Posted on 03/13/2014 1:29:10 PM PDT by MichCapCon
According to MIRS News, the backers of the ballot proposal that would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, "said the change would raise wages for about 940,000 people in Michigan, or 24 percent of workers."
That number is reached by looking at the number of workers currently making less than $10.10 per hour, adding in hundreds of thousands of other employees, assuming they will also get a raise and pretending that mandating a 36 percent increase in labor costs would have no effect on employment.
If that's the kind of economics minimum wage backers believe in, they are cruel to ask for only $10.10 per hour. Raising the minimum wage to $20 per hour would "affect" even more employees; $100 per hour would "raise wages" for virtually all Michigan workers.
The reason those amounts aren't called for is that it is well understood that there would be mass unemployment, skyrocketing prices and tremendous economic harm. Though not as bad, there are negative economic effects when the government institutes wage mandates at lower levels, like the $10.10 per hour, as well.
Specifically, this harms younger and lower-skilled workers. As economist Thomas Sowell has noted, before a federal minimum wage, the labor force participation for African-Americans was equal to whites. In the 1930s, just before the federal government set a minimum wage for the first time, African-Americans actually had a lower unemployment rate than whites. Today, the rate is twice as high, and even worse for young people.
Every worker starts at a job somewhere, hoping to gain skills and experience to work their way up. The state should not make it harder for workers to get that start.
Yeah, what they never tell you is all this is to help the unions. They don’t care squat about real minimum wage workers other than the propaganda value. But almost all union wage contracts are pegged to the minimum wage. If the minimum wage goes up, the union wage scale automatically goes up by an equivalent amount.
Minimum wage is nothing but a stupid, socialist bad idea.
However, looking back to perhaps, the Victorian era, taking inflation into account, an unskilled worker should be making around $70 an hour now. A skilled worker, such as a millwright, carpenter, electrician, etc., should be making around $120 per hour.
The only compensated position that seems to have kept up with inflation is that of CEOs.
Oh really? Then maybe this humble engineer should be making $250/hr.
I’m happy with my $25, because I can do very, very well on it.
Yes.
But what we SHOULD hammer on is how minimum wage has fueled the boom in illegal aliens.
Get rid of MW, and illegal invasion will stop. Small businesses won’t feel the need to surreptiously hire cheap people under the table.
This is one of my peeves. One one hand “they” want to raise the minimum wage (living wage or whatever phony marxist idea comes up) and then on the other hand wink and nod and support illegal “cheap” labor.
Can’t have both.
This move will NOT raise the wages of 940,000 employees. It will result in the increase of wages to some of the people, others will be reduced to part-time status or laid off entirely. Certainly most of the new hires will be halted.
Wages in an arm’s length transaction are determined by how much value the employee can bring to the task to be done. Increases of the wage rates are a function of increases in productivity. If the employee is not earning enough for the employer to justify the cost of keeping the employee on the payroll, the reason for the position ceases to exist.
Automation is not the reason for lay-offs, it is the response to excessively high wages in relation to the productivity slacking off. Automation restores productivity, with or without the employee being present.
Read here that for every .25 cent increase in the minimum wage, the UAW raises their minimum by .75 cents. Explains plenty.
Exactly—this is all about throwing bones to the unions in an election year.
Yup, $250/hr sounds about right.
In the Victorian era, an engineer would live in a large house with several servants, and his wife would not work outside the home.
Gosh, how do you get by on just $25 an hour?
While if I had to, I could be frugal and get by on far less than that(and I have) 25 bucks an hour these days doesn't go far.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.