99c I do think that it might make sense to have a lower teenage minimum wage than the normal adult minimum wage. I personally don't assume that a low minimum wage is good for low-skill employees, that just doesn't add up to me. The inability to pay a living wage equates to all of us not paying the real cost of a good or service.
glenda 7y ago
Everyone deserves a living wage
- jerf 7y ago
  When I was in high school and part-time shelving books at the local town library, no I didn't. Not for that work. Pocket money for a teenager was about the right amount of pay. Not everyone is a single mother trying to make ends meet for her two children. We should not make economic policy as if they are. "So why don't we take care of them?" Single mothers trying to make ends meet have access to a wide array of social programs already. We are already not abandoning them to the tender mercies of minimum wage and nothing else.
  - glenda 7y ago
    Sure, but the majority of people with jobs need them to survive. I'm happy that wasn't an issue for you in high school though.
  - peterwwillis 7y ago
    So, out of the 350 million people in this country, we should set national economic policy based on 1 of them (you as a teenager)
    - hodr 7y ago
      Yes. Let's go with this logic. Do you know what percentage of people in this country make minimum wage (or less)? According to the BLS it's 2.3% of wage earners, which are 58% of workers, which are 78% of the population of adults. So, 1.04% of the adult population of the US makes minimum wage. In your logic, why should we set national economic policy based on 1%?
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - peterwwillis 7y ago
        Can you restate this please? It doesn't make sense; how are 2.3% of wage earners actually 58% of workers actually 78% of the adult population actually 1% of adult population? From [1]: 1.8 million workers made the federal minimum wage or less. But that does not say how many people made less than $15 an hour, which is considered a living wage. According to the NELP in 2016, 42% of US workers make less than $15 per hour. Nearly half of US workers. [2] So raising the minimum wage would support nearly half the US workforce to be able to, you know, live. I think setting economic policy with this in mind makes more sense than only considering what teenagers need. [1] https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm [2] https://raisetheminimumwage.com/fight-for-15/ https://raisetheminimumwage.com/fight-for-15/

This is very good news for teenagers and the low skilled.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

jumbopapa 7y ago

I wish more people understood this.

moate 7y ago
Understood what? Their point is a bad faith argument and a misunderstanding of who makes low wages.
dangus 7y ago
It's more nuanced than this, in my view. It's not just "high minimum wage bad for teenagers!" There are a lot of reasons for decreased teenage employment: - Older employees who should be retired hanging on to jobs longer because they can't afford retirement - Students finding part time work an inferior return on investment compared to college preparation and other resume-building activities like volunteer work - College costing so much that high school summer jobs can't possibly pay for a significant fraction of it, essentially making it a less time efficient option than just using future wages to pay for it (loans) - Lengthened academic years with shorter summers https://www.apnews.com/66a5d6cade1743fb897aad56e300c99c https://www.apnews.com/66a5d6cade1743fb897aad56e300c99c I do think that it might make sense to have a lower teenage minimum wage than the normal adult minimum wage. I personally don't assume that a low minimum wage is good for low-skill employees, that just doesn't add up to me. The inability to pay a living wage equates to all of us not paying the real cost of a good or service.

glenda 7y ago

Everyone deserves a living wage

jerf 7y ago
When I was in high school and part-time shelving books at the local town library, no I didn't. Not for that work. Pocket money for a teenager was about the right amount of pay. Not everyone is a single mother trying to make ends meet for her two children. We should not make economic policy as if they are. "So why don't we take care of them?" Single mothers trying to make ends meet have access to a wide array of social programs already. We are already not abandoning them to the tender mercies of minimum wage and nothing else.
- glenda 7y ago
  Sure, but the majority of people with jobs need them to survive. I'm happy that wasn't an issue for you in high school though.
- peterwwillis 7y ago
  So, out of the 350 million people in this country, we should set national economic policy based on 1 of them (you as a teenager)
  - hodr 7y ago
    Yes. Let's go with this logic. Do you know what percentage of people in this country make minimum wage (or less)? According to the BLS it's 2.3% of wage earners, which are 58% of workers, which are 78% of the population of adults. So, 1.04% of the adult population of the US makes minimum wage. In your logic, why should we set national economic policy based on 1%?
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - peterwwillis 7y ago
      Can you restate this please? It doesn't make sense; how are 2.3% of wage earners actually 58% of workers actually 78% of the adult population actually 1% of adult population? From [1]: 1.8 million workers made the federal minimum wage or less. But that does not say how many people made less than $15 an hour, which is considered a living wage. According to the NELP in 2016, 42% of US workers make less than $15 per hour. Nearly half of US workers. [2] So raising the minimum wage would support nearly half the US workforce to be able to, you know, live. I think setting economic policy with this in mind makes more sense than only considering what teenagers need. [1] https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm [2] https://raisetheminimumwage.com/fight-for-15/ https://raisetheminimumwage.com/fight-for-15/