All this would be great if inflation wasn’t offsetting the wage growth. Housing as one example has went up 46% in my area. Wages definitely haven’t done that. In the 70’s and 80’s wages were also offset by high inflation. This is not a win by any means. The long term numbers will tell the story. There is still much that can not be seen. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ma...t-leaving-workers-much-better-off-11633716685
I'm not going to get into a pissing match with you but I do work in one of the most automated factories in the world. Yes, people were replaced but they were given several years of warning that they needed to upgrade their skills. Those that did had a job.
Min wage is not the only factor driving inflation. Government interference is artificial and so far, no one has been able to make a case that the workers are better off as a result. Los Angeles went to $15. over a year ago. Not only did costs go up, companies are relocating and automating. I went to McDonalds for a coffee (I would never eat there) and cashiers have been replaced by touch screen. The two parking attendants in my office building have been replaced with a pay terminal. Self-checkout and Amazon Fresh stores are taking over.
There are two possible outcomes: if it offsets them we're back where we started. If it doesn't, then it will be, to use your word, great! I doubt very much that people will just go back to working 2 or 3 jobs. Or to taking a job that doesn't pay them anything even close to a living wage.
There is a third option, buying power goes down. But yes, if it turns out for the better I will agree that it will be a great thing. I personally haven’t had a raise in over a decade so if it hits me I will be happy to some extent specially being the cost of living in the last decade has been far greater than my wage growth.
Right back to that age old question: who is responsible for growth of a person's skillset. Why have you completely sidestepped the idea that each person is responsible for their own growth in the employment markets?
What the hell are you talking about? WHO is sitting at home? And you don't have to pay anybody. If you think what you're buying is too expensive... don't
What the f.... hell does "growth of a person's skillset" have to do with any of this. If you are hired to flip burgers 40 hours a week and you do that, you deserve a living wage. If you don't have the skillset to do that, you get fired. That's how capitalism works. "Growth" has absolutely nothing to do with this thread. Point of this thread is that it looks like this is finally starting to work the way it should. I don't know what's going on in your head, but your comments are making less and less sense.
We'll have to disagree. A wage rate freely accepted by an employee is his/her responsibility exclusively. There can be no exploitation in a contract freely entered into.
Ya f that. Get a skill and better yourself. Otherwise get eaten in the real world. Flipping burgers is not a skill. Nor is it manually taxing. Besides! They have machines that can do it now. Maybe learn to repair the robot who can flip burgers?
Only the tax man is better off. Workers get screwed. Thats a good reason to limit government interference.
Personal growth. If you (generic) don't bother to do anything to increase your value (growth) then you (generic) will continue to be nothing but a minimum wage worker. That does not equate to being paid 'a living wage', whatever that may actually be. Personal growth has everything to do with it. If you (generic) don't bother with improving your skill set, why should an employer pay you more than your production is worth? Your inability to understand what 'growth' has to do with wages, and the value of those wages in the marketplace is not my problem, but it likely explains why you feel employers are responsible in paying people what they deem 'a living wage'.
about 5% of the labor force is sitting at home from 2000 levels and down 2% from 2019. https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/labor-force-participation-rate Also, when you have to pay taxes and everyone is getting "free money" from the government, where do you suppose that money is coming from? Yes, the IRS does say that I have to pay. What I'm getting for my tax money is way too expensive and I can't choose to not buy it.
https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2019/ But more importantly. Today, in my state (Iowa) you can make up to $22.00 per hour with a family of 4 and still be eligible for food stamps. Now think about how many people make less than $22.00 per hour ? THAT requires government subsidies just to eat !
Companies are not relocating from California because of the $15 minimum wage. They are relocating because of the heavy tax burdon (California is a cluster%^&*) Self checkouts wont last. People in the midwest absolutely refuse to use them. Places like Lowes and HD are now trying to force people to use them by making them the only things open. I cant tell you how many times I have gone to one of them and there were products just left on the floor as people realize they have to use them and they drop their products and walk out. If Big business had their way they would just have parking lots full of tractor trailers and have you walk in them, unbox your purchases and unload them off the truck yourself, take them to the self checkouts, scan them, pay for them, bag them, and then be asked to leave a tip for "Jerrys Kids". At some point the "self service" model is going to implode. You cant have customers if nobody has a job to buy the goods you sell. And yes, the government did "interfere" in the economy last year. They had no choice. And remember, the right supported it when it was Trump sending out that money. Now all the sudden they are all about taking that back now that it will hurt Joe Biden. But by all means take it back, and watch the economy implode like we have never seen in our history. Right now there is a reckoning in this country. People are leaving, or not returning to their low wage jobs. They understand that the low wage jobs weren't worth it, and now companies are going to have to compete. The pandemic changed many peoples views on life, and the quality of life they had before the pandemic was worse than what they had during the pandemic. They are asking themselves if they can downsize, and do without some things, all in the name of a better quality of life. And the answer is turning out to be a yes.
Why do you think that it's not worth it? People still have to eat. If the government wasn't pumping money into their pockets, the would take whatever job they could get.
