Evidence for God from Science

I came across this article earlier.A $10.10 Minimum Wage Could Lift About 5 Million Out Of Poverty

From the article:
Raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour could help lift nearly 5 million people out of poverty, a new study finds.

What effect will raising the minimum wage almost $3/hr have?
What negatives will happen if the federal minimum wage is increased?


Please keep this on topic, and civil.

Off the bat, it just seems logical that raising minimum wage by around 30% would mean many companies would see their labor costs go up by around 30% IF they kept the same number of workers. With tight profit margins, that seems like layoffs would be a direct result. Not to mention that raising the minimum wage by such a large percentage would most likely raise the wages of others too. For example, if company x pays $7.25/hr for entry level unskilled labor, and an employee who has been with that company for, say 2 years, makes $10 an hour, that same person isn't going to work for the same or less than a new employee.

Employees would be forced to either layoff employees, increase prices, or both. That would start a chain reaction of rising prices, which would effectively nullify the wage increase. People would make more money, but costs of everything would also rise.

America has a choice....

Facts....40% of all U.S workers earn $20,000 or less.
These low wages....qualify many families for foodstamps,Wic, housing assistance, medical assistance, and other federal and state
assistance programs.

This is less than a full-time minimum wage worker made in 1964....when there was one income....and the tax rates were higher.

Raise the minimum wage....or expand the government welfare programs....or

not...and continue to drift towards a third world scenario...with lot's of govt. debt; fewer jobs that can actually suppport a family...without
government's assistance....and ever-growing gap between have-a-ton millionaires....and the food insecure....with a 5% "middle".

It's not like we don't have history that worked very well....U.S. 1950 -1980....before the attack on labor, reasonable housing and the middle class
began...in 1981....until now...

What are the major costs of running a small business, say a grocery store?
1. Mortgage or lease.
2. Inventory.
3. Labor and benefits.
4. Taxes and fees, not counting sales tax.
5. Supplies, clerical, janitorial, etc.
So far, how many of these are fixed and which are negotiable? Labor and employee benefits are the only place where most companies can save much money. So, if the price of labor jumps by 30%, then either the number of employees or the amount of benefits will have to be reduced.

The main reason our pay goes nowhere today is taxes. Not just income taxes, but taxes on everything you buy, sell or rent. If you smoke, the state you live in probably takes much more of your money than the companies who grew the tobacco or made the cigarettes. Without taxes, gas would be about 1/2 the current price or less.

jcgood wrote:America has a choice....

I'm not sure that legislating a wage increase is the way to go. But the doomsayers who claim that raising wages is bad are proven wrong by no less a businessman than Henry Ford. Ford increased the daily wage of his employees to $5 per day at a time when laborers were making half that amount. His reasoning was that his employees should be able to afford the product he was making. Ford prospered, his laborers prospered and America prospered.

As for American tax rates: ...come to Canada if you want to see what the word TAX means.

FL

RickD wrote:What effect will raising the minimum wage almost $3/hr have?
What negatives will happen if the federal minimum wage is increased?

You'll soon find out as electors in several states have approved minimum wage increases.

FL

We do love thread resurrections . . . haha

I wish we'd just do away with minimum wages entirely. It wouldn't be unprecedented (see Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland).

For me, the MW debate is similar to the health care debate. I acknowledge that there is a small percentage of the population who, through no fault of their own, is suffering severe economic hardship and really is trying to earn a living on MW, just like a small percentage really wanted insurance and couldn't get it. But just like it was the wrong move to blow up the entire HC system to get a few people insurance, it's just as ridiculous to blow up the entire wage system to help a few people who are in a fairly unique situation. Far better to identify those few people who, through no fault of their own, are forced to live on MW and ask how to best help them rather than trying to solve the problem with a huge blanket policy like this.

*shrug*

Jac3510 wrote:Far better to identify those few people who, through no fault of their own, are forced to live on MW and ask how to best help them rather than trying to solve the problem with a huge blanket policy like this.

I heard that the minimum wage in Silicon Valley has been raised to $15/hour. It sounds good. Now, I'm sure someone could live comfortably on that wage in Wichita, but he would still be scraping to make ends meet in Los Angeles. Hourly wages are only part of the story.

FL