It's called a, "MINIMUM WAGE" for a reason! If you could do more for your employer, you'd get paid more!! Raising it cause only the employer to pay the employees more. If they don't do that, they can go to jail. Simply stated, the government forces the employer to pay the employees more. There's no repercussion to the Federalis, they just enjoy the thought that they will get re-elected by those who NEED the government to have their wages increased. What does the employer do? Raise the price of goods and services to cover the cost increases to balance the books. So who suffers by an increase in the minimum wage? EVERYBODY!!!!! Oh, your taxes will go up as the taxpayer-funded federal, state, and municipal union workers will go on strike to get their share of the increase. The politicians will pass it on to the citizens because it isn't THEIR money! If you are so hurt by the workers making minimum wage, the give everyone at Walmart, McDonalds, Cosco, etc, you see $20 out of your own pocket! It'll make you feel good, no? "Socialism is a great form of government until you run out of other peoples' money!" -Margret Thatcher
One of the biggest arguments I've heard against the minimum wage is that it harms small businesses. Which is true however that doesn't mean that we should have no minimum wage. It should be based on how old and in combination with how experienced you are. If you're a small business and you wanna pay $6 an hour, then put up with high school kids and 18 year olds fresh out of school with no experience. Maybe inexperienced people should work in small businesses and more experienced people work in big businesses, ones who can afford $15. Big businesses will use self serve checkouts anyway. Smaller businesses can't afford machines nor $15. Maybe for school kids $6, late teens $8, slightly experienced 20 y/o $10, and more experienced 20 and above y/o $15. Every economy needs some kind of minimum wage or else the dollar drops value. Less people spend and workers get taken advantage of cuz they have no other option but to accept $6 even with 5 years experience.
Another problem with raising the minimum wage is the price for things go up and people are now in different tax brackets. So a wage goes up. You make more money. The prices of things go up. And you think your still paying the same amount. But really now you may be in a new tax bracket where you are getting taxed more. So now prices are going up but your still making the same amount because your income is getting taxed more. Milton Friedman talks about this in his inflation video
@llriv that is correct. Sowell writes about this in his book "a conflict of visions" and "the vision of the anointed". I congratulate you ! you have done your homework!
In response to #7, we often see hours cut instead of jobs. Thus, in cases we see unemployment largely unaffected, like in Seattle, we instead find hours deeply slashed.
Hours are cut/split in order to avoid having 'excess' full-time employees, generating massive savings for the employers, with the primary externality being less value per unit of work for the employee. These otherwise-full-time workers lose out on all the standard benefits, can end up being disqualified for other opportunities based on this, or need to get a second job... which then needs to be juggled with the first and between commuting, vital sleep, getting anything at all done outside of work, etc... it ends up adding up to ~2.5 jobs, for less _total value_ than one full-time.
Employers already do this without minimum wage increases. That's the dishonesty of this argument. The toll of having to provide benefits (esp health insurance) has already driven virtually all unskilled jobs towards part-time or independent contractor status without mentioning anything about minimum wage. That's why we should convert to a nationalized health system like France or the UK, because businesses should not be shouldering the cost burden of providing that coverage.
you prolly dont care but does anyone know a trick to get back into an Instagram account? I somehow forgot the password. I love any tips you can give me!
@Kelvin Spencer Thanks for your reply. I found the site through google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Takes a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
this is the best and most balanced video about minimum wage I've ever seen. Usually if you are against raising it people will say that you don't care about the poor, but I think that the worst effect is that it won't help those that it intends to help.
Winter Land if you have to ask the government to pass à law to be paid à certain amount of money it probably because you cannot expect to have that amount base on market value. What would you say if shirt makers ask the government to pass à law that say that nobody can sale à shirt under 50 dollars ?
And what about longer term studies to show the knock-on effects of having a working class that is able to have a positive savings rate instead of being paycheck to paycheck all the time? If people weren't spending 70%+ of their income on rent, and were actually able to make investments in training e.g. nursing licenses, college degrees, etc - what do you think the increase in productivity, earning power, and CONSUMPTIVE DEMAND would be? There's so many factors that go into economics that isolating the effect of one policy change is nearly impossible, especially as time goes on. If you were correct, Australia, which has its minimum wage increase every year, would be experiencing constantly increasing unemployment among youth and minimum wage workers. If you look at the actual unemployment statistics, that would be completely wrong.
James Madison From a purely monetary Perspective that seems nice and all, but what you’re missing is higher unemployment, Lower work hours, lower corporate profits, and poor people getting hurt the most. Those welfare checks won’t help either, the problem with those are the inefficiencies that come with those unemployment benefits. A negative income tax would be a much much better solution for that problem as it doesn’t have all the bad effects of minimum wage.
You forgot to discuss COMPRESSION and inflation. Raising the cost on employers raises all prices. Raising the cost of workers accelerates automation by making it more attractive financially.
News to you: employers are already automating things at the current minimum wage level. Are you saying that people should accept progressively lower wages (i.e. 7/hr today, and 6/hr next year) for fear of their job being taken by a robot? That's outlandish.
@@gregorythompson5334 Except when a robot takes a job, that's one less job for people. Sure you can get a skill but suddenly there's more skilled competition because there are no unskilled jobs left. Over the next twenty years, AI will start taking the skilled jobs away. What do we do then? There are no safe jobs, just the haves and the have nots.....
Your very first fact is misleading and incorrect. While 4.3% of Americans make federal minimum wage, a lot more still make state minimum wage. Several states have increased their own minimum wage because federal is too low, but they are still making minimum wage. So the 4.3% is a completely false number. It's misleading. So, right out of the gate, you fail. Your second point is also false and misleading. A lot of minimum wage earners are working part time because most minimum wage jobs only hire part time- saves the company more money- yeah, the very company that's already paying their employees as little as possible is also barely giving those employees any hours- forcing them to either get multiple jobs or get on welfare- or both. Man, you're not looking too good here, dude. Your third point should tell you something- if most states have a higher minimum wage, doesn't that tell you that minimum wage should be increased because the federal is too low? Your fourth point is dead on. Federal minimum wage is way too low! Your very last point is something I don't agree with. If I'm paying myself and my corporate execs and corporate administrative workers very high salaries and my real workers minimum wage and the minimum wage is increased, it will only cost jobs if I want to keep everyone at corporate level way above what the workers are making. Let me try to explain it another way. Everyone knows that there's a huge pay gap. A General Manager at a fast food joint makes about $55,000 a year while everyone else at that restaurant makes at or very near minimum wage. Then district manager makes even more- and so on and so forth until you reach the top where salaries are 7 digits. If the general manager doesn't come into work, the restaurant can still function. If all of the minimum wage earners (which includes assistant and shift managers since they only make slightly above minimum wage) stay home, then the restaurant cannot open. That's right- if your "unskilled" workers walk out, your company shuts down. Your $55,000 a year general manager can't run things by his or her self. If this happened on a national scale- if this happened all across America at your chain, the company would lose millions in one day. None of those highly paid GMs or District managers or corporate stooges or corporate execs who make WAY more than the "unskilled" workers would be able to run the stores and conduct business. The "unskilled" workers who "don't learn any skills" are the only thing keeping the business afloat. If everyone General Manager and above stayed home for an entire week, the business would still be running when they got back. That's why I don't buy this "unskilled" argument. They're earning the money- they're running the show. They're keeping the business afloat. They're conducting business in the company's name. And they're being called "unskilled" and paid as little as possible. Well, if McDonald's is nothing but a collection of unskilled inconsequential workers who don't matter, then why is the business worth so much? Why are their McDonald's stores all the way across the globe crushing the competition? Because those workers ARE skilled! The workers work very hard and are very disciplined. They are great at customer service and they are very good at working in a fast paced environment. Anyone who thinks that McDonald's employees are unskilled has never worked at McDonald's - or any fast food job. These people are not unskilled. They are very skilled! Bottom line is that our pay system is reversed due to corporate greed. The minimum wage earners are the only ones that matter.
Do you have a video on universal basic income? Apparently Milton Friedman even suggested it and it is becoming more of a hot debate. It would be good to hear an unbiased video on the topic with the studies that are coming out about it.
Misconception #7 is not a misconception. Increasing the minimum wage increases unemployment. Try passing a $40 per hour minimum wage and see how many people would be out of work. The only situation where a minimum wage doesn't cause unemployment is if the minimum wage is equal to the prevailing wage rate for low-skilled workers. But in that case, the minimum wage doesn't serve any purpose other than to help politicians score points with voters.
Also the workers fortunate enough not to get laid off will face shortages of the supply of goods that have increased costs with the rising wage. The min wage tries to take a hammer to a problem that isn't a nail.
+ACDCLeadership the law of the minimum wage is the most racist law that exists. It generates unemployment especially among black people, young and poor.
+ACDCLeadership I heard all the arguments, to me there is not one single good reason to even have a min. wage. Nothing positive comes from it. If there is any effect it is all negative.
+whyamimrpink78 There are a bunch of economists that agree with that, but I would think that there must be something good about it. It wouldn't even exist if it was 100% bad. Right?
Well, the minimum wage law is TOTALLY political. If you want to raise the minimum wage, people will support you and elect you, even to President in Joe Biden’s case. But I am not for the minimum wage, it targets low-skill workers the most because companies aren’t going to just pay the minimum wage. They’re going to cut back on what they deem necessary jobs. I feel that the minimum wage law is seen as beneficial to the people that earn minimum wage, like your neighborhood mom-and-pop shop; but that could not be further from the truth. Your neighborhood mom-and-pop shop is not ‘rolling in money’ like the big corporations. They are going to fire people because they just can not afford to pay the minimum wage. Also, due to the minimum wage being higher in states like California, homeless people are going to flock there because they assume that people are bathing with money. It’s also better for migrants to go to California and send money back home to their families in Mexico. I say “ABOLISH the minimum wage”, it restricts a free market economy.
Mr. Clifford! You might not remember me, but I had your class years ago! I made you the music CD you always played that had We Like to Party, Sandstorm, and The Final Countdown on it. You were hands down one of the best teachers I've ever had in my entire life, I'm still applying the economic theories you taught me almost a decade ago. In particular, there was one day you showed everyone in my class why we should get a credit card and start paying credit bills as early as possible, I followed that advice and only recently am I starting to see the incalculable ways my credit score has made my life easier. I had no idea you made TH-cam videos! I wish I knew if you were doing this back when I was in your class, I would have come in after school and helped out. It's great to see you applying your teaching abilities in such a creative way to a worldwide audience, the world deserves to hear your voice. Thank you again for everything Mr. Clifford!
@James Madison I disagree. The $15 minimum wage does not help a person whose productivity is worth less than $15. If you want to help unskilled workers you are barking up the wrong tree. You can help them by freeing up the economy and limiting government to its basic essential function (protecting individual rights). So much money is being drained from the productive private sector to feed the unproductive public sector. End that bleeding and you will see the cost of living plummet while the standard of living rises. Problem solved--no magic wand solution necessary.
@James Madison but they are though, from an economical standpoint. If one employee gets fired its very ez to hire another unskilled laborer. They as a whole mean a lot of but individually are not that valuable. Obviously you should know I'm not refereing to their humanity but just from a economical view.
Instead of raising minimum wage do things that give people the opportunity to be better educated or trained for the job; therefore people who don't take the opportunity absolutely deserve to be paid 7 dollars an hour. By opportunity I mean lowering tuition or subsidizing education somehow so that people don't have to get into extreme debt kinda thing.
It drives me mad watching Americans debate minimum wage, seemingly not only oblivious to the fact other countries don't even need the minimum wage, and still have 2-3 *_times_* the effective minimum wage of the US, but also oblivious to the fact that you had the solution one time yourself. Why don't you google "unions the red scare" and treat yourself to a little history lesson? That's right, Unions, in Norway for instance, we don't have a minimum wage, and we have no problem. Example: I now work part time along my studies, at a pizza delivery shop. I earn about 18$ an hours. In Norway this is considered pretty damn close to social dumping, most Norwegians would never work for such a low salary, not even unskilled workers. You want your mind blown even more? The industry loves this model about as much as the workers. Here is how it works(extremely simplified): Each year representatives for the workers and representatives for the industry sits down at the table and engage in "salary negotiations". And they are basically free to form whatever agreement they like. This usually goes very smoothly, but a few occasionally it may end in strike, short term. This is great for many reasons: - It makes your own salary an active prosess to be fought for each year. This makes people interested and engaged in something very important about their own lives. - No one can hide behind some arbitrary law or regulation, you have to face people in negotiations, people who have the power to refuse your proposal if they don't like it. It's very hard to defend unreasonable proposals in this model. - It's gives the local industries and their workers flexibility. Maybe the industry is going through some tough shit, and in order to survive costs must come down. Well, in this model it let's the people who understands this bettern than anyone, decide, workers involved! Then they might voluntarily agree to all take a salary cut that year, in order to lower the burden on the company. Or the business is doing fine, but salaries are not really what workers want, maybe they want something else changed, well then they are free to negotiate that. All in all, this makes it a better system for both parts. That being said though, remember that the condition for this to work is that you have very strong unions. In America today you must have the minimum wage, because you have nothing else, but you could have! So I would suggest that the long term goal should be this active negotiation model, with both sides being equally powerful, rather than fighting for a minimum wage that will never be just right for anyone.
There's a theory that when people who work 2 or sometimes 3 jobs are paid more livable wages they are able to reduce their employment to the more maintainable amount of 1 job. That being said, I think it is interesting that people claim that by default, higher minimum wage creates job losses. These job "losses" could very well be the people I mentioned earlier moving to a more livable employed life. I don't think it is a good practice for an economy to be supported by people stretched beyond their means. I'm not trying to say that the minimum wage should go up forever, but I am saying that the people who talk about these "job losses" could be committing a lie of omission. In addition to that, there is evidence that a reasonable increase in the minimum wage actually increases employment because it creates more economic activity because people have more money to spend.
+Eric Hensel I'm glad you brought that up b/c I was going to! Also why is no one bringing up the fact the CEO salaries have gone up astronomically in relation to their lowest paid workers and many of those employers take tax payer money in the form of incentives from local economies to open up shop? Something I might add that local mom and pop shops aren't privy too.
+marla79 What you mention is something that I also agree needs addressing. I think the problem is that we've allowed big business interests to setup our economy solely around their success, while leaving out the success of their very own employees. The point is, if you're going to setup a business that gains profit through the hard work of its employees you really need to provide these employees with their fair share of the profits.
+marla79 "why is no one bringing up the fact the CEO salaries have gone up astronomically in relation to their lowest paid workers" People bring that up all of the time. Like all jobs, there is competition. Companies would rather pay for a top CEO than run the risk of ending up with an Ellen Pao.
I just want to say thanks for just giving us the info and facts and not just pushing your opinion onto us. My microeconomics professor really just painted the picture that raising minimum wage would ruin the economy. He was extreme about the whole thing and I felt I had to do more research on the subject.
While it appears to be a good idea to almost everyone. We do not see the whole picture. All the giant corporations that already drag in money from pretty much everyone, will just raise prices. THEY WILL NOT be willing to lower their Profits, I mean look at most of How Greedy most companies are ALREADY. That OR they are ONLY going to take People who Can do the Jobs of 2 or 3 other people and pay them the new 15 dollar minimum.
Assuming inflation, keeping the minimum wage the same or eliminating it will be the same over time. Prior to laws regulating workplace safety, placing restrictions on labor for children and youth, regulating compensation based on a standard number of work hours, and maintaining minimum pay to workers, the economy boomed. This was not to the benefit of laborers who found that they were easily replaceable and that money can buy a solution to many problems. There is almost 80 years of data in the U.S. to show us how little minimum wage correlates to unemployment, crime or much of anything. As a laborer, you must not forget that productivity drives your value, but as a mortal you must not forget that hunger and desparation do not a polite society make.
Traditional economic theory does *not* say that minimum wage causes unemployment. Only first-year textbooks written for children in Republican states say that minimum wage causes unemployment. Traditional economic theory considers things like general equilibrium effects, labour market elasticity, monopsony, transaction costs, segmented markets, capital substitutability, and forward-falling labour supply curves.
You've got the theory, how about the math? Minimum Wage Increases are an insidious and deceptive way of taxing ONLY the poorest and lowest wage earners (Plus their employers- of course). The "windfall" to the Feds is 15.3% of every $$$ of increase. Assume 1.8 Million workers X ($7.75/Hr Increase) X 1,560 (Or 30 Hrs/Wk) = $22Billion +/-. Plus assumed increased IT, decreased Low Income credits, etc. Unfortunately, the skilled, trained, and productive Middle Class workers will automatically experience deferred/lost merit and performance wage increases as a result of the externally imposed wage compression. Increased labor costs without corresponding increased productivity result in the need for market price increases, and the financially stalled middle class is gets the brunt of the double-whammy.
is fed min wage good A. NO Why the govement suks at eveything. believe it or not people didn't work for a dollar a day even before the min wage was dumped on us
I think the point people miss is that we all have choices. If you choose to work for minimum wage then that’s a choice to stay there. Most people start there and then gain skills to advance themselves. Others sit on there hands and wait for others to do things for them.
Do people have a right to a descent standard of living in the US? In Europe they make sure you have a descent wage, descent living, they pay for your job training, so you don't think that can benefit the American people? We're different, we're exceptional, we have to prove to the world you don't need government assistance correct? Do you believe Americans are a exceptional people? No paid time off, no money in free college or job training, the American people are on their own and that creates stress. Is this the country you want?
So work for nothing for all I care. You don't want regulations when it comes to banking or labor is that correct? You don't think the government should be involved in wage regulations is that correct? What makes you think our country is better than Australia that has a minimum wage of 17.21? Why are you better?
@@Rpzinna we want less government involvement. The labor market for some types of industry is lower than others. All this is doing is hiking the cost of commodities, reducing the amount of available jobs and cutting new labor (unexperienced) from entering the workforce. Entry level jobs are not meant to be living wages, that would be a career. Minimum wage is to start like when you are a teen to gain experience. Do you really want to be late 20s still working fast food? Advance yourself and the wages get better.
How about doing an annual Cost Of Living Adjustment on the minimum wage, to keep pace with inflation? That way employers could predict, somewhat, what their wage costs will be this year, next year. Not perfect, but I think it would help a bit.
I get $32 per hour for driving a garbage truck. ok its an automatic truck with a joystick to pick up the bins, I get free health care although I also have private insurance which I claim off tax each year, my employer contributes %12 of my gross income into my super for my retirement, I also have ten allowed sick days per year, which accumulate every year. I also get four weeks annual leave each year which I accumulate and after ten years service. I get 15 weeks annual leave for long service. did I mention I only have to work a four day week? so that's an extra 52 days off per year, and you have the nerve to call America the land off the free? move to Australia! then find out what freedom really is!
+Ben Chesterman ours too, local government run them, most are closing now as a few private run ones are opening, soon we will have a power plant that runs on waste from homes, so no more land fill sites in three years,
that's slave labor pal. your labor is private property. do you agree with that? Your workers are your property right? Well selling labor below the poverty line is against international law. ever read the Nuremberg Trials?
Coercion is forcing people to "consent" when they really don't want to. And because the business has quite a bit of leverage over the unskilled employee, it's very easy to coerce them to accept lower wages than they otherwise would. Aka slavery.
raising the minimum wage does nothing. the only way to put more money in your pocket is to strengthen the buying power of the dollar. the minimum wage is meant to be a starting point and stay consistent with inflation.
There is no point in increasing minimum wage, if education stays so expensive. The minimum wage works in Europe, because education is cheap. The guy who can't find a job, goes to school instead. So, he can find a job which requires an education.
I think a $15 federal minimum wage is like doing surgery with an ax. That is way too high for some areas and possibly too low for others. The Fed gov should set MW at a reasonable level toward the lower end and allow states and regions with higher costs of living to go up from there.
This is why unions should be strengthened instead, they can negotiate the wages to their maximum viable level instead of just making a sweeping amount of change that could disproportionately affect entire states. The minimum wage should be the base viable set, which should be determined by states rather than federal law, while unions fill in the blanks.
Rising minimum wages have made a lot of stores shut down in areas of higher minimum wages. Places that saw $15 ended up losing many local businesses like restaurants. Mcdonalds has decided to eliminate ALL cashier positions and will be going only to kiosk designs.
I like to point ount that min-wage laws are not just restrictions on employers; these laws tell potential workers that they cannot take a job that they otherwise would like to have. Nobody is being forced to take any particular job, minimum wage or other. Put this way, it is obvious to almost anybody that these laws reduce employment (unless the minimum is so low as to be irrelevant).
what about the fact that the minimum wage contributes to inflation? it's like getting no raise at all since all the products you would have purchased go up by roughly the same factor,or more. the reason being that it increases cost of production.
+JathTech Minimum wage will never be able to cover basic amenities because the people who sell those basic amenities are hired at minimum wage. Changing the minimum wage just decreases the purchasing power of everyone who isn't working minimum wage. When the min was 7.50, so was a combo meal. When it went up to 8.75, so did combo meals. This isn't a difficult trend for people to follow. You'd think all of the acedemic jack-offs who need their institutions to keep and coddle their fat asses away from fast food would pick up on it and stop screaming about the minorities that only make up 23% of minimum wage workers being underprivileged.
If you raise the minimum wage then it's going to raise the rents, when you raise the rents you're going to have to build affordable housing, then you'll have to tax people to build the affordable housing, then people move out of the city and you'll have to raise taxes on the people that remain in the city, and this is how you hallow out the economy of a major metropolitan area of the US.
@@ronarprefect7709 What he means is that less than 5% of all workers in the U.S. make minimum wage. What do the rest of us make? More than the minimum, of course. Why? Why aren't 70% of us making minimum wage? Because our labor is worth more than that--just as the labor of most minimum wage workers will be worth more than minimum wage in a short while. Nobody stays at minimum for long. Low wages are nothing to be afraid of. It's just the way it is (everybody has to start somewhere). A centrally-controlled economy is something to be afraid of. That's what results in universal poverty.
@@Shozb0t You can't even be honest in youtube comments? He is an employer. What he meant was that HIS BUSINESS pays well above minimum wage. Further, your statistic doesn't include people who make a few cents more than minimum wage, even though those few cents don't really make much of a difference. If someone makes 7.26 an hour, they are excluded from that statistic. Therefore, the statistic doesn't demonstrate the full truth of the wage situation, and it has been clearly demonstrated that an increase in minimum wage causes all wages to increase.
@@ronarprefect7709 Slow down. I am well aware that he was talking about his business. I, however, am not talking about his business since I know nothing about it. I would be willing to bet a month's pay that nobody in the U.S. makes $7.26 per hour (minimum wage plus 1 cent). But that is beside the point. The point is that at any given moment there will be some people earning minimum wage while the rest of us earn more (generally, the more experience and reliability, the greater the wage). Did today's higher level earners once earn less than they do now? Yes. Did some of the higher level earners once earn minimum wage? Yes. How did they manage to increase their wages, by increasing the minimum? No. They did it by gaining knowledge and skill. Will today's minimum wage earners earn more money in the future? Yes. Will they do it because of a minimum wage increase to $15? Maybe the workers who were already earning $14 would get a raise. Today's minimum wage earners can increase their wages the same way that everybody else did. And they will, unless you stop them. If a worker earning $7.25 today is told that he can no longer be employed because his employer can't afford to pay him $15, what do you think the worker will do then? Will Ronar Perfect give him a job?
@@Shozb0t In response to DaddiO's Burger's comment, you said, "What he means is..." so you were obviously talking about what he said about his business and what he meant by it.
Surprisingly neutral presentation. Good work. Here is my personal views: increasing minimum wage is the best way of kickstarting the economy, reason being that minimum wage earners will spend their money as fast (if not faster) as they earn them. They buy stuff, they travel, and they all yearn for that american dream of owning their own house. Policy should be introduced to make it economically beneficial to buy american made goods as opposed to imported goods. There is a trade war going on with theese trade deals, (tpp, tisa, nafta, etc.) that seeks to remove any toll regulations on imported goods. This means that the country with the cheapest labour and the most corrupt politicians will win the production of goods. The neo-liberal polititians will say the only way to kickstart the economy is to reduce minimum wage so that we get more competetive. This only results in a race to the bottom for the 99% of us and glorious days for the 1%. The economic downturn won't ever end unless wages are increasing. Only two things can do that: Strong regulation (higher minimum wage) or strong labour unions. US has neither.
+randknu1 The problem is that your premise is completely wrong. There never has been an instance in which minimum wage laws have given more money to workers. It has never worked as an anti-poverty program, never increased spending and never stimulated (or "kickstarted" the economy). Instead, all of the presumed gains are more than offset by reduced opportunities, cuts in hours, benefits and training and outright job loss, increasing welfare rolls and undermining the long term earnings prospects of low wage workers. The next flawed premise is that "buy American" is economically beneficial. Instead, the economy grows fastest and more jobs are created when economic efficiency is maximized - that is, when people make purchasing decisions that are most beneficial to them regardless of the manufacturing origin. Doing so frees up resources to be expended on other things to the benefit of everyone. In the real world, so-called "outsourcing" has not only not harmed the US economy but more and higher paying jobs are insourced than are outsourced. The attack on this process is an attempt to strangle the goose that lays the golden eggs. And finally, the "race-to-the-bottom" nonsense has been sop completely disproved that it;s amazing anyone still tries to purvey it. The simple fact is that workers are paid the actual value of the labor services they provide - neither more, nor less and even in the compete absence of a minimum wage, the pay levels of already employed workers would not fall in the least., The only jobs paying lesser amounts would be for tasks otherwise not cost effective employing people who would not otherwise be employed, allowing them to get on the economic ladder and begin moving up. Nor have labor unions been any benefit to workers or the economy overall. Of course, it;s hard to take anyone using the tired (and uneducated) reference to "the 1%" seriously anyway.
Wouldn't a rise (particularly a sharp one) in the minimum wage also cause inflation to increase because of the imbalance of spending power vs resources causing the prices of good to also rise? Eventually, this would lead us more or less back to where we were. Except now, things cost more and firms would likely have be incentivised to provide goods and services with fewer people... Does what I am saying make hypothetical sense?
+danmks2 Yes, some people worry that mimimum wage causes inflation and if it goes up to much that will likely happen, but as one person said in (rather technically) "If minimum wage hikes were entirely offset with price increases, it would not be possible to raise the inflation adjusted minimum wage"
I was not expecting a balanced analysis. Kudos. Minimum wage isn't the only factor. The compliance costs that come with having employees can put a lot of people out of work. Raising minimum wage also raises some of these costs, mainly the SS matching and payroll taxes. Raising minimum wage by $2 costs employers more than $2.
I agree on focusing on education, but I doubt that will get the same pull politically as promising hire wages. If a candidate is looking for numbers then it is easier to promise "free" money rather than long term change.
DON W maybe not that exact amount but all wages could expect an increase in wages based on common sense. Basically if I can work at an easier or lower risk job for close to what I'm earning at my more demanding job, I'd quite possibly quit and go to the easier job.
Denmark's minimum wage is (last I heard) $20.00 per hour. Their economy is doing fine. All the Scandinavian nations, Germany, France, Australia all have minimum wages way over $15.00. But thinktank financed sites want to serve their greedy corporate bosses.
inflation has gone up while the minimum wage has not. if employees make more money then they will consume more. It's a win win for the employer. yes, in the short run their cost will increase but it will even out. we are heading towards automation regardless of minimum wage laws therefore let's compensate people for their hard work and not the shareholders.
minimum wage guarantees hourly rate increase. How much you make per week isn't assured, so employers can just cut hours and then you don't make as much.
+eddie bowens All the teens getting their first job experience or older students helping to pay for classes that are not trying to live on the income or retirees able to find something to do outside the house while living on social security/pensions/investments, etc. (which combined make up the bulk of minimum wage workers), I'm sure very much appreciate that you'd rather they be prevented from working at all because the experience they were gaining, the resources they were collecting and the engagement they were experiencing were not enough, by your arbitrary reckoning, to "live on".
+eddie bowens Actuually only complete imbeciles mention "slaves" in a discussion of the employer/employee relationship. The *fact* - yes, I know that's an alien concept to you - is that workers are paid the actual value of the labor services they provide - neither more nor less - and poverty is almost entirely the result of lack of employment, not low wages (as anyone with at least minimal research skills can find out easily).
I don't understand why the Federal Government should have anything to say about minimum wage at all, given that the costs of living vary so significantly from state-to-state and even city-to-city. I mean, what constitutes a so-called living wage in Detroit is going to be dramatically different than what it is in NYC. Why should the Feds order it to be the same in both places? The whole conversation stinks of political football, rather than actual concern for doing what's actually best for people, economically speaking.
those who want to help the poor have to realise that a wage is relative to skills. We need a society of helping people to become more helpful. If they have lots of opportunities to become skilled they will get higher wages.
+TheProgressiveParent Wage is relative to the demand of your product/service, as well as your skill. A line cook can make decent money at the right place, but not in fast food. If the place's menu has meals under $10, you probably won't be making too much.
why are German and French workers in restaurants get more money than restaurant workers here? Do you want the whole world to adapt to Libertarian thinking? What about their vacations, maternity leave, parental leave, and single payer, you want Europe to adapt to a American system?
TheProgressiveParent How do parents in poverty raise their children to be better citizens/worker and yet have a shot at becoming president one day.No, more like turning to crime.We now have families with 3 and 4 generational criminals.4.5 million Americans are now in prison, yet companies now are making billions running these correctional facilities.Keep em dumb,keep em poor and with luck they will be too lazy to vote.After all ...It' your right not to!!!
+A Jax Not entirely. Nobody really stays on minimum wage, and when the wage changes, anybody within an establishment making above the minimum likely won't see their pay scale to the difference.
Crispy Chicken He states that the minimum wage does "no good" because they would be making that "eventually anyway". To suggest that everyone making minimum wage gets raises is simply not true.
Here's my theory on it. Today, a minimum wage worker at KFC makes $7.25 an hour. Lets say for sake of argument that a KFC combo meal might cost $7.25. Now if tomorrow, the minimum wage goes up to $15 an hour, half of the workers would likely be laid off and the few remaining employees getting paid $15 an hour will have to pick up their slack, stress-fully earning that $15 an hour in doing so. Over time, the price of that combo meal rises, along with most other prices, workers are slowly rehired (if not replaced by machines) and by the time the KFC is back to its original staffing level, the combo meal that did cost the same as the workers hourly wage at $7.25 still does at $15. I'm not saying that the minimum wage is directly responsible for the increase in inflation, but it certainly does contribute.
+scrappmutt2 That seems logical. I guess the question is, if not $15, ow about $10. It would be nice if we could just experiment with policies on secluded islands. We still control Guam right?
I think the experiment has already been done, just not observed as readily as it should of been. I noticed this a couple year ago happen with fast food. In '98 I was a courtesy clerk making min wage. A Jack in the Box combo meal cost me that hourly wage (after sales tax) for lunch. From 2007-2009 (long after I moved on) the higher min wage law was enacted. Most of the courtesy clerks at my old store had their hours cut drastically. Fast forward to today, the Jack in the Box combo now costs me about $7-8 after taxes. It may of been inflation, it may of been the recession. But from where I sit, my perception is the min. wage is a base wage and when it rises, all other wages inevitably rise along with prices making the increase in the wage pointless.
+BaileyRanks Which state and which prices? I've noticed that there are a lot more fast food restaurants with lower prices recently. Little Ceasars puts out $5 pizzas. Wendy's started a wave of meals across the fast food market that cost less than $5 with their 4 for 4 meal. McDonalds started a McPick for $2 and Burger King topped them off with offering 5 items for $4 (not to mention hotdogs). Granted most of this in in response to dwindling business from new competition, but, in recent years, I've noticed that prices in industries where low, near minimum wages make up a large part of their expenses, prices of course went up with the federal minimum wage hike but have stabilized recently. Everything else has increased, but that's for reasons unrelated to the minimum wage.
+scrappmutt2 That's not what happens, though. In WV, when the minimum wage went from 7.50 to 8.75, so did the price of the average combo meal at a fast food restaurant. That happened in a month. Everyone's hours were slashed and a lot of the franchises are dealing with bloat right now.
Myth #6, I think the term you're thinking of is "unemployable." When youths fail to gain entry level jobs they languish during periods not learning skills and falling behind. At some point as they grow older they become unemployable.
I don't study economics, but it seems a bit off to suggest that increasing the minimum wage hurts unskilled workers, because employers simply won't take a chance on them. If I need to fill an unskilled job, my prospects will be unskilled. I'm paying minimum wage, and those with skills will not want my job, because they're looking for something else. Is this not true?
What it means is that if the minimum wage for an unskilled job is higher than how much you value the job as an employer you'd rather not employ the person at all. For example if you need someone to mow your lawn and you would pay 5 bucks for it, but min wage is 10 bucks you'd rather not employ someone at all.
@@shrawanipal Then I wouldn't get my lawn mowed, or I would be forced to do it myself, which is not going to happen. Well, I can mow my own lawn, but certainly I can't sell millions of dollars in tacos by myself. I don't think this is logical, assuming that those jobs wont be filled. They need to be filled.
@@johnwatters3431 Good point. It is true that if there is demand for labour it will have to be filled despite the price that might have to be paid for it
As somebody who is actually on minimum wage, you live in a constant awareness that your employer values you so poorly, that if they were to pay you any less, it'd be illegal!
Minimum wage $15.00 an hr. X 40 hour work week = $ 600.00 per week .? $ 600.00 × 52 week= $ 30,000.00 plus per year ?? I believe this puts worker over the Federal poverty level ??? So if they are on any Federal programs SNAP, Rent assistance, Medical insurance ect . They would be excluded from these programs. Am I correct ??? .
Really liked this video, definitely wasn't biased on an issue that is very politicized. Although I think you should have brought up the minimum wage's effect on inflation.
3:05 Could it just be that since the US minimum wage has pretty closely matched the inflation adjusted amount, there hasn't been a significant impact in labor demand reduction? Were these studies done in high minimum wage states with comparatively medium to lower overall prices? My thought is that consumers may end up paying more, if the minimum wage increases, but they maybe able to pay more.
For #2 shouldn’t it be more effective to find out what percentage OF each population( black, white, latino, etc) works minimum wage vs those that don’t? Like what percentage WITHIN the white population is working minimum wage vs normal wage whites, what percentage WITHIN the latino population, etc. I think this would be a more effective approach, no? Of course white people will have a higher number of people working minimum wage(overall), white citizens make up about 60% of the US population. The rate within each demographic is what should be looked at.
Excellent both sides video. And I’d like to remind commenters, one size fits all, doesn’t. Buying power in some parts of this country will demand more than $15, some does not. Look at home prices in Iowa, Mississippi, rural Kentucky. If you can still find housing for less than $100,000, those small businesses may not support $15. But I like shooting for $15 cause everyone will eventually compromise at $10
Could you mention the effects of inflation and the minimum wage? It seems to me ridiculous that we can expect continuous inflation which causes the value of wages to weaken, then raise them every so often. This correcting for inflation is like having someone punch you in the face then correct it. I just think it's silly. Isn't the Fed's role to keep prices stable? Do a video regarding inflation and give some convincing arguments about why we need it. It seems to me that the arguments for it simply stink.
So basically, by the study you posted, 900K people had improved conditions and 500K were pushed out of the workforce...therefore if taking that into account with 30M being affected by the $15 minimum wage hike would mean less than 20M would have improved conditions, while more than 10M would be pushed out altogether??
wait so you said minimum wage doesnt cause the loss of jobs- but it does in france and does in the CBO report...you debunk your own debunk. You do the france thing by claiming its too high- how do you know how high the minimum wage should be to be considered too high? You also leave out the facts that American minimum wage was started to price out the non whites and irish and such. this is fact. so if the reason it started was to keep certain people out of jobs- WELL THAT MAKES IT THAT IT WILL DO THAT- DUH!
gov. raising the cost of labor is passed on to the FINAL consumer PERIOD, or the business will lay off / seek other ways to compete / or go out of business. as a 25 year business man...ideas don't work....people do !!
That was a quick flash of the graphic showing Australia having the highest minimum wage( where I live). Result? The most liveable cities on the planet. Something economists can’t grapple with. Want a successful business?. Make sure your customers have disposable income. Look up Henry Ford.
+Nick Collinet Unless your work is not adequately valuable to your employer. If the work you do only raises your employer's profits by $10 per day, you can't expect to get paid much no matter how much time you spend at it.
+Nick Collinet Why? If I make $100K a year but have a gambling problem and spend $110 per year, I can end up in poverty. Where does this ridiculous notion that the issues is not an exchange of value for value but has anything whatsoever to do with some third party arbitrarily decides what someone "needs"?
That's a pretty shitty arguement, if were in poverty because of that reason, it's not the employers fault. If you make 2000 dollars above the poverty line obviously you'd see the issue come up more.
+Nick Collinet Since poverty is emphatically *not* the fault of low wages or employers, it is the complaint that they have to pay more that is a "pretty shitty argument" and still doesn't address the fact that the arrangement is an exchange of value for value - not charity - and workers are paid neither more nor less than the value of the labor services they receive - what someone "needs" has no place in the discussion whatsoever.
The standard of living has increased with the dollar inflation. Guess what not kept up? Social services, Medicare, medicaid, social security and the minim wage. Because of conservative tards who want America reliant solely on private market. Guess what happens when you try to make a profit off of healthcare, people die Period.
So, if minimum wage is about 38% of average wage, that makes $19 the average wage. How are Americans surviving? Also, if minimum wage was raised to $10.10, would that raise average workers to $28? That seems survivable.
The federal government should stay out of it. Leave it up to the local governments, maybe state but not federal. A high minimum wage might help the people of New York with high living costs but it could completely destroy the economy of smaller towns and less affluent areas in the south. I live in Boston where we have a 12.75 minimum wage and I’d argue that’s fine more good then bad but I also lived in Newport NHwhere the minimum wage is 7.25. A minimum wage of 12.75 would have put many people out of business and caused spikes in unemployment.
I'm against a minimum wage. I don't believe you can artificially create wealth through regulation. it can lead to unemployment, higher prices and event the one's who remain employed will most likely be working less hours, so are they really better off? And on top of that I don't believe the government should tell individuals how much they have to pay their employees, if its a voluntary agreement, then the government has no business interfering. 40% of minimum wage workers are teenagers like me. I lifeguard and I make about $9 an hour. Do I think I deserve $15 an hour for my job, hell no. And if the minimum wage was $15 an hour, it would be much harder for me to get the job and have that entry level experience. The minimum wage law discriminates against the lower skilled employee. if my labor is not enough to justify a $15 wage, then I can't be employed. The % of people making minimum wage in the US has decreased so much in the last few decades. In '79 it was about 20%, now its around 4%. And that is because of the free market. I believe a minimum wage just keeps people in poverty rather than lifting them from it.
Raising the minimum wage will just put more people on the bottom of the pay scale. Putting more people in poverty and that doesn't help. It's also unfair to the people who work at a company for years that earn a few raises just to be put back on the bottom because of a $15/hr minimum wage and make the same wage as an inexperienced and lazy high school kid. Take for example Sally works for HBP for 5 years spends 2 years in a tech school and makes $14/hr, minimum wage goes up to $15/hr, she gets a dollar an hour raise, but Ayden the 17 year old new hire still in high school with no experience or work drive comes in and makes the same amount. Minimum wage is a flawed system, but don't get me wrong it's necessary but not $15 an hour. I believe that it would be more fair to have a minimum raise every year. Keep the existing $7.25 and every year that the employee stays with the company the min raise should be 15 cent an hour. So if Jill works for HBP for 2 years she should make $7.55 an hour for non skilled labor. A lower minimum wage would be more incentive to work harder, learn a skill, or persue higher education to not be on the bottom, that's just my personal belief.
Minimu wage increase doesn't impact unemployment becuz the U.S. is in a upwards growing economy. If a economy is stagnate or in negative growth higher minimum wage will create a higher unemployment. U.S. likely to stagnate around year 2025
Surely unemployment statistics are relevant when talking about changing minimum wage too. If unemployment is low, there's an opportunity to increase minimum wage because there's market pressure on employers to keep their staff (make hay while the sun is shining, basically). If unemployment is high, or job openings are low, trying to force a minimum wage only looks to reduce the chances of lower skills workers getting work *anywhere* in favour of those who look for the same job, but have more skills. It's a much more niche problem, but one that could cause problems in the future. Ultimately, increasing it slowly over time will eventually pull some of that money from the top downward.
In my opinion, it's all about focusing on who you want to sell your products to. If you want to sell your products of citizens of your own contry then raise the minimum wage. Then the demand will grow and this will be a good thing for the overall economy (Keynes). If you want to export more rather than selling in your country, don't raise it because it could increase production costs and decrease productivity. But the problems with not raising the minimum wage are : - Political moral : all of the income go to the profits and not to the workers even though they work hard. - If all the countries decided to lower the minimum wage (to export more), then companies would lower wages to have a higher productivity and less production and the overall demand all around the workd would fall and nobody would buy what you were trying to export by decreasing costs. That's my take on the subject so I'd prefer to raise minimum wage rather than taking the risk of lowering the demand.
+HardStickman Alas, no. Even Keynes did not take the absurd (and contrary to the empirical evidence) stance that raising the minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets to increase demand. Moreover, the notion that workers are "underpaid" and that more goes to profits has been empirically disproved. Workers are paid the risk-adjusted marginal revenue product of the labor services they provide or, in layman's terms, workers are paid what their labor services are *actually worth* so neither "problem" is valid in the slightest.
The marginal proportion to consume is an argument to increasing the minimum wage in itself because it states that the poorest people are the more they will spend in proportion of their revenues. And I disagree. Empirically, increasing the wages has always led to a growth of the wealth except between 1973 and the 90's because the wages were so high that compagnies had not enough to invest.
+HardStickman The term you are looking for is the marginal propensity to consume but it doesn't work in the slightest as an argument in favor of the minimum wage as the minimum wage has literally *never* resulted in "the poorest people" (or anyone else for that matter) having more money to spend. instead, minimum wage laws are economically destructive as the loss in opportunities, cuts in hours, benefits and training and outright job loss result in less productive activity, a weaker economy, an increase in welfare rolls and a reduction in the long term earnings prospects of low wage workers. While it is certainly true that an overall increase in real wages results in growth, but, again, it is factually wrong to suggest that minimum wage laws have ever resulted in such an outcome. And the period between 1973 and 1990 doesn't help your case in any case as, just like both before and after, total real hourly compensation increased steadily and substantially over the entire period (despite the relative loss in purchasing power of the arbitrary wage floor). The "stagnation" myth has been long debunked. Empirically, the minimum wage has never benefited workers or the economy - the evidence is overwhelming (and excluding the "research " that has been discredited, virtually unanimous).
HardStickman - Excellent points! We have seen this in our own history. Before we had the minimum wage we had slavery and slaves cannot afford to buy anything so by paying those hard workers a minimum wage we now have a lot more consumers.
how mad would you be if you was making 13 $14 an hour you had been working at a job for 10 years working everyday hard and then a new employee tomorrow starts out at $15 minimum wage how are you going to feel
The Stimulus 'cares act' has shown for every $1 given to a person, $7 other dollars will go to another, likely a person not in need, therefore more or less, increase prices more towards inflation. I want to point this out: Although he mentions that minimum wage hasn't gone up once adjusted for inflation (which I think is a good thing) Other costs of living such as the price of homes and cars or insurance or etc. has increased. Sure you can therefore say, we need to increase minimum wage, but this would make US further vulnerable to foreign markets.
I can somewhat see minimum wage being maybe $10/hr. But not $15. It does suck to see someone you care about getting laid off or fired and there's nothing else in the area that will pay the wage they were used to. But then again... We're all human. We're all going through struggles. It's not the next employer's responsibility to keep that employee at a wage they were used to if the job they're doing requires extremely little experience. I could never go from my job now over to fast food and expect them to pay me equal to what I'm making now.
If I open a lemonade stand, I can choose to sell it at $100 per cup. I won't sell much, and I'll soon realize that I should bring the price to a level which mutually benefits me and my customers. Similarly, if I post a job for a lemonade stand server at a penny an hour, I won't have any luck. I will be forced to raise the salary to a level that mutually benefits me and the employee. I have heard no one suggest that the government should impose maximum prices on goods. Why then should they impose minimum wages?
Who in the world has that first misconception? Seriously. And the 6th one is pretty subjective And the last part doesn't seem to be true in other developed countries. They have much higher minimum wages, guranteee paid vacation says and sick leave, and have free healthcare and education(at point of service, before a smarta* replies). And the inequality in those countries tends to be much lower than in the US.
You have to raise the minimum wage but not 15. More like 12 bucks you also have to get hours otherwise the minium wage raised won't matter much. If you 3 shifts a week at 4 hours. Which only equals 12 hours a week which is only 24 hours on a paycheck. At that point 30 bucks a hour doesn't do anything
Minimum wage = minimum skills. Or there’s an abundance of people competing for your job. Which is likely because it’s entry level. It’s also likely then that you are replaceable. Enhance your value as an individual therefore your company will pay you more, or you can land a job at a higher pay scale.
My company will follow the minimum wage law; we also will not be hiring anyone. No minimum wage jobs available. Unskilled or inexperienced workers at the minimum wage level may find it difficult to find employment. Over the past 30 years we have had to continually replace people with machines to maintain competative pricing. Not because we wanted to; it has been necessary to stay in business and to have any jobs at all.
A 'living' minimum wage of $15 per hour would lead to fewer people qualifying for less or no handouts from the social safety net (ssn) which should lead to lower taxes for the rest of us. The companies will be faced with decisions: do they raise prices to recover this extra cost? Do they absorb it out of profits? Do they find a different way to cut employee costs? They will likely so all three. They will raise prices a bit, they will take a little less profit, and they will seek and develop methods to reduce manpower costs. My lower taxes will allow me to pay the small increment of price increase they will apply with no effect on my lifestyle. On the other hand, if a business is so unprofitable that a rise in minimum wage causes it to close down, it is probably no loss to the system overall. The business volume it accounted for will be spread among its competitors, as will the employees, as those businesses hire more people to handle the extra business. Then there is the ripple effect; as minimum wages rise, workers who formerly made somewhat more than minimum will ask for and receive wage increases as well. The money paid to all of these people, both minimum wage earners and those just a bit higher on the chain, will inevitably be spent as they do not have discretionary income. The money circulating in the system will also lead to more business for the remaining companies. One other factor which I feel is being ignored in these discussions is how the minimum wage workers feel about themselves. Now, they know that they are being paid so little that the ssn is needed to take up the slack. They can't pay their own way. The inference is that they are not worth even the low wages they are receiving, that the employers would pay less if they legally could. What a lousy way to make a fellow human being feel about themselves.
Ok so there needs to be a kinda equivalency between wages and costs of goods in order to keep the money flowing. If a company increases the cost of goods they need to increase the cost of labor similarly. It's not rocket science. So in our current economy and where the value of the dollar is at now, jobs that don't pay a least $15 an hr, especially in places like New York, are pointless. Better use that time for finding a paying job or moving. And don't give me that crap saying the problem is about the cost of labor raising the cost of living bc that's not the case here. It's barely a drop in the bucket compared to finance corporations and bankers who are exponentially inflating the dollar and robbing our economy. Wages need to rise with inflation, in order to keep value. The middle class needs buying power.
Minimum wage hikes contribute to inflation. I don't get a raise every time the minimum goes up but my dollar is worth less and less. How is that fair? I adjust by not eating out as much so that is less money in the economy as a whole. Wages are nobodies business but the employer and the employee. If someone is willing to work for $1 an hour and can do the job adequately then who are we to say he cannot work? Also, if you think setting minimums helps then why not $100 an hour? The same reason that just popped into your head about how ridiculous that would be is the same reason I think it is ridiculous to pay some kid $10 an hour to push carts around a parking lot.
you know you're unbiased when both sides hate you in the comments
+AdmiralPrice this sentence is gold ..diamond or even fertilized uranium ...
I hate you in a non-gay way!
AdmiralPrice I agree with this video, especially when he called me a non- scrooge mcduck.
Maybe that's the goal. If both sides hate you you're on the right path!
@James Madison I might be wrong, but if they do not wanna pay more then to keep help around, then it just comes down to greed on corp side.
It's called a, "MINIMUM WAGE" for a reason! If you could do more for your employer, you'd get paid more!!
Raising it cause only the employer to pay the employees more. If they don't do that, they can go to jail.
Simply stated, the government forces the employer to pay the employees more. There's no repercussion to the Federalis, they just enjoy the thought that they will get re-elected by those who NEED the government to have their wages increased.
What does the employer do? Raise the price of goods and services to cover the cost increases to balance the books. So who suffers by an increase in the minimum wage? EVERYBODY!!!!!
Oh, your taxes will go up as the taxpayer-funded federal, state, and municipal union workers will go on strike to get their share of the increase. The politicians will pass it on to the citizens because it isn't THEIR money!
If you are so hurt by the workers making minimum wage, the give everyone at Walmart, McDonalds, Cosco, etc, you see $20 out of your own pocket! It'll make you feel good, no?
"Socialism is a great form of government until you run out of other peoples' money!" -Margret Thatcher
There was a spelling error in Misconception #9; it said "ineqaulity" at 4:05. Other than that, this video is great.
+Mr. Game & Watch Yeah, I know. I mentioned that in the description. I'm better at economics than spelling:)
+Mr. Game & Watch You're hired.
One of the biggest arguments I've heard against the minimum wage is that it harms small businesses. Which is true however that doesn't mean that we should have no minimum wage. It should be based on how old and in combination with how experienced you are. If you're a small business and you wanna pay $6 an hour, then put up with high school kids and 18 year olds fresh out of school with no experience. Maybe inexperienced people should work in small businesses and more experienced people work in big businesses, ones who can afford $15. Big businesses will use self serve checkouts anyway. Smaller businesses can't afford machines nor $15. Maybe for school kids $6, late teens $8, slightly experienced 20 y/o $10, and more experienced 20 and above y/o $15. Every economy needs some kind of minimum wage or else the dollar drops value. Less people spend and workers get taken advantage of cuz they have no other option but to accept $6 even with 5 years experience.
Another problem with raising the minimum wage is the price for things go up and people are now in different tax brackets.
So a wage goes up. You make more money. The prices of things go up. And you think your still paying the same amount. But really now you may be in a new tax bracket where you are getting taxed more. So now prices are going up but your still making the same amount because your income is getting taxed more.
Milton Friedman talks about this in his inflation video
The U.S. actually has the 9th highest minimum wage taking into account PPP of respective currencies.
Nice
"no solution, only trade offs"
wow I'm going to remember that, applies to many things in life, not just economics.
Steven Tyler econ herpes
"no solution, only trade offs"
aka, have no principles. Nope. Minimum wage is a price control. Price controls, on principle, don't work. Period.
@llriv that is correct. Sowell writes about this in his book "a conflict of visions" and "the vision of the anointed". I congratulate you ! you have done your homework!
Economics is not only about money it is the whole. so it applies to economics only
it was said by thomas sowell
In response to #7, we often see hours cut instead of jobs. Thus, in cases we see unemployment largely unaffected, like in Seattle, we instead find hours deeply slashed.
Hours are cut/split in order to avoid having 'excess' full-time employees, generating massive savings for the employers, with the primary externality being less value per unit of work for the employee. These otherwise-full-time workers lose out on all the standard benefits, can end up being disqualified for other opportunities based on this, or need to get a second job... which then needs to be juggled with the first and between commuting, vital sleep, getting anything at all done outside of work, etc... it ends up adding up to ~2.5 jobs, for less _total value_ than one full-time.
Good! Once you get paid enough, you no longer have to work two jobs.
Jobs are cut. Businesses are cut.
Employers already do this without minimum wage increases. That's the dishonesty of this argument. The toll of having to provide benefits (esp health insurance) has already driven virtually all unskilled jobs towards part-time or independent contractor status without mentioning anything about minimum wage. That's why we should convert to a nationalized health system like France or the UK, because businesses should not be shouldering the cost burden of providing that coverage.
But that's socialism, the Cons will try to tar and feather you
Fantastic job with this.
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this is the best and most balanced video about minimum wage I've ever seen. Usually if you are against raising it people will say that you don't care about the poor, but I think that the worst effect is that it won't help those that it intends to help.
+Daniel Garay Thanks. I tried to keep it fair and balance...but not in a FOX news sort of way.
+ACDCLeadership What's wrong with FOX, if you wanted to be "balanced"?
It's about control. Can you run a business without permission?
ACDCLeadership how about cnn for a change. Fox news might not be perfect but at least they are better than cnn.
Winter Land if you have to ask the government to pass à law to be paid à certain amount of money it probably because you cannot expect to have that amount base on market value. What would you say if shirt makers ask the government to pass à law that say that nobody can sale à shirt under 50 dollars ?
The more I study the minimum wage, the less certain I am.
But it does cause some unemployment, and the demand curve is elastic over time.
+The Light True that.
And what about longer term studies to show the knock-on effects of having a working class that is able to have a positive savings rate instead of being paycheck to paycheck all the time? If people weren't spending 70%+ of their income on rent, and were actually able to make investments in training e.g. nursing licenses, college degrees, etc - what do you think the increase in productivity, earning power, and CONSUMPTIVE DEMAND would be? There's so many factors that go into economics that isolating the effect of one policy change is nearly impossible, especially as time goes on. If you were correct, Australia, which has its minimum wage increase every year, would be experiencing constantly increasing unemployment among youth and minimum wage workers. If you look at the actual unemployment statistics, that would be completely wrong.
recycling the problems there is never a solution to certain problems
James Madison From a purely monetary Perspective that seems nice and all, but what you’re missing is higher unemployment, Lower work hours, lower corporate profits, and poor people getting hurt the most. Those welfare checks won’t help either, the problem with those are the inefficiencies that come with those unemployment benefits. A negative income tax would be a much much better solution for that problem as it doesn’t have all the bad effects of minimum wage.
Kudos for the Sowell reference; his books had a big impact on me. After 7 years, I still love watching your lectures!
You forgot to discuss COMPRESSION and inflation. Raising the cost on employers raises all prices. Raising the cost of workers accelerates automation by making it more attractive financially.
News to you: employers are already automating things at the current minimum wage level. Are you saying that people should accept progressively lower wages (i.e. 7/hr today, and 6/hr next year) for fear of their job being taken by a robot? That's outlandish.
@@puffman06 thats not what was said, just that he didn't mention compression and inflation.
@@puffman06 they are automating now in preparation to increased minimum wages. It makes sense. You don't wait until you need a skill to learn it.
@@gregorythompson5334 Except when a robot takes a job, that's one less job for people. Sure you can get a skill but suddenly there's more skilled competition because there are no unskilled jobs left. Over the next twenty years, AI will start taking the skilled jobs away. What do we do then? There are no safe jobs, just the haves and the have nots.....
Your very first fact is misleading and incorrect. While 4.3% of Americans make federal minimum wage, a lot more still make state minimum wage. Several states have increased their own minimum wage because federal is too low, but they are still making minimum wage. So the 4.3% is a completely false number. It's misleading. So, right out of the gate, you fail.
Your second point is also false and misleading. A lot of minimum wage earners are working part time because most minimum wage jobs only hire part time- saves the company more money- yeah, the very company that's already paying their employees as little as possible is also barely giving those employees any hours- forcing them to either get multiple jobs or get on welfare- or both. Man, you're not looking too good here, dude.
Your third point should tell you something- if most states have a higher minimum wage, doesn't that tell you that minimum wage should be increased because the federal is too low?
Your fourth point is dead on. Federal minimum wage is way too low!
Your very last point is something I don't agree with. If I'm paying myself and my corporate execs and corporate administrative workers very high salaries and my real workers minimum wage and the minimum wage is increased, it will only cost jobs if I want to keep everyone at corporate level way above what the workers are making. Let me try to explain it another way.
Everyone knows that there's a huge pay gap. A General Manager at a fast food joint makes about $55,000 a year while everyone else at that restaurant makes at or very near minimum wage. Then district manager makes even more- and so on and so forth until you reach the top where salaries are 7 digits. If the general manager doesn't come into work, the restaurant can still function. If all of the minimum wage earners (which includes assistant and shift managers since they only make slightly above minimum wage) stay home, then the restaurant cannot open. That's right- if your "unskilled" workers walk out, your company shuts down. Your $55,000 a year general manager can't run things by his or her self. If this happened on a national scale- if this happened all across America at your chain, the company would lose millions in one day. None of those highly paid GMs or District managers or corporate stooges or corporate execs who make WAY more than the "unskilled" workers would be able to run the stores and conduct business. The "unskilled" workers who "don't learn any skills" are the only thing keeping the business afloat. If everyone General Manager and above stayed home for an entire week, the business would still be running when they got back.
That's why I don't buy this "unskilled" argument. They're earning the money- they're running the show. They're keeping the business afloat. They're conducting business in the company's name. And they're being called "unskilled" and paid as little as possible. Well, if McDonald's is nothing but a collection of unskilled inconsequential workers who don't matter, then why is the business worth so much? Why are their McDonald's stores all the way across the globe crushing the competition? Because those workers ARE skilled! The workers work very hard and are very disciplined. They are great at customer service and they are very good at working in a fast paced environment. Anyone who thinks that McDonald's employees are unskilled has never worked at McDonald's - or any fast food job. These people are not unskilled. They are very skilled!
Bottom line is that our pay system is reversed due to corporate greed. The minimum wage earners are the only ones that matter.
Do you have a video on universal basic income? Apparently Milton Friedman even suggested it and it is becoming more of a hot debate. It would be good to hear an unbiased video on the topic with the studies that are coming out about it.
Misconception #7 is not a misconception. Increasing the minimum wage increases unemployment. Try passing a $40 per hour minimum wage and see how many people would be out of work. The only situation where a minimum wage doesn't cause unemployment is if the minimum wage is equal to the prevailing wage rate for low-skilled workers. But in that case, the minimum wage doesn't serve any purpose other than to help politicians score points with voters.
Well said, when #7 came through, i was like uhhh this doesn't sound right.
Also the workers fortunate enough not to get laid off will face shortages of the supply of goods that have increased costs with the rising wage. The min wage tries to take a hammer to a problem that isn't a nail.
Ok, let's hear what you think about the minimum wage. Should we get rid of it, keep it the same or increase it? Is $15 too much?
+ACDCLeadership the law of the minimum wage is the most racist law that exists. It generates unemployment especially among black people, young and poor.
+Rodrigo Bah Milton Friedman would agree with you. He said it was "one of the most, if not the most anti-black law on the statute books."
+ACDCLeadership He was right!
+ACDCLeadership I heard all the arguments, to me there is not one single good reason to even have a min. wage. Nothing positive comes from it. If there is any effect it is all negative.
+whyamimrpink78 There are a bunch of economists that agree with that, but I would think that there must be something good about it. It wouldn't even exist if it was 100% bad. Right?
Well, the minimum wage law is TOTALLY political. If you want to raise the minimum wage, people will support you and elect you, even to President in Joe Biden’s case. But I am not for the minimum wage, it targets low-skill workers the most because companies aren’t going to just pay the minimum wage. They’re going to cut back on what they deem necessary jobs. I feel that the minimum wage law is seen as beneficial to the people that earn minimum wage, like your neighborhood mom-and-pop shop; but that could not be further from the truth. Your neighborhood mom-and-pop shop is not ‘rolling in money’ like the big corporations. They are going to fire people because they just can not afford to pay the minimum wage. Also, due to the minimum wage being higher in states like California, homeless people are going to flock there because they assume that people are bathing with money. It’s also better for migrants to go to California and send money back home to their families in Mexico. I say “ABOLISH the minimum wage”, it restricts a free market economy.
Mr. Clifford! You might not remember me, but I had your class years ago! I made you the music CD you always played that had We Like to Party, Sandstorm, and The Final Countdown on it.
You were hands down one of the best teachers I've ever had in my entire life, I'm still applying the economic theories you taught me almost a decade ago. In particular, there was one day you showed everyone in my class why we should get a credit card and start paying credit bills as early as possible, I followed that advice and only recently am I starting to see the incalculable ways my credit score has made my life easier.
I had no idea you made TH-cam videos! I wish I knew if you were doing this back when I was in your class, I would have come in after school and helped out. It's great to see you applying your teaching abilities in such a creative way to a worldwide audience, the world deserves to hear your voice. Thank you again for everything Mr. Clifford!
+Nicholas Halsey Of course I remember you Nick. Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad that you enjoyed my class and are still using econ. Miss you.
@James Madison
I disagree. The $15 minimum wage does not help a person whose productivity is worth less than $15. If you want to help unskilled workers you are barking up the wrong tree. You can help them by freeing up the economy and limiting government to its basic essential function (protecting individual rights). So much money is being drained from the productive private sector to feed the unproductive public sector. End that bleeding and you will see the cost of living plummet while the standard of living rises. Problem solved--no magic wand solution necessary.
@James Madison but they are though, from an economical standpoint. If one employee gets fired its very ez to hire another unskilled laborer. They as a whole mean a lot of but individually are not that valuable. Obviously you should know I'm not refereing to their humanity but just from a economical view.
Instead of raising minimum wage do things that give people the opportunity to be better educated or trained for the job; therefore people who don't take the opportunity absolutely deserve to be paid 7 dollars an hour. By opportunity I mean lowering tuition or subsidizing education somehow so that people don't have to get into extreme debt kinda thing.
I agree.
It drives me mad watching Americans debate minimum wage, seemingly not only oblivious to the fact other countries don't even need the minimum wage, and still have 2-3 *_times_* the effective minimum wage of the US, but also oblivious to the fact that you had the solution one time yourself. Why don't you google "unions the red scare" and treat yourself to a little history lesson?
That's right, Unions, in Norway for instance, we don't have a minimum wage, and we have no problem. Example:
I now work part time along my studies, at a pizza delivery shop. I earn about 18$ an hours. In Norway this is considered pretty damn close to social dumping, most Norwegians would never work for such a low salary, not even unskilled workers.
You want your mind blown even more? The industry loves this model about as much as the workers. Here is how it works(extremely simplified):
Each year representatives for the workers and representatives for the industry sits down at the table and engage in "salary negotiations". And they are basically free to form whatever agreement they like. This usually goes very smoothly, but a few occasionally it may end in strike, short term.
This is great for many reasons:
- It makes your own salary an active prosess to be fought for each year. This makes people interested and engaged in something very important about their own lives.
- No one can hide behind some arbitrary law or regulation, you have to face people in negotiations, people who have the power to refuse your proposal if they don't like it. It's very hard to defend unreasonable proposals in this model.
- It's gives the local industries and their workers flexibility. Maybe the industry is going through some tough shit, and in order to survive costs must come down. Well, in this model it let's the people who understands this bettern than anyone, decide, workers involved! Then they might voluntarily agree to all take a salary cut that year, in order to lower the burden on the company. Or the business is doing fine, but salaries are not really what workers want, maybe they want something else changed, well then they are free to negotiate that.
All in all, this makes it a better system for both parts.
That being said though, remember that the condition for this to work is that you have very strong unions. In America today you must have the minimum wage, because you have nothing else, but you could have! So I would suggest that the long term goal should be this active negotiation model, with both sides being equally powerful, rather than fighting for a minimum wage that will never be just right for anyone.
What stops strong unions from forming in US? Unions are legal.
If there was no minimum wage there would be far more unions.
that may be a better way to approach this topic.
There's a theory that when people who work 2 or sometimes 3 jobs are paid more livable wages they are able to reduce their employment to the more maintainable amount of 1 job. That being said, I think it is interesting that people claim that by default, higher minimum wage creates job losses. These job "losses" could very well be the people I mentioned earlier moving to a more livable employed life. I don't think it is a good practice for an economy to be supported by people stretched beyond their means. I'm not trying to say that the minimum wage should go up forever, but I am saying that the people who talk about these "job losses" could be committing a lie of omission. In addition to that, there is evidence that a reasonable increase in the minimum wage actually increases employment because it creates more economic activity because people have more money to spend.
+Eric Hensel I'm glad you brought that up b/c I was going to! Also why is no one bringing up the fact the CEO salaries have gone up astronomically in relation to their lowest paid workers and many of those employers take tax payer money in the form of incentives from local economies to open up shop? Something I might add that local mom and pop shops aren't privy too.
+marla79 What you mention is something that I also agree needs addressing. I think the problem is that we've allowed big business interests to setup our economy solely around their success, while leaving out the success of their very own employees. The point is, if you're going to setup a business that gains profit through the hard work of its employees you really need to provide these employees with their fair share of the profits.
+Eric Hensel You might understand the correlation better if you had the experience of employing people.
+marla79 "why is no one bringing up the fact the CEO salaries have gone up astronomically in relation to their lowest paid workers" People bring that up all of the time. Like all jobs, there is competition. Companies would rather pay for a top CEO than run the risk of ending up with an Ellen Pao.
I just want to say thanks for just giving us the info and facts and not just pushing your opinion onto us. My microeconomics professor really just painted the picture that raising minimum wage would ruin the economy. He was extreme about the whole thing and I felt I had to do more research on the subject.
While it appears to be a good idea to almost everyone. We do not see the whole picture. All the giant corporations that already drag in money from pretty much everyone, will just raise prices. THEY WILL NOT be willing to lower their Profits, I mean look at most of How Greedy most companies are ALREADY. That OR they are ONLY going to take People who Can do the Jobs of 2 or 3 other people and pay them the new 15 dollar minimum.
Assuming inflation, keeping the minimum wage the same or eliminating it will be the same over time. Prior to laws regulating workplace safety, placing restrictions on labor for children and youth, regulating compensation based on a standard number of work hours, and maintaining minimum pay to workers, the economy boomed. This was not to the benefit of laborers who found that they were easily replaceable and that money can buy a solution to many problems. There is almost 80 years of data in the U.S. to show us how little minimum wage correlates to unemployment, crime or much of anything. As a laborer, you must not forget that productivity drives your value, but as a mortal you must not forget that hunger and desparation do not a polite society make.
Traditional economic theory does *not* say that minimum wage causes unemployment. Only first-year textbooks written for children in Republican states say that minimum wage causes unemployment. Traditional economic theory considers things like general equilibrium effects, labour market elasticity, monopsony, transaction costs, segmented markets, capital substitutability, and forward-falling labour supply curves.
Yes, that was my point. Traditional first year oversimplified economics suggests that minimum wage causes unemployment.
You've got the theory, how about the math? Minimum Wage Increases are an insidious and deceptive way of taxing ONLY the poorest and lowest wage earners (Plus their employers- of course). The "windfall" to the Feds is 15.3% of every $$$ of increase. Assume 1.8 Million workers X ($7.75/Hr Increase) X 1,560 (Or 30 Hrs/Wk) = $22Billion +/-. Plus assumed increased IT, decreased Low Income credits, etc. Unfortunately, the skilled, trained, and productive Middle Class workers will automatically experience deferred/lost merit and performance wage increases as a result of the externally imposed wage compression. Increased labor costs without corresponding increased productivity result in the need for market price increases, and the financially stalled middle class is gets the brunt of the double-whammy.
is fed min wage good A. NO
Why the govement suks at eveything. believe it or not people didn't work for a dollar a day even before the min wage was dumped on us
Yup! Spoken like a true Libertarian
I think the point people miss is that we all have choices. If you choose to work for minimum wage then that’s a choice to stay there. Most people start there and then gain skills to advance themselves. Others sit on there hands and wait for others to do things for them.
That's an ethical framework that rests on accountability which is the precise opposite of what they teach in schools nowadays.
raising the minimum wage would undermine the possibility of jobs for new workers ie people who don't have the experience to work minimum wage
Do people have a right to a descent standard of living in the US? In Europe they make sure you have a descent wage, descent living, they pay for your job training, so you don't think that can benefit the American people? We're different, we're exceptional, we have to prove to the world you don't need government assistance correct? Do you believe Americans are a exceptional people? No paid time off, no money in free college or job training, the American people are on their own and that creates stress. Is this the country you want?
Ryan Zinna no, i just don't want a minimum wage
So work for nothing for all I care. You don't want regulations when it comes to banking or labor is that correct? You don't think the government should be involved in wage regulations is that correct? What makes you think our country is better than Australia that has a minimum wage of 17.21? Why are you better?
@@Rpzinna we want less government involvement. The labor market for some types of industry is lower than others. All this is doing is hiking the cost of commodities, reducing the amount of available jobs and cutting new labor (unexperienced) from entering the workforce. Entry level jobs are not meant to be living wages, that would be a career. Minimum wage is to start like when you are a teen to gain experience. Do you really want to be late 20s still working fast food? Advance yourself and the wages get better.
Replacing the minimum wage with a negative income tax is 👌😩💯💦
2021 here and technology is very quickly replacing humans in a lot of places.
How about doing an annual Cost Of Living Adjustment on the minimum wage, to keep pace with inflation? That way employers could predict, somewhat, what their wage costs will be this year, next year. Not perfect, but I think it would help a bit.
I get $32 per hour for driving a garbage truck. ok its an automatic truck with a joystick to pick up the bins, I get free health care although I also have private insurance which I claim off tax each year, my employer contributes %12 of my gross income into my super for my retirement, I also have ten allowed sick days per year, which accumulate every year. I also get four weeks annual leave each year which I accumulate and after ten years service. I get 15 weeks annual leave for long service. did I mention I only have to work a four day week? so that's an extra 52 days off per year, and you have the nerve to call America the land off the free? move to Australia! then find out what freedom really is!
Us the tax payer pay your wages . The dumps are owned by government
+Ben Chesterman ours too, local government run them, most are closing now as a few private run ones are opening, soon we will have a power plant that runs on waste from homes, so no more land fill sites in three years,
Who is anyone to tell you can't sell your labour for less than minimum wage?
that's slave labor pal. your labor is private property. do you agree with that? Your workers are your property right? Well selling labor below the poverty line is against international law. ever read the Nuremberg Trials?
slavery is when workers are not consenting.
Coercion is forcing people to "consent" when they really don't want to. And because the business has quite a bit of leverage over the unskilled employee, it's very easy to coerce them to accept lower wages than they otherwise would. Aka slavery.
raising the minimum wage does nothing. the only way to put more money in your pocket is to strengthen the buying power of the dollar. the minimum wage is meant to be a starting point and stay consistent with inflation.
There is no point in increasing minimum wage, if education stays so expensive. The minimum wage works in Europe, because education is cheap. The guy who can't find a job, goes to school instead. So, he can find a job which requires an education.
And how does he afford education with no minimum wage?
Productivity over the last 20 years has doubled yet they pay us less than $8 an hour.. our value has decreased in the 1% minds
Once upon a time one person could work one job and pay for a family of 5 now it takes 2 people working 2 jobs to make ends meet.
This video contradicts itself. The US has one of the lowest minimum wages? Your own graph puts us in the middle top.
seth vanhaelst No, of all countries.
I think a $15 federal minimum wage is like doing surgery with an ax. That is way too high for some areas and possibly too low for others. The Fed gov should set MW at a reasonable level toward the lower end and allow states and regions with higher costs of living to go up from there.
Major cities that raised too $15 caused a shift in it's economic workflow such as Seattle.
This is why unions should be strengthened instead, they can negotiate the wages to their maximum viable level instead of just making a sweeping amount of change that could disproportionately affect entire states. The minimum wage should be the base viable set, which should be determined by states rather than federal law, while unions fill in the blanks.
Rising minimum wages have made a lot of stores shut down in areas of higher minimum wages. Places that saw $15 ended up losing many local businesses like restaurants. Mcdonalds has decided to eliminate ALL cashier positions and will be going only to kiosk designs.
Would there be any disadvantage/advantage to gradually increasing the min wage over the the next few years? (as opposed to an instant jump)
+Daniel Newman That's usually how they do it. The change they made in 2007 was in three steps over several years.
people get fired
#6 raising min wage may actually hurt the minority workers it's supposed to help
#2 most min wage earners are not minorities
um...?
It’s a Thomas Sawell grift
I like to point ount that min-wage laws are not just restrictions on employers; these laws tell potential workers that they cannot take a job that they otherwise would like to have. Nobody is being forced to take any particular job, minimum wage or other. Put this way, it is obvious to almost anybody that these laws reduce employment (unless the minimum is so low as to be irrelevant).
*point out (sorry)
what about the fact that the minimum wage contributes to inflation? it's like getting no raise at all since all the products you would have purchased go up by roughly the same factor,or more. the reason being that it increases cost of production.
+JathTech Minimum wage will never be able to cover basic amenities because the people who sell those basic amenities are hired at minimum wage. Changing the minimum wage just decreases the purchasing power of everyone who isn't working minimum wage. When the min was 7.50, so was a combo meal. When it went up to 8.75, so did combo meals. This isn't a difficult trend for people to follow. You'd think all of the acedemic jack-offs who need their institutions to keep and coddle their fat asses away from fast food would pick up on it and stop screaming about the minorities that only make up 23% of minimum wage workers being underprivileged.
If you raise the minimum wage then it's going to raise the rents, when you raise the rents you're going to have to build affordable housing, then you'll have to tax people to build the affordable housing, then people move out of the city and you'll have to raise taxes on the people that remain in the city, and this is how you hallow out the economy of a major metropolitan area of the US.
Why pay taxes anyway? What was wrong with the economy of 1789?
No need to increase, we pay well above minimum wage without government intervention.
You are just one employer. I don't think we will base government policy on just one example of millions.
@@ronarprefect7709
What he means is that less than 5% of all workers in the U.S. make minimum wage. What do the rest of us make? More than the minimum, of course. Why? Why aren't 70% of us making minimum wage? Because our labor is worth more than that--just as the labor of most minimum wage workers will be worth more than minimum wage in a short while. Nobody stays at minimum for long. Low wages are nothing to be afraid of. It's just the way it is (everybody has to start somewhere). A centrally-controlled economy is something to be afraid of. That's what results in universal poverty.
@@Shozb0t You can't even be honest in youtube comments? He is an employer. What he meant was that HIS BUSINESS pays well above minimum wage. Further, your statistic doesn't include people who make a few cents more than minimum wage, even though those few cents don't really make much of a difference. If someone makes 7.26 an hour, they are excluded from that statistic. Therefore, the statistic doesn't demonstrate the full truth of the wage situation, and it has been clearly demonstrated that an increase in minimum wage causes all wages to increase.
@@ronarprefect7709
Slow down. I am well aware that he was talking about his business. I, however, am not talking about his business since I know nothing about it.
I would be willing to bet a month's pay that nobody in the U.S. makes $7.26 per hour (minimum wage plus 1 cent). But that is beside the point. The point is that at any given moment there will be some people earning minimum wage while the rest of us earn more (generally, the more experience and reliability, the greater the wage). Did today's higher level earners once earn less than they do now? Yes. Did some of the higher level earners once earn minimum wage? Yes. How did they manage to increase their wages, by increasing the minimum? No. They did it by gaining knowledge and skill. Will today's minimum wage earners earn more money in the future? Yes. Will they do it because of a minimum wage increase to $15? Maybe the workers who were already earning $14 would get a raise. Today's minimum wage earners can increase their wages the same way that everybody else did. And they will, unless you stop them. If a worker earning $7.25 today is told that he can no longer be employed because his employer can't afford to pay him $15, what do you think the worker will do then? Will Ronar Perfect give him a job?
@@Shozb0t In response to DaddiO's Burger's comment, you said, "What he means is..." so you were obviously talking about what he said about his business and what he meant by it.
Surprisingly neutral presentation. Good work. Here is my personal views: increasing minimum wage is the best way of kickstarting the economy, reason being that minimum wage earners will spend their money as fast (if not faster) as they earn them. They buy stuff, they travel, and they all yearn for that american dream of owning their own house. Policy should be introduced to make it economically beneficial to buy american made goods as opposed to imported goods. There is a trade war going on with theese trade deals, (tpp, tisa, nafta, etc.) that seeks to remove any toll regulations on imported goods. This means that the country with the cheapest labour and the most corrupt politicians will win the production of goods. The neo-liberal polititians will say the only way to kickstart the economy is to reduce minimum wage so that we get more competetive. This only results in a race to the bottom for the 99% of us and glorious days for the 1%. The economic downturn won't ever end unless wages are increasing. Only two things can do that: Strong regulation (higher minimum wage) or strong labour unions. US has neither.
+randknu1 The problem is that your premise is completely wrong. There never has been an instance in which minimum wage laws have given more money to workers. It has never worked as an anti-poverty program, never increased spending and never stimulated (or "kickstarted" the economy). Instead, all of the presumed gains are more than offset by reduced opportunities, cuts in hours, benefits and training and outright job loss, increasing welfare rolls and undermining the long term earnings prospects of low wage workers. The next flawed premise is that "buy American" is economically beneficial. Instead, the economy grows fastest and more jobs are created when economic efficiency is maximized - that is, when people make purchasing decisions that are most beneficial to them regardless of the manufacturing origin. Doing so frees up resources to be expended on other things to the benefit of everyone. In the real world, so-called "outsourcing" has not only not harmed the US economy but more and higher paying jobs are insourced than are outsourced. The attack on this process is an attempt to strangle the goose that lays the golden eggs. And finally, the "race-to-the-bottom" nonsense has been sop completely disproved that it;s amazing anyone still tries to purvey it. The simple fact is that workers are paid the actual value of the labor services they provide - neither more, nor less and even in the compete absence of a minimum wage, the pay levels of already employed workers would not fall in the least., The only jobs paying lesser amounts would be for tasks otherwise not cost effective employing people who would not otherwise be employed, allowing them to get on the economic ladder and begin moving up. Nor have labor unions been any benefit to workers or the economy overall. Of course, it;s hard to take anyone using the tired (and uneducated) reference to "the 1%" seriously anyway.
Then costs go up for everyone , that's not on min wage
Wouldn't a rise (particularly a sharp one) in the minimum wage also cause inflation to increase because of the imbalance of spending power vs resources causing the prices of good to also rise? Eventually, this would lead us more or less back to where we were. Except now, things cost more and firms would likely have be incentivised to provide goods and services with fewer people... Does what I am saying make hypothetical sense?
+danmks2 Yes, some people worry that mimimum wage causes inflation and if it goes up to much that will likely happen, but as one person said in (rather technically) "If minimum wage hikes were entirely offset with price increases, it would not be possible to raise the inflation adjusted minimum wage"
I think that minimum wage and low wage workers are such a small part of GDP that their increased wages would contribute very little to inflation.
Economists, "Raising minimum wage won't cost jobs."
People who actually RUN businesses, "Yeah, it will."
Those who can't do, teach.
I was not expecting a balanced analysis. Kudos.
Minimum wage isn't the only factor. The compliance costs that come with having employees can put a lot of people out of work. Raising minimum wage also raises some of these costs, mainly the SS matching and payroll taxes. Raising minimum wage by $2 costs employers more than $2.
I agree on focusing on education, but I doubt that will get the same pull politically as promising hire wages. If a candidate is looking for numbers then it is easier to promise "free" money rather than long term change.
higher*
+Travis Sturges Yes, that's the reason why it is is such a big deal right now. In my opinion, minimum wage is a small battle in a much bigger war.
So the people already making $15 will make $30?
DON W maybe not that exact amount but all wages could expect an increase in wages based on common sense.
Basically if I can work at an easier or lower risk job for close to what I'm earning at my more demanding job, I'd quite possibly quit and go to the easier job.
Here is my solution I quit.
Denmark's minimum wage is (last I heard) $20.00 per hour. Their economy is doing fine.
All the Scandinavian nations, Germany, France, Australia all have minimum wages way over $15.00.
But thinktank financed sites want to serve their greedy corporate bosses.
inflation has gone up while the minimum wage has not. if employees make more money then they will consume more. It's a win win for the employer. yes, in the short run their cost will increase but it will even out. we are heading towards automation regardless of minimum wage laws therefore let's compensate people for their hard work and not the shareholders.
minimum wage guarantees hourly rate increase. How much you make per week isn't assured, so employers can just cut hours and then you don't make as much.
+EarRegardless making the same money for less hours is a good thing for a worker. They have more time to study.
what good is a job if you can live on the income
+eddie bowens All the teens getting their first job experience or older students helping to pay for classes that are not trying to live on the income or retirees able to find something to do outside the house while living on social security/pensions/investments, etc. (which combined make up the bulk of minimum wage workers), I'm sure very much appreciate that you'd rather they be prevented from working at all because the experience they were gaining, the resources they were collecting and the engagement they were experiencing were not enough, by your arbitrary reckoning, to "live on".
+FletchforFreedom and the rich just keep getting richer
+eddie bowens Yes, and so have workers. The idiotic notion that the rich are getting so off the backs of anyone has been long disproved.
yeah thats what the slave owners said back in the day lol
+eddie bowens Actuually only complete imbeciles mention "slaves" in a discussion of the employer/employee relationship. The *fact* - yes, I know that's an alien concept to you - is that workers are paid the actual value of the labor services they provide - neither more nor less - and poverty is almost entirely the result of lack of employment, not low wages (as anyone with at least minimal research skills can find out easily).
Thank Mr. Clifford...!!!
With minimum wage it's hard to have a quality life...!!!
Should start own business...!!!
I don't understand why the Federal Government should have anything to say about minimum wage at all, given that the costs of living vary so significantly from state-to-state and even city-to-city. I mean, what constitutes a so-called living wage in Detroit is going to be dramatically different than what it is in NYC. Why should the Feds order it to be the same in both places? The whole conversation stinks of political football, rather than actual concern for doing what's actually best for people, economically speaking.
+Xenostars Yes, more local control is better. I was going to add a section on that but I wanted to keep the video short
+ACDCLeadership Yes, this needs to be said more often. A video on this topic would be great.
+Jesus-Pierre-Miguel Salgado III I'll put it on the list:)
Thomas Sowell baby!!!!!
those who want to help the poor have to realise that a wage is relative to skills. We need a society of helping people to become more helpful. If they have lots of opportunities to become skilled they will get higher wages.
+TheProgressiveParent Wage is relative to the demand of your product/service, as well as your skill. A line cook can make decent money at the right place, but not in fast food. If the place's menu has meals under $10, you probably won't be making too much.
why are German and French workers in restaurants get more money than restaurant workers here? Do you want the whole world to adapt to Libertarian thinking? What about their vacations, maternity leave, parental leave, and single payer, you want Europe to adapt to a American system?
TheProgressiveParent How do parents in poverty raise their children to be better citizens/worker and yet have a shot at becoming
president one day.No, more like turning to crime.We now have families with 3 and 4 generational criminals.4.5 million Americans
are now in prison, yet companies now are making billions running these correctional facilities.Keep em dumb,keep em poor and
with luck they will be too lazy to vote.After all ...It' your right not to!!!
@@BlueNeahno First stable increase your skills then have the family.
The minimum wage does no good at all because the people who get a raise would have gotten one eventually anyway.
+Benedict Feser That statement is illogical.
+A Jax Not entirely. Nobody really stays on minimum wage, and when the wage changes, anybody within an establishment making above the minimum likely won't see their pay scale to the difference.
Crispy Chicken He states that the minimum wage does "no good" because they would be making that "eventually anyway". To suggest that everyone making minimum wage gets raises is simply not true.
A Jax
It's still very common for trainees to be the only ones getting minimum wage, while everyone else makes slightly more.
Crispy Chicken That may be true, but Benedict Feser still didn't make a cogent point.
Do a video on UBI plz and what you think about it. Positives and negatives. I would be really interested to hear your opinions!
Here's my theory on it. Today, a minimum wage worker at KFC makes $7.25 an hour. Lets say for sake of argument that a KFC combo meal might cost $7.25. Now if tomorrow, the minimum wage goes up to $15 an hour, half of the workers would likely be laid off and the few remaining employees getting paid $15 an hour will have to pick up their slack, stress-fully earning that $15 an hour in doing so. Over time, the price of that combo meal rises, along with most other prices, workers are slowly rehired (if not replaced by machines) and by the time the KFC is back to its original staffing level, the combo meal that did cost the same as the workers hourly wage at $7.25 still does at $15. I'm not saying that the minimum wage is directly responsible for the increase in inflation, but it certainly does contribute.
+scrappmutt2 That seems logical. I guess the question is, if not $15, ow about $10. It would be nice if we could just experiment with policies on secluded islands. We still control Guam right?
I think the experiment has already been done, just not observed as readily as it should of been. I noticed this a couple year ago happen with fast food. In '98 I was a courtesy clerk making min wage. A Jack in the Box combo meal cost me that hourly wage (after sales tax) for lunch. From 2007-2009 (long after I moved on) the higher min wage law was enacted. Most of the courtesy clerks at my old store had their hours cut drastically. Fast forward to today, the Jack in the Box combo now costs me about $7-8 after taxes. It may of been inflation, it may of been the recession. But from where I sit, my perception is the min. wage is a base wage and when it rises, all other wages inevitably rise along with prices making the increase in the wage pointless.
My state has had NO MINIMUM WAGE RAISE in 7 years. Its stuck at $7.25. Prices of goods increased anyway.
+BaileyRanks Which state and which prices? I've noticed that there are a lot more fast food restaurants with lower prices recently. Little Ceasars puts out $5 pizzas. Wendy's started a wave of meals across the fast food market that cost less than $5 with their 4 for 4 meal. McDonalds started a McPick for $2 and Burger King topped them off with offering 5 items for $4 (not to mention hotdogs). Granted most of this in in response to dwindling business from new competition, but, in recent years, I've noticed that prices in industries where low, near minimum wages make up a large part of their expenses, prices of course went up with the federal minimum wage hike but have stabilized recently. Everything else has increased, but that's for reasons unrelated to the minimum wage.
+scrappmutt2 That's not what happens, though. In WV, when the minimum wage went from 7.50 to 8.75, so did the price of the average combo meal at a fast food restaurant. That happened in a month. Everyone's hours were slashed and a lot of the franchises are dealing with bloat right now.
Myth #6, I think the term you're thinking of is "unemployable." When youths fail to gain entry level jobs they languish during periods not learning skills and falling behind. At some point as they grow older they become unemployable.
I don't study economics, but it seems a bit off to suggest that increasing the minimum wage hurts unskilled workers, because employers simply won't take a chance on them. If I need to fill an unskilled job, my prospects will be unskilled. I'm paying minimum wage, and those with skills will not want my job, because they're looking for something else. Is this not true?
What it means is that if the minimum wage for an unskilled job is higher than how much you value the job as an employer you'd rather not employ the person at all. For example if you need someone to mow your lawn and you would pay 5 bucks for it, but min wage is 10 bucks you'd rather not employ someone at all.
@@shrawanipal Then I wouldn't get my lawn mowed, or I would be forced to do it myself, which is not going to happen. Well, I can mow my own lawn, but certainly I can't sell millions of dollars in tacos by myself. I don't think this is logical, assuming that those jobs wont be filled. They need to be filled.
@@johnwatters3431 Good point. It is true that if there is demand for labour it will have to be filled despite the price that might have to be paid for it
@@shrawanipal That's what I'm saying. The original argument comes across as nothing more than a scare tactic.
Hats off to your video editing skills:)
The Taxman loves him a minimum wage increase, no doubt!
It would be really great of you could provide correct closed captioning for your videos so I, a deaf person, could learn from your videos.
you can just click on cc
As somebody who is actually on minimum wage, you live in a constant awareness that your employer values you so poorly, that if they were to pay you any less, it'd be illegal!
Minimum wage $15.00 an hr. X 40 hour work week = $ 600.00 per week .? $ 600.00 × 52 week= $ 30,000.00 plus per year ??
I believe this puts worker over the Federal poverty level ???
So if they are on any Federal programs SNAP, Rent assistance, Medical insurance ect . They would be excluded from these programs. Am I correct ??? .
Really liked this video, definitely wasn't biased on an issue that is very politicized. Although I think you should have brought up the minimum wage's effect on inflation.
+Eoin Tyrrell I know. I screwed the pooch on that one. Next time.
+ACDCLeadership No problem
3:05 Could it just be that since the US minimum wage has pretty closely matched the inflation adjusted amount, there hasn't been a significant impact in labor demand reduction? Were these studies done in high minimum wage states with comparatively medium to lower overall prices? My thought is that consumers may end up paying more, if the minimum wage increases, but they maybe able to pay more.
For #2 shouldn’t it be more effective to find out what percentage OF each population( black, white, latino, etc) works minimum wage vs those that don’t? Like what percentage WITHIN the white population is working minimum wage vs normal wage whites, what percentage WITHIN the latino population, etc.
I think this would be a more effective approach, no? Of course white people will have a higher number of people working minimum wage(overall), white citizens make up about 60% of the US population. The rate within each demographic is what should be looked at.
Excellent both sides video. And I’d like to remind commenters, one size fits all, doesn’t. Buying power in some parts of this country will demand more than $15, some does not. Look at home prices in Iowa, Mississippi, rural Kentucky. If you can still find housing for less than $100,000, those small businesses may not support $15. But I like shooting for $15 cause everyone will eventually compromise at $10
Could you mention the effects of inflation and the minimum wage? It seems to me ridiculous that we can expect continuous inflation which causes the value of wages to weaken, then raise them every so often. This correcting for inflation is like having someone punch you in the face then correct it. I just think it's silly. Isn't the Fed's role to keep prices stable?
Do a video regarding inflation and give some convincing arguments about why we need it. It seems to me that the arguments for it simply stink.
+Matthew Graham Great suggestion. I dropped the ball on talking about the effect on prices. I'll add it in a different video.
So basically, by the study you posted, 900K people had improved conditions and 500K were pushed out of the workforce...therefore if taking that into account with 30M being affected by the $15 minimum wage hike would mean less than 20M would have improved conditions, while more than 10M would be pushed out altogether??
wait so you said minimum wage doesnt cause the loss of jobs- but it does in france and does in the CBO report...you debunk your own debunk. You do the france thing by claiming its too high- how do you know how high the minimum wage should be to be considered too high? You also leave out the facts that American minimum wage was started to price out the non whites and irish and such. this is fact. so if the reason it started was to keep certain people out of jobs- WELL THAT MAKES IT THAT IT WILL DO THAT- DUH!
How come someone can pay less than the federal minimum wage?
gov. raising the cost of labor is passed on to the FINAL consumer PERIOD, or the business will lay off / seek other ways to compete / or go out of business. as a 25 year business man...ideas don't work....people do !!
That was a quick flash of the graphic showing Australia having the highest minimum wage( where I live). Result? The most liveable cities on the planet. Something economists can’t grapple with. Want a successful business?. Make sure your customers have disposable income. Look up Henry Ford.
If you are working 40 hours a week doing ANYTHING you should not be in poverty.
+Nick Collinet Unless your work is not adequately valuable to your employer.
If the work you do only raises your employer's profits by $10 per day, you can't expect to get paid much no matter how much time you spend at it.
+Nick Collinet Why? If I make $100K a year but have a gambling problem and spend $110 per year, I can end up in poverty. Where does this ridiculous notion that the issues is not an exchange of value for value but has anything whatsoever to do with some third party arbitrarily decides what someone "needs"?
That's a pretty shitty arguement, if were in poverty because of that reason, it's not the employers fault. If you make 2000 dollars above the poverty line obviously you'd see the issue come up more.
+Nick Collinet Since poverty is emphatically *not* the fault of low wages or employers, it is the complaint that they have to pay more that is a "pretty shitty argument" and still doesn't address the fact that the arrangement is an exchange of value for value - not charity - and workers are paid neither more nor less than the value of the labor services they receive - what someone "needs" has no place in the discussion whatsoever.
The standard of living has increased with the dollar inflation. Guess what not kept up? Social services, Medicare, medicaid, social security and the minim wage. Because of conservative tards who want America reliant solely on private market. Guess what happens when you try to make a profit off of healthcare, people die Period.
So, if minimum wage is about 38% of average wage, that makes $19 the average wage. How are Americans surviving? Also, if minimum wage was raised to $10.10, would that raise average workers to $28? That seems survivable.
The federal government should stay out of it. Leave it up to the local governments, maybe state but not federal. A high minimum wage might help the people of New York with high living costs but it could completely destroy the economy of smaller towns and less affluent areas in the south. I live in Boston where we have a 12.75 minimum wage and I’d argue that’s fine more good then bad but I also lived in Newport NHwhere the minimum wage is 7.25. A minimum wage of 12.75 would have put many people out of business and caused spikes in unemployment.
I'm against a minimum wage. I don't believe you can artificially create wealth through regulation. it can lead to unemployment, higher prices and event the one's who remain employed will most likely be working less hours, so are they really better off? And on top of that I don't believe the government should tell individuals how much they have to pay their employees, if its a voluntary agreement, then the government has no business interfering. 40% of minimum wage workers are teenagers like me. I lifeguard and I make about $9 an hour. Do I think I deserve $15 an hour for my job, hell no. And if the minimum wage was $15 an hour, it would be much harder for me to get the job and have that entry level experience. The minimum wage law discriminates against the lower skilled employee. if my labor is not enough to justify a $15 wage, then I can't be employed. The % of people making minimum wage in the US has decreased so much in the last few decades. In '79 it was about 20%, now its around 4%. And that is because of the free market. I believe a minimum wage just keeps people in poverty rather than lifting them from it.
Raising the minimum wage will just put more people on the bottom of the pay scale. Putting more people in poverty and that doesn't help. It's also unfair to the people who work at a company for years that earn a few raises just to be put back on the bottom because of a $15/hr minimum wage and make the same wage as an inexperienced and lazy high school kid. Take for example Sally works for HBP for 5 years spends 2 years in a tech school and makes $14/hr, minimum wage goes up to $15/hr, she gets a dollar an hour raise, but Ayden the 17 year old new hire still in high school with no experience or work drive comes in and makes the same amount. Minimum wage is a flawed system, but don't get me wrong it's necessary but not $15 an hour. I believe that it would be more fair to have a minimum raise every year. Keep the existing $7.25 and every year that the employee stays with the company the min raise should be 15 cent an hour. So if Jill works for HBP for 2 years she should make $7.55 an hour for non skilled labor. A lower minimum wage would be more incentive to work harder, learn a skill, or persue higher education to not be on the bottom, that's just my personal belief.
Minimu wage increase doesn't impact unemployment becuz the U.S. is in a upwards growing economy. If a economy is stagnate or in negative growth higher minimum wage will create a higher unemployment. U.S. likely to stagnate around year 2025
Surely unemployment statistics are relevant when talking about changing minimum wage too. If unemployment is low, there's an opportunity to increase minimum wage because there's market pressure on employers to keep their staff (make hay while the sun is shining, basically). If unemployment is high, or job openings are low, trying to force a minimum wage only looks to reduce the chances of lower skills workers getting work *anywhere* in favour of those who look for the same job, but have more skills. It's a much more niche problem, but one that could cause problems in the future. Ultimately, increasing it slowly over time will eventually pull some of that money from the top downward.
In my opinion, it's all about focusing on who you want to sell your products to.
If you want to sell your products of citizens of your own contry then raise the minimum wage. Then the demand will grow and this will be a good thing for the overall economy (Keynes).
If you want to export more rather than selling in your country, don't raise it because it could increase production costs and decrease productivity.
But the problems with not raising the minimum wage are :
- Political moral : all of the income go to the profits and not to the workers even though they work hard.
- If all the countries decided to lower the minimum wage (to export more), then companies would lower wages to have a higher productivity and less production and the overall demand all around the workd would fall and nobody would buy what you were trying to export by decreasing costs.
That's my take on the subject so I'd prefer to raise minimum wage rather than taking the risk of lowering the demand.
+HardStickman Alas, no. Even Keynes did not take the absurd (and contrary to the empirical evidence) stance that raising the minimum wage puts more money in people's pockets to increase demand. Moreover, the notion that workers are "underpaid" and that more goes to profits has been empirically disproved. Workers are paid the risk-adjusted marginal revenue product of the labor services they provide or, in layman's terms, workers are paid what their labor services are *actually worth* so neither "problem" is valid in the slightest.
The marginal proportion to consume is an argument to increasing the minimum wage in itself because it states that the poorest people are the more they will spend in proportion of their revenues.
And I disagree. Empirically, increasing the wages has always led to a growth of the wealth except between 1973 and the 90's because the wages were so high that compagnies had not enough to invest.
+HardStickman The term you are looking for is the marginal propensity to consume but it doesn't work in the slightest as an argument in favor of the minimum wage as the minimum wage has literally *never* resulted in "the poorest people" (or anyone else for that matter) having more money to spend. instead, minimum wage laws are economically destructive as the loss in opportunities, cuts in hours, benefits and training and outright job loss result in less productive activity, a weaker economy, an increase in welfare rolls and a reduction in the long term earnings prospects of low wage workers.
While it is certainly true that an overall increase in real wages results in growth, but, again, it is factually wrong to suggest that minimum wage laws have ever resulted in such an outcome. And the period between 1973 and 1990 doesn't help your case in any case as, just like both before and after, total real hourly compensation increased steadily and substantially over the entire period (despite the relative loss in purchasing power of the arbitrary wage floor). The "stagnation" myth has been long debunked. Empirically, the minimum wage has never benefited workers or the economy - the evidence is overwhelming (and excluding the "research " that has been discredited, virtually unanimous).
HardStickman - Excellent points! We have seen this in our own history. Before we had the minimum wage we had slavery and slaves cannot afford to buy anything so by paying those hard workers a minimum wage we now have a lot more consumers.
how mad would you be if you was making 13 $14 an hour you had been working at a job for 10 years working everyday hard and then a new employee tomorrow starts out at $15 minimum wage how are you going to feel
Pretty good since you just got at least a $2 raise
The Stimulus 'cares act' has shown for every $1 given to a person, $7 other dollars will go to another, likely a person not in need, therefore more or less, increase prices more towards inflation.
I want to point this out: Although he mentions that minimum wage hasn't gone up once adjusted for inflation (which I think is a good thing) Other costs of living such as the price of homes and cars or insurance or etc. has increased. Sure you can therefore say, we need to increase minimum wage, but this would make US further vulnerable to foreign markets.
I can somewhat see minimum wage being maybe $10/hr. But not $15. It does suck to see someone you care about getting laid off or fired and there's nothing else in the area that will pay the wage they were used to.
But then again... We're all human. We're all going through struggles. It's not the next employer's responsibility to keep that employee at a wage they were used to if the job they're doing requires extremely little experience.
I could never go from my job now over to fast food and expect them to pay me equal to what I'm making now.
If I open a lemonade stand, I can choose to sell it at $100 per cup. I won't sell much, and I'll soon realize that I should bring the price to a level which mutually benefits me and my customers.
Similarly, if I post a job for a lemonade stand server at a penny an hour, I won't have any luck. I will be forced to raise the salary to a level that mutually benefits me and the employee.
I have heard no one suggest that the government should impose maximum prices on goods. Why then should they impose minimum wages?
Who in the world has that first misconception? Seriously.
And the 6th one is pretty subjective
And the last part doesn't seem to be true in other developed countries. They have much higher minimum wages, guranteee paid vacation says and sick leave, and have free healthcare and education(at point of service, before a smarta* replies). And the inequality in those countries tends to be much lower than in the US.
You have to raise the minimum wage but not 15. More like 12 bucks you also have to get hours otherwise the minium wage raised won't matter much. If you 3 shifts a week at 4 hours. Which only equals 12 hours a week which is only 24 hours on a paycheck. At that point 30 bucks a hour doesn't do anything
Minimum wage = minimum skills. Or there’s an abundance of people competing for your job. Which is likely because it’s entry level. It’s also likely then that you are replaceable. Enhance your value as an individual therefore your company will pay you more, or you can land a job at a higher pay scale.
My company will follow the minimum wage law; we also will not be hiring anyone.
No minimum wage jobs available. Unskilled or inexperienced workers at the minimum wage level may find it difficult to find employment.
Over the past 30 years we have had to continually replace people with machines to maintain competative pricing. Not because we wanted to; it has been necessary to stay in business and to have any jobs at all.
A 'living' minimum wage of $15 per hour would lead to fewer people qualifying for less or no handouts from the social safety net (ssn) which should lead to lower taxes for the rest of us. The companies will be faced with decisions: do they raise prices to recover this extra cost? Do they absorb it out of profits? Do they find a different way to cut employee costs? They will likely so all three. They will raise prices a bit, they will take a little less profit, and they will seek and develop methods to reduce manpower costs. My lower taxes will allow me to pay the small increment of price increase they will apply with no effect on my lifestyle. On the other hand, if a business is so unprofitable that a rise in minimum wage causes it to close down, it is probably no loss to the system overall. The business volume it accounted for will be spread among its competitors, as will the employees, as those businesses hire more people to handle the extra business. Then there is the ripple effect; as minimum wages rise, workers who formerly made somewhat more than minimum will ask for and receive wage increases as well. The money paid to all of these people, both minimum wage earners and those just a bit higher on the chain, will inevitably be spent as they do not have discretionary income. The money circulating in the system will also lead to more business for the remaining companies. One other factor which I feel is being ignored in these discussions is how the minimum wage workers feel about themselves. Now, they know that they are being paid so little that the ssn is needed to take up the slack. They can't pay their own way. The inference is that they are not worth even the low wages they are receiving, that the employers would pay less if they legally could. What a lousy way to make a fellow human being feel about themselves.
Ok so there needs to be a kinda equivalency between wages and costs of goods in order to keep the money flowing.
If a company increases the cost of goods they need to increase the cost of labor similarly.
It's not rocket science.
So in our current economy and where the value of the dollar is at now, jobs that don't pay a least $15 an hr, especially in places like New York, are pointless.
Better use that time for finding a paying job or moving.
And don't give me that crap saying the problem is about the cost of labor raising the cost of living bc that's not the case here. It's barely a drop in the bucket compared to finance corporations and bankers who are exponentially inflating the dollar and robbing our economy.
Wages need to rise with inflation, in order to keep value.
The middle class needs buying power.
Minimum wage hikes contribute to inflation. I don't get a raise every time the minimum goes up but my dollar is worth less and less. How is that fair? I adjust by not eating out as much so that is less money in the economy as a whole. Wages are nobodies business but the employer and the employee. If someone is willing to work for $1 an hour and can do the job adequately then who are we to say he cannot work? Also, if you think setting minimums helps then why not $100 an hour? The same reason that just popped into your head about how ridiculous that would be is the same reason I think it is ridiculous to pay some kid $10 an hour to push carts around a parking lot.