Posted on 06/04/2005 6:57:27 PM PDT by Tarantulas
There is obviously only one way to solve this problem. Drug test the kids, and give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.
Wow ridiculously high minimum wage??? It's something like five and a half here in NY. Imagine what that is after taxes. It's not high at all.
You could also have a surplus of BMWs by bringing 100,000 of them into a market that only had 10,000 buyers. I suppose you could sell all 100,000 of them for $10 each but what would be the point? They cost more than $10 to make.
That is essentially the situation in Mexico. People there are working for maybe $5 per day and they still are facing massive unemployment (around 25%). The cost of living in Mexico is cheaper than here but even there, $5 does not go very far. If the wage drops below $0.40 per hour there is not much point in working because you are going to starve whether you work or sit.
I'm sure if we eliminated the minimum wage somebody would create jobs for our kids at the Mexican $0.40 per hour labor rate. I would frankly rather have a tight labor market where the minimum wage was a non-issue because everybody was earning more. This can be made to happen by limiting the supply of illegal workers.
Lucky you! But your lawn care kid is 17 - you'll see what it's like to find another in the next year.
I used to hire teens for lawn care and snow shoveling. They won't do it anymore. I'd hire a teen in a nanosecond. But now I have to hire services, and they send out Hispanics. Do I know if they are legal? No, but they do a good job, and I don't have an alternative.
I think this is a bigger issue here. High school dropouts tend to not be highly valued employees. I mean, if you can't finish high school, what *can* you do? Don't drop out of high school and then come crying that you can't find a job! High school dropouts enjoy no competitive advantages in the job marketplace whatsoever.
If they paid Americans a decent wage, they'd do the work.
Here here sunnyD! Our economic policies, if they continue, will create more of a need for socialist welfare programs.
EXACTLY RIGHT.
a job as a waiter/waitress used to be something young people did - summer job, part time, working through school. nows its a career for people, its actually one of the better paying professions out there.
The price determines the number of buyers. Do you posit there is no demand for more work to be done in the U.S.? I can think of no end to the things I'd like to have done, the only sticking point is the price of labor to achieve those acts. The Demand for labor is infinite, it's price that determines how much labor is employed (cleared from the marketplace supply pool).
I'm sure if we eliminated the minimum wage somebody would create jobs for our kids at the Mexican $0.40 per hour labor rate.
Kids wouldn't take them, since they can find more productive employment already. Even with no minimum wage I wouldn't be able to find someone interested in mowing my lawn for $0.40. 10 year olds want at least $10 for the job. The marginal utility of their free time is held in higher esteem by them.
Our employees are all legal and I won't touch a white kid with a ten foot pole! I tried that and they can barely wipe their *%*% without needing someone to help them. Frankly, our experience has been that if you need to have a solid day's work doing steady repetitive things, forget anyone with a so-called education from our schools, hire a LEGAL immigrant and then ask them to refer their LEGAL friends - they're glad to have the work!
I'm doing my very first job this year, working as a councelor-in-training at Camp Summit. I'm a teenager (15), and a job as important as this really does make you mature. :)
Why is there ever unemployment then in a place like Mexico with no minimum wage? Why is the entire third world teaming with unemployed? We experienced a period like this in America to in the 1930s. If the demand for labor is infinite, it makes no sense that there would be anybody unemployed.
At some point, the market becomes so flooded with labor that nobody needs more at any price. It becomes like selling snow to Eskimos. They already have plenty.
Oh really, and what do teens have to offer for a better wage?
For a teenager with nothing much to offer an employer?
Local fast food joint I've visited is 90% Mexican and the rest is broken down by asian, black and only two white people.
I see your point, but given a chance employers will pay people as little as possible for the maximum amount of work. When was the last time you had a entry level job? You'd be surprised what employers are trying to get away with.
Oh I know it. I consider myself very lucky to have him around. Even his little brother will pitch in once in a while. I keep checking in with him, to see if he's too busy with school, football, ect...he likes the extra cash. I'll miss him when he goes away to college!
But now I have to hire services, and they send out Hispanics. Do I know if they are legal? No, but they do a good job, and I don't have an alternative.
I just got a flyer for lawn services, and it says "We Speak English, and we actually show up!"
Once Ryan goes off to college, they'll be next on my list!
"Oh really, and what do teens have to offer for a better wage?"
Work. I have watched teens work in yards pulling weeds for $6 an hour around here. It is very hard work. So is working in agricultural fields in the sun. Try it sometime if you don't think unskilled labor deserves a fair wage.
"I see your point, but given a chance employers will pay people as little as possible for the maximum amount of work. When was the last time you had a entry level job? You'd be surprised what employers are trying to get away with."
Excellent point. There are countless examples that abound. My best friend works in a mom and pop store. She is off the clock at closing time, but is expected to have all the cleaning and meat cutting (for the deli) done before the end of her shift. The problem is that she is there alone, and from 5-9, she is very busy. She hasn't the time to get these things done, so she stays at least an hour every day, unpaid, after work to get everything done. To add insult to injury, she makes minimum and the boss will not allow her to work the day shift because he says "she's better on the night shift." In truth, he knows he can get one hour of free labor out of her at the end of her shift. He won't even take into consideration that her retarded brother needs her home at 4 when he returns from day care.
I once cleaned this lady's house for extra money once a month. She paid me $10 an hour. She always had me to her windows, even if it was over 100 degrees outside. Some of these windows required climbing through thorny bushes or getting on a ladder to get to. Then after that, scrubbing rock floors on my hands and knees or standing on a ladder cleaning her ceilings. I had to take prescription strength drugs or drink a half a bottle of wine to walk without pain afterwards. After I found out she and her husband's combined income was $150,000 per year, I quit. This woman would make sure she got 5 hours of labor exactly and never gave me a penny over what she owed me. No bonus at Christmas either.
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