Posted on 02/01/2021 6:00:06 AM PST by Red Badger
Progressive lawmakers this week formally launched an effort to hike the US minimum wage, introducing legislation to gradually raise it from $7.25 to $15 an hour.
The proposed increase is much larger than those in the recent past, but supporters argue it is warranted because it has been more than a decade since the wage was lifted, and the current minimum wage is too little for life in the United States.
First enacted by Congress in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the wage has been amended several times, most recently in 2007, when Congress voted to lift it gradually from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour.
Since that time, several states and local governments have raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour or to other levels both higher and lower.
Of the 50 states, 21 currently honor the federal level of $7.25, while the remaining states have a higher minimum.
Twenty-five states currently prohibit cities and counties from setting a higher local wage than the state level, according to Resourceful Compliance, which tracks labor law.
Under legislation introduced by Democrats in the House and Senate, the minimum wage would rise to $9.50 an hour three months after the law is enacted, and then to $15 in four intervals over a five-year period.
The proposal also raises base pay for waiters and other employees who rely on tips, and directs the US labor secretary to annually calculate the median hourly wage of all employees.
In years where the median increases, the federal minimum wage would be raised by the same percentage.
Economists have long debated whether the economic lift from boosting workers' purchasing power more than offsets the added wage burden on businesses. There is no consensus on the matter.
"There has been a debate for years," said Gregory Daco, Oxford Economics' chief US economist, noting that some studies have shown it can cause job losses, while others have not.
Even the same study can be interpreted differently.
Critics of the higher wage point to a finding in a 2019 Congressional Budget Office report that said lifting the level to $15 an hour would result in 1.3 million workers losing their jobs.
But defenders of the measure noted that the same report said the proposal would lift 1.3 million people out of poverty and boost wages for as many as 27 million more workers, arguing these benefits more than counter the lost jobs.
There is no consensus regarding the effects, as shown in Seattle, which in 2014 became the first major US city to adopt a $15 minimum wage.
A 2018 study from the University of Washington said the policy reduced total payroll in low-income jobs, with wages rising by three percent but hours dropping by six to seven percent.
But a 2017 study by the University of California, Berkeley found the policy increased wages in the food services industry with no employment loss.
Howard Wright, the chief executive of the Seattle Hospitality Group and the co-author of the 2014 measure, said he largely discounts the conflicting appraisals of the Seattle policy.
"Our economy has been booming so strongly until Covid," said Wright.
The US should stop sending money to poor countries and just tell them to raise their minimum wage…
“All prices will increase to absorb the wage increase”
Don’t forget automation....machines don’t need health insurance and don’t take sick days.....or come in hungover. LOL
“I worked for 50 cents and hour minimum wage in 1971.”
Min wage was 1.45 in 1970= about $10 hr today.
IN 1980 I was offered a job in a warehouse at $7hr -that is about $20hr today Job also had 100% paid health insurance, dental, disbility and a 100% paid employer pension plan.
1/2 the country today is living on subsistence wages and no benfits. No wonder they are voting in socialism.
Wages have been artificially kept down for 30 + years. Something is going break and that break is people voting for Sanders socialism.
It’s not just union jobs that are affected by the increase. I have a neighbor who has mostly conservative ideas but still thinks these increases are a good idea. He’s in management where he works. Years ago we were discussing the $15 min wage and he was for it. He claimed that it wouldn’t affect his company as his company’s stating pay was about $16 per hour ( over twice minimum wage ) at the time. He said “my company doesn’t start people at minimum wage.” But he still couldn’t make the connection that an increase to $15 would automatically put their starting employees just next to min wage. That’s the mindset we’re dealing with.
”defenders of the measure noted that the same report said the proposal would lift 1.3 million people out of poverty and boost wages for as many as 27 million more workers, arguing these benefits more than counter the lost jobs.”
So ... taking from the poor to give to some other poor is good policy. Just wow.
I will argue that while what you say is true, it misses the point.
A rising tide raises all boats.
That is a raise to $15 minimum will induce wage inflation that will induce price inflation all across the board. The inflationary increase may not effect those in the highest wages, I don’t know.
General inflation will follow the minimum wage increase
just imagine..... a covid closed business will have to raise prices even though it has no sales
“The next time some stupid person tells you the minimum wage is a good thing, then suggest: “If increases in the minimum wage are a good thing, let’s make it a great thing and increase it to $2000/hour!” Even the stupidest liberal might get the message.”
Wages hae been kept artifically low over the last 30+ years but price of goods have not.
In 1970 a new car was about a 1/3 of an annual average wage. Now a new cars equals the average annual wage.
People currently above min wage -working for $12-15 hr are not even going paycheck to paychech without food stamps or govt paid utilies, rent assistance etc.
The $15 minimum wage will kill those who have managed to survive the COVID lockdowns.
Just like the Great Depression gave way to the New Deal. This "depression" will give way to the Great Reset.
That was the Federal minimum wage, and did not apply to states, and definitely not to private sector jobs like restaurants.
It applied to Federal jobs and employers for government and military contracts.
We had a state minimum, and when it went to 65 cents an hour I thought I was in heaven! Of course all I bought were 45 rpm records and junk foods and cigs, illegally of course!
Lost jobs and inflation.
By 2026 when fully implemented, that will be the buying power of 7.50 they get today. Nothing changes. Although democrats can brag. Most states are heading towards or already have 15 already.
And those on fixed incomes, such as the elderly, will have less due to the increase in costs of goods and services.......
It's not the job of the government to tell any private sector employer how much they have to pay their employees.....
Yet!..................
Robot lives matter!..............
I know some people who work in the service industry who don’t think this is a great idea. Sure they’d like more money but they know the end result would be less employees working twice as hard. Plus they would have no safety margin of others to be laid off before them if their business slowed down.
Semi related to this is lost in the pandemic, last summer’s high school grads and underemployed college grads job situation disappeared down a memory hole. With the shutdown their prospects had to be bleak.
That’s the real driving force behind Dems push for raising the minimum wage. Many union contracts contain provisions for automatic pay increases tied to increases in the minimum wage.
In any case, that is one of the issues with increasing the minimum wage. Workers currently making above-minimum aren’t going to be satisfied with making minimum under the new rate. If you currently make $13/hr in a state where min wage is $7.50, you probably won’t be happy making $15/hr after the increase (especially when the inflationary effect of the increase kicks in). Either you’d ask for a raise or seek a new higher paying job.
The net macroeconomic effect will be upward pressure on all wages, resulting in commensurate upward pressure on prices, leading to inflation. Once that happens $15/hr no longer will be a sufficient wage so we will end up doing it all over again.
TLDR version: current minwage not enough to live on— raise min wage — new higher min wage causes inflation — new min wage not enough to live on — repeat ad infinitum.
“And those on fixed incomes, such as the elderly, will have less due to the increase in costs of goods and services.......It’s not the job of the government to tell any private sector employer how much they have to pay their employees.....”
Let me guess... you are retired. Go out and get a p/t job. So companies can employee child labor and sweatshop conditions and 18 hour days because that is no different than the gov’t telling companies what they can and can not do with wages.
That's pretty much all myth. There is social mobility and lots of opportunity. Unfortunately we had and will have open borders and an increasing tax and regulatory burden on small businesses. Those are the problems that need to be fixed.
“Our economy has been booming so strongly until Covid,” said Wright.
Thank you, President Trump.....
The last time the minimum wage was increased was 2009. How have those on fixed incomes dealt with the increase in costs of goods and services that weren't caused by wage increases?
How exactly does that happen? Lots of people work low wage and then go get a better job. Is somebody stopping them from doing that?
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