Posted on 07/11/2006 12:18:22 AM PDT by napscoordinator
Gov. Ed Rendell on Sunday signed legislation increasing Pennsylvania's minimum wage by $2 per hour, a change that will affect hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers as the change is phased in over the next two years.
''Too many Pennsylvanians have been working full-time and still living well below the poverty level at today's federal minimum wage,'' said Rendell, who signed the bill at Sharon Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
Mobile News | Subscribe Online | Order Reprints Under the new law, Pennsylvania's minimum wage will rise to $6.25 an hour Jan. 1, then to $7.15 an hour July 1.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcall.com ...
Get ready for the $6 Big Macs ...
Since when is $7.15 considered a "liveable wage?" If they were truly worried about a "liveable wage," wouldn't they raise the minimum wage to at least $32 and hour?
Smoke and mirrors, but it sure buys the votes, doesn't it?
"said Rendell, who signed the bill at Sharon Baptist Church in Philadelphia"
What happened to separation of church and state...signing a bill while at a church???
In a related story, 10% of all McDonalds workers were downsized (pun intended) to make up the minimum wage increase.
Speaking of the $6.00 burger, Carls Jr. advertises the $6.00 burger (what you get in other places for $6.00, we sell for $4.95). By the time you ger fries and a soda, the bill is $6.95. And don't try to supersize it, or add bacon, cheese etc. It could exceed $9.00.
Wow - this could turn out real bad if businesses start hiring EVEN MORE illegals ...
The pols know best, never having run a business in their lives. /sarc
Oh, that only applies to Republicans. And besides, Rendell is Jewish.
WRONG! This will affect everyone in Pennsylvania. Businesses will raise prices and/or layoff employees, some of the same employees they're pretending to help.
Which will in turn hurt employees and customers. Wonder what Fast Eddie's going to do for the folks getting pink slipped? For the ones having a hard time finding another service job because there are fewer jobs available?
Rendell continues to take actions consistent with those of a leftist socialist revolutionary! Economics 101 should be a required course for elected officials. Will the mainstream media interview all of those who lose their jobs as a result? And post front page human-interest stories about jobs and opportunities lost? Will they mention that jobs affected are largely temporary, not career, as people seek work and continue to improve themselves and their lives? Has Rendell identified from what source the additional dollars will come, maybe his own pocket? Ha! What a jerk!
What is needed, is some large employer of min-wage workers (McDonald's, say) to step up THIS WEEK, and announce that they are laying off X number of employees, and raising prices. If McD,s and BK, and such places did it publicly, it would make an easier connection in the public's eye, and Rendell (and the legislature) wold have to face the consequences of their actions.
There should be no worry of job shortages because I read all the time of the hundreds of thousands new jobs created. Plus, if there weren't any jobs available, would our government continue letting millions of illegals to cross our borders? (/sarcasm)
Rendell would have had no minimum wage bill to sign if the Republican-controlled House and Senate had not passed it first.
Another piece of bad legislation in a state famous for it.
Obviously, the population in PA was not declining fast enough?
HARRISBURG — The proposed legislative effort to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage could lead to a catastrophic $350 million hit on the Pennsylvania economy and the loss of 10,000 jobs, according to a study commissioned by the Commonwealth Foundation and the Washington, DC-based Employment Policies Institute (EPI).
“The most troubling consequence of artificially increasing the cost of labor in Pennsylvania is that it hurts the very people that minimum wage proponents purport to be helping,” said Matthew Brouillette, president of the Commonwealth Foundation, an public policy research and education institute located in Harrisburg.
The study, The Effects of the Proposed Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Increase by leading labor economist Dr. David A. Macpherson from Florida State University, found that more than 2,800 jobs would be lost for people earning less than $25,000, if a proposal in the General Assembly were enacted. Although most of the economic cost in Pennsylvania, $262.7 million, would stem from increased labor costs to employers, a significant portion, $86.7 million, would result from the lost income from the thousands of employees who stand to lose their jobs.
The study affirms what many economists have previously noted—artificial increases in the wage floor are a blunt and ineffective means of assisting low-income employees because of the simple fact that most minimum wage earners aren’t poor. Only 10% of Pennsylvania’s minimum wage earners are the sole earner in a family with kids. Over half (56.2%) are under 24, and 45.9% still live with their parents. Nearly two-thirds (65%) are part-time employees. The Commonwealth Foundation/EPI study also found that the average family income of minimum wage employees in Pennsylvania is nearly $50,000. "
source: Commonwealth Foundation
In this day and age, what will happen is that companies will get rid of the lower paying jobs, have the higher paid hourly workers take on more work that they don't have the time now to do, and not increase current salaries by very much any more. Instead of 3-4-5 % merit raises, the excellent employees will get about 1 to 1 1/2%.
Democrats are mental retards when it comes to economics, business accounting and math.
Republicans in Pennsylvania are all lily-livered Rinos. Their backbones are the consistency of jelly fish.
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