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> We were never meant to support entire families on minimum wage jobs. False. Americans used to raise large families on minimum wage.

Alupis 12y ago
> False. Americans used to raise large families on minimum wage. That's false. When minimum wage was introduced in 1938, it was for 25 cents per hour ($4.16 per hour adjusted to 2015), and was intended for low-skilled temporary jobs (they also had 44 hour work-weeks). Minimum wage only applied to 1/5th of the entire workforce in 1938. What does it apply to today? Minimum wage jobs are supposed to be targeted at young unskilled/uneducated individuals, often times not supporting themselves nor a family (living at home while attending university or high school). The problem is we now have a massive portion of the population attempting to live off minimum wage jobs instead of graduating into higher paid - higher skilled jobs. We need to fix that. Raising minimum wage every few years when it perpetually becomes "not enough to feed a family on" is a near-sighted solution. How about we put money back into schools and high-skilled job training programs? That's the long-term solution.
- Domenic_S 12y ago
  Spot on. I'd add that many minimum-wage jobs are good for retirees who often(?) don't need the money to eat and will drop their checks right back into the economy on hobbies and other entertainment.
- cgearhart 12y ago
  > Minimum wage jobs are supposed to be targeted at young unskilled/uneducated individuals... Young, unskilled & uneducated individuals are disproportionately represented in minimum wage jobs because (by definition) they lack qualifications for other jobs. That doesn't mean that these jobs are targeted at that group. > The problem is we now have a massive portion of the population attempting to live off minimum wage jobs... There are only approximately 3.3 million hourly workers earning minimum wage in the US -- which works out to about 2% of the workforce. How much smaller should it be as a percentage of the workforce? > ...instead of graduating into higher paid - higher skilled jobs. Working sufficiently hard at a minimum wage job is not a path towards advancement. A minimum wage job is not enough to pay for college [2], and combined with aggressive part-timing isn't enough to live on [3]. How ought these low-skilled workers with two jobs and inadequate income to afford college go about "graduating into higher paid...jobs"? > Raising minimum wage every few years when it perpetually becomes "not enough to feed a family on" is a near-sighted solution. I agree. We should index it to inflation with automatic corrections applied every decade or so. Then we won't have to keep arguing about it. [1] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-minimum-wage/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-mi... [2] http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2011/11/a_minimum_wage_job_no_longer_c.html http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2011/11/a_min... [3] http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/07/mcdonalds-cant-figure-out-how-its-workers-survive-on-minimum-wage/277845/ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/07/mcdonald...
Domenic_S 12y ago
Thanks Dwight Schrute, that's quite an assertion without anything to back it up. Historically, and worldwide, the inception of a minimum wage was enough "for a man, his wife and two children to live in frugal comfort" (Australia). In the US, the biggest win wasn't the wage at all, but the abolition of child labor in textile plants. In this snippet from [0]: In the meantime, various industries developed more complete codes. The Cotton Textile Code was the first of these and one of the most important. It provided for a 40-hour workweek, set a minimum weekly wage of $13 in the North and $12 in the South, and abolished child labor. [Roosevelt] said this code made him "happier than any other one thing...since I have come to Washington, for the code abolished child labor in the textile industry." He added: "After years of fruitless effort and discussion, this ancient atrocity went out in a day." Minimum wages for women were also a part of this. [0]: http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/flsa1938.htm http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/flsa1938.htm

Alupis 12y ago

> False. Americans used to raise large families on minimum wage. That's false. When minimum wage was introduced in 1938, it was for 25 cents per hour ($4.16 per hour adjusted to 2015), and was intended for low-skilled temporary jobs (they also had 44 hour work-weeks). Minimum wage only applied to 1/5th of the entire workforce in 1938. What does it apply to today? Minimum wage jobs are supposed to be targeted at young unskilled/uneducated individuals, often times not supporting themselves nor a family (living at home while attending university or high school). The problem is we now have a massive portion of the population attempting to live off minimum wage jobs instead of graduating into higher paid - higher skilled jobs. We need to fix that. Raising minimum wage every few years when it perpetually becomes "not enough to feed a family on" is a near-sighted solution. How about we put money back into schools and high-skilled job training programs? That's the long-term solution.

Domenic_S 12y ago
Spot on. I'd add that many minimum-wage jobs are good for retirees who often(?) don't need the money to eat and will drop their checks right back into the economy on hobbies and other entertainment.
cgearhart 12y ago
> Minimum wage jobs are supposed to be targeted at young unskilled/uneducated individuals... Young, unskilled & uneducated individuals are disproportionately represented in minimum wage jobs because (by definition) they lack qualifications for other jobs. That doesn't mean that these jobs are targeted at that group. > The problem is we now have a massive portion of the population attempting to live off minimum wage jobs... There are only approximately 3.3 million hourly workers earning minimum wage in the US -- which works out to about 2% of the workforce. How much smaller should it be as a percentage of the workforce? > ...instead of graduating into higher paid - higher skilled jobs. Working sufficiently hard at a minimum wage job is not a path towards advancement. A minimum wage job is not enough to pay for college [2], and combined with aggressive part-timing isn't enough to live on [3]. How ought these low-skilled workers with two jobs and inadequate income to afford college go about "graduating into higher paid...jobs"? > Raising minimum wage every few years when it perpetually becomes "not enough to feed a family on" is a near-sighted solution. I agree. We should index it to inflation with automatic corrections applied every decade or so. Then we won't have to keep arguing about it. [1] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-minimum-wage/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-mi... [2] http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2011/11/a_minimum_wage_job_no_longer_c.html http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2011/11/a_min... [3] http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/07/mcdonalds-cant-figure-out-how-its-workers-survive-on-minimum-wage/277845/ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/07/mcdonald...

Domenic_S 12y ago

Thanks Dwight Schrute, that's quite an assertion without anything to back it up. Historically, and worldwide, the inception of a minimum wage was enough "for a man, his wife and two children to live in frugal comfort" (Australia). In the US, the biggest win wasn't the wage at all, but the abolition of child labor in textile plants. In this snippet from [0]: In the meantime, various industries developed more complete codes. The Cotton Textile Code was the first of these and one of the most important. It provided for a 40-hour workweek, set a minimum weekly wage of $13 in the North and $12 in the South, and abolished child labor. [Roosevelt] said this code made him "happier than any other one thing...since I have come to Washington, for the code abolished child labor in the textile industry." He added: "After years of fruitless effort and discussion, this ancient atrocity went out in a day." Minimum wages for women were also a part of this. [0]: http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/flsa1938.htm http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/flsa1938.htm