Posted on 07/08/2016 6:21:06 AM PDT by The Working Man
Most labor shortages can be solved by raising wages. But how high do the wages need to go? With how well not-working pays some products and services are priced out of existence due to the increasing labor cost it takes to match all of the freebies.
I have a product that makes money and justifies investment but only so long as my labor costs, total costs all in with taxes benefits regulatory overhead threat of lawsuits lawyer harassment etc, of $40/hr. (the worker sees about 35% of that in cash after his own deductions). Much higher than that and I cannot justify hiring someone.
So the Democrats are right? Just raise the minimum wage and unemployment will drop?
$10.10/hr is a pretty low wage for that kind of work.
My kid gets $12.50/hr for receiving at a warehouse for a temporary summer job.
Normally the free market would eventually win out. But it is currently distorted by minimum wage, foreign workers, and welfare.
What do you mean most have fled out of the country?
They had that many illegals working there?
I popped in here for a minute from working here in the fields, To answer your question, there were many clothing factories in the tri-state area. Fruit of the loom had several, Oshkosh as well as several other textile oriented industries including making shoes and boots.
Now though... they are gone to Mexico and elsewhere.
>>So the Democrats are right? Just raise the minimum wage and unemployment will drop?
I guess something got lost in the translation. The article is about a business owner saying that he can’t find people to work. It’s not about national unemployment. If you can’t find workers, perhaps paying more will encourage people to move towards your business. Google “supply and demand” for details on how that works. Basically, it says that when demand is greater than supply, prices (or wages when talking about jobs) will increase to a new equilibrium level.
No need for a supply and demand lecture. Are also familiar with the concept of elasticity of demand and diminishing marginal utility? It may be more than a casual Google read.
There is a limit to what any consumer will pay and their are limits to how much they will consume. Some jobs do not exist at higher wages because the higher wages causes the services or goods to priced too high. Therefore higher wages may help in attracting workers but it will also limit the number of jobs available. The equilibrium level may be an overall lower level of employment.
This owner would probably pay more if he could afford to. Why would he give up sales and profits if simply raising wages was the answer?
Why is it that with all of the jobless people we have in this country jobs go unfilled?
Oh I see.....the jobs have left the country....my bad
If a product demand goes down to a point where consumers are unwilling to pay enough to cover the prevailing wage and other costs of production then that product is unnecessary and should go out of production. The capital realized in liquidation should be used to start another more fruitful enterprise.
>>Why would he give up sales and profits if simply raising wages was the answer?
Read the article. He’s already giving up sales and profits by not having sufficient staff.
That isn’t fair. People who ingest marijuana products will always test positive. Some don’t get you high. You can have a few beers after work and still get a job.
Assuming the product is needed or desired at all, its demand is flexible based on price. There is more demand for burgers at $0.50/burger than for burgers at $5.00/burger. So there are more jobs at the low end and less jobs at the high end and it has nothing to do with people not demanding burgers. At some point, say $20/burger no one buys burgers.
Demand decreases as price increases. So now you only want goods and service to be offered if they support a prevailing wage. So if the prevailing wage (however it is defined) is say $15/hr. Then burger flipping jobs should be eliminated if they don’t support $15 since there is a limit to how much people will pay for a burger.
Maybe Pelosi burgers can support paying prevailing wages but most burgers do not.
I’m over 40 with a masters degree but hadn’t worked in 25 years, was a mom raising 4 kids. I applied to about 1000 jobs and only got 2 responses, for a holiday temp, and one bakery job that was too far away.
Hire older people. We don’t go out and party all night. We have wisdom. Hire us. But they don’t.
Lol
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