Do you think that folks should make $15.00 an hour in some areas?

[CBDFarm]

This wouldn't effect me but yes. Certain places like California are expensive to like and 9 dollars an hour doesnt cut it. Seattle already did it and business grew... People have more spending power... And people who complain about having to pay 10 employees 5 bucks more an hour shouldnt be in business if thats what breaks there bank.

 

[seaofgreens]

What will happen is automation. Dealing with the logistics of people and their needs is much tougher than a machine which just needs maintenance, is never sick or slow or lazy or unionized etc...

I need to pay 20-25 people 12/hour to get our job done now whereas if I had the money to add machinery for automation, I could cut my crew down to 5 or 6 higher paid, higher skilled people that are much easier to manage. Don't know a single business owner out there that wouldn't do the same. I'm all for a living wage, which is why we pay 12/hour for farm work. But when the labor costs far exceed just buying in some machinery early in a year and making more money by the end of that year with a far more reliable and permanent machine team member, you can bet that this will be what happens.

I definitely feel that everyone deserves a living wage... But machines aren't getting more expensive while people proportionally are. That is just reality. Large companies are going to start pushing towards automation as labor costs proportionally become less attractive.

 

[CarolKing]

It looks like parts of New york will see $15 an hour sooner than CA.

California bill seeking to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour cleared its biggest legislative hurdle on Thursday, winning approval in the state Assembly.

Democrats pushed the bill through in a 48 to 26 vote, with no Republicans voting in favor of it. Opponents said the proposal was rushed through too quickly. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) only unveiled it on Monday. Critics say the wage hikes would cause job losses.

Later Thursday, New York lawmakers also agreed to start raising the minimum wage to $15 under a budget deal. The New York deal would bring the minimum wage to $15 in New York City by the end of 2018, with slower increases elsewhere in the state. [Los Angeles Times, The New York Times]

 

[howie105]

Labor is a resource that can be bought cheaply on the international market and the cheapest source for labor is the 3rd world. So its not hard to tell where the manufacturing jobs have and are going. Combine the labor cost with the ability to move manufacturing installations around the globe relatively easily and cheaply its even easier to watch the jobs bounce along with the labor costs. So unless you want to work for 3rd world wages don't sell yourself as a laborer or get into any other job that can be moved off shore. On the up side it could be worse on the downside it probably will. I will leave the relationship between a meaningful minimum wage and the labor situation to the reader.

 

[farscaper]

All I know is our state required minimum wage is .30 cents more than half 15$ an hour. ... we are said to have a lower cost of living therfore we require less wages... of course the ratio of people literally living in what are considered by most of the people now making 15$ an hour minimum to be poverty stricken conditions is far greater.... how many of you could see yourself in a pleasant situation on 18k with a family of 5?
Shit ain't easy..... money doesn't even exist and we're still all bent out of shape.

 

[CarolKing]

Most of the time you need two working wages to make ends meet. That means at least 2 people making $15 an hour at the least. But in 6 years folks will need to make more than that. Depending on of course where you live. CA and NY are expensive areas, so is Seattle in my state.

Your employer also needs to help pay for the workers health insurance. In WA state low income families get free insurance for their children under the age of 18. It's been that way since way before Obamacare.

This is under another subject, some of the southern states have refused money for their citizens to get free insurance. That is a tragedy IMO.

 

[phattpiggie]

I can't explain myself very well on this subject so after a lot of thought I came up with this.

It is a thoroughly disgusting situation that in 2016 in the so called 'developed nations' people still go hungry, lose their homes, die of the cold and the subject of a 'minimum wage' even raise it's ugly head.

As an example, how can it be okay for the likes of Bernie Ecclestone's wife to spend £12/$17 million on their daughters wedding but not allow the less well off the ability to earn more. Fingers crossed the little fuk has to pay back £2/$3 billion in taxes. He is just one example of this we all know of others.
It's still money being spent how can it not have the same effect as giving more people a little bit extra?

It's wrong, very wrong. I can earn good money in my profession and I always make sure that anyone who comes to work for me gets a good wage. I usually pay my laborers £10/$16 an hour. If they work hard and we get done I don't mind they deserve it. If they don't work hard or end up with me having to go round behind them checking they did a good job they don't work for me again.

It's 2016 FFS not 1816. Everyone has a right to have a decent standard of living and not just survive.

 

[Traaaaan]

I can understand that people need to start somewhere. $15/hr sounds like a lot... Some kid working at a snack stand should not be making that much.

 

[jim-bob]

Why not?

 

[herbivore21]

I can understand that people need to start somewhere. $15/hr sounds like a lot... Some kid working at a snack stand should not be making that much.

Why not man?

 

[HomeFree]

IMO higher wages means less jobs, not only that but probably decreased purchasing power as average wages rise, I think prices for everything including food and rent will rise as well. Also, if someone doesn't like how much they are paid, they can ask for a raise or look for a new job and branch out some. If you do a good job, and are not paid what you should be, check other employers. This will also hit the scrooges in the pocketbook when they lose all their good help, which will help businesses who do pay well for good help. Then only crummy workers are left which is like a death knell to a business. My employer pays another $1 an hour for an equivalent job, and has amazing benefits as well. This is probably not a very popular point of view though. I apologize if I have offended anyone, but it is just my opinion - does not mean it is correct. Actually looks like some agree. Glad I am not alone.

$15 an hour is a joke in most populated areas of California. There is no way I could live off that unless I had no children and rented a room or something at the most. $15/hr is awful. If it were under the table it would be a good bit better, but you also would not have health coverage. In some places you can be in poverty making under 6 figures, and I'm not talking about beverly hills or anything like that. Gotta have 2 incomes these days.

 

[grokit]

There's going to be less jobs anyways. Raising the minimum wage should be just the start; we will all need a guaranteed basic income within the next generation or two to avoid a socioeconomic catastrophe.

 

[herbivore21]

IMO higher wages means less jobs, not only that but probably decreased purchasing power as average wages rise, I think prices for everything including food and rent will rise as well. Also, if someone doesn't like how much they are paid, they can ask for a raise or look for a new job and branch out some. If you do a good job, and are not paid what you should be, check other employers. This will also hit the scrooges in the pocketbook when they lose all their good help, which will help businesses who do pay well for good help. Then only crummy workers are left which is like a death knell to a business. My employer pays another $1 an hour for an equivalent job, and has amazing benefits as well. This is probably not a very popular point of view though. I apologize if I have offended anyone, but it is just my opinion - does not mean it is correct. Actually looks like some agree. Glad I am not alone.

$15 an hour is a joke in most populated areas of California. There is no way I could live off that unless I had no children and rented a room or something at the most. $15/hr is awful. If it were under the table it would be a good bit better, but you also would not have health coverage. In some places you can be in poverty making under 6 figures, and I'm not talking about beverly hills or anything like that. Gotta have 2 incomes these days.

Bro that last sentence sums up the problem so well!

Sadly, for people flying solo with chronic illnesses like me who live alone and gotta support themselves, basically every year is a growing deficit of working hours lost to illness. Subsequent loss of income and in the past loss of jobs are all part of the territory for folks like me.

Some of us live in isolation due to circumstances beyond our control (and that already that make life harder in many other aspects without being fucking poor!). We still gotta be able to make ends meet too!

There must be a minimum wage that allows a single person working full time on this amount to be able to afford the bare basics of living. Food, clothing and somewhere to live that meets basic standards of safety, security with at least the most basic of functioning amenities/utilities are the bare minimum IMO.

In my view, if you hire someone full time and don't pay them enough to cover these basic needs, then you are a true piece of shit. Beyond despicable.

Nothing is more demeaning to human dignity than making a man (or woman!) work all of their productive working hours for all of the productive working days of their lives only to leave them to struggle and stress about how they're gonna survive in the few remaining hours that they have to themselves each week.

 

[CBDFarm]

Bro that last sentence sums up the problem so well!

Sadly, for people flying solo with chronic illnesses like me who live alone and gotta support themselves, basically every year is a growing deficit of working hours lost to illness. Subsequent loss of income and in the past loss of jobs are all part of the territory for folks like me.

Some of us live in isolation due to circumstances beyond our control (and that already that make life harder in many other aspects without being fucking poor!). We still gotta be able to make ends meet too!

There must be a minimum wage that allows a single person working full time on this amount to be able to afford the bare basics of living. Food, clothing and somewhere to live that meets basic standards of safety, security with at least the most basic of functioning amenities/utilities are the bare minimum IMO.

In my view, if you hire someone full time and don't pay them enough to cover these basic needs, then you are a true piece of shit. Beyond despicable.

Nothing is more demeaning to human dignity than making a man (or woman!) work all of their productive working hours for all of the productive working days of their lives only to leave them to struggle and stress about how they're gonna survive in the few remaining hours that they have to themselves each week.

Sadly greed causes people to turn a blind eye to this.

 

[His_Highness]

If a 16 year old starts making $15 an hour/$30,000 a year .... it won't be long before the adult trying to support themselves will find that $15 isn't enough anymore. The adult then requires a proportional raise to survive. Why will this happen?

Imagine you're an employer paying a 16 year old $7.25 and the 16 year old's manager $15.00 an hour and then the 16 year old is given a raise to $15.00. Now the manager and the 16 year old make the same wage. Something has to give right?

If everyone is making a minimum of $30,000 a year the cost of everything will rise right along with the wage because the supply and demand curve for 'stuff' will become demand heavy. For example: If more people can afford to buy a new car the cost for cars will rise over time unless we also force car makers to NOT raise their prices. BUT they have to raise their prices because everyone's wages have gone up and they can't afford to sell cars at the old prices AND pay their employees the proportional increase.

So everyone's wages begin to rise till that $15 minimum is no longer enough to survive on.

I hope we're not forgetting that person who has been retired for 10 years who suddenly finds out that planning to live on $30,000 a year plus SSI isn't enough anymore because that $30,000 is what his grandson makes flipping burgers and has become too little to live on. The 16 year old making $15 an hour will be happy ....... until his grandfather has to move in and share his room.

I don't know what the answer is here....I guess we could raise the minimum every few years and find another mathematical model to take care of the retired.

 

[stinkytofus]

They should without price increases on menus, if wages go up for the state and menu goes up for that particular state as well.... It just evens out anyway and everything will seem more expensive while being... The same