3 ms·
1. I don't think there's a good argument for tying minimum wage to median productivity gains across the entire economy. Is an accountant today 5x more productiv
by Rebelgecko 5y ago
1. I don't think there's a good argument for tying minimum wage to median productivity gains across the entire economy. Is an accountant today 5x more productive than an accountant in the 1960s? Perhaps. But is a dishwasher or a frycook 5x more productive? Probably not. I also think the biggest problem impacting lower income folks is housing costs and IMO minimum wage is not the best tool for fixing that issue.
2. 1968 as a start year is super mega cherrypicked. A lot of people say "if minimum wage had kept with with CPI inflation since 1968, it'd be $12/hour now!" They usually neglect to mention that if minimum wage had kept up with CPI inflation since 1948, it'd only be $4/hour. The only reason to use 1948 vs 1968 is to massage the data to match your preexisting hypothesis.