Posted on 07/10/2009 10:36:14 AM PDT by EagleUSA
Federal wage floor will rise to $7.25 an hour on July 24. Hike will be felt in 29 states. Can the job market handle it?
The federal minimum wage is set to increase later this month as the job market shows signs of further decay.
The federal minimum wage will go to $7.25 an hour on July 24 from its current level of $6.55, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The impact will be felt in 29 states, and many of them plan to match the federal minimum when it goes through.
Seven states already have laws mandating $7.25 minimum pay, while 14 states and Washington, D.C., exceed the new minimum. Employers are required to pay whichever is the highest: Federal or state.
Last July, the wage floor was raised from $5.85 per hour. The increases were mandated by a bill passed by Congress in 2007, when the minimum was $5.15 an hour, where it had stayed for years.
But the next increase is set to occur as the job market is reeling under high unemployment and ongoing payroll cuts.
Unemployment has increased for nine months straight, achieving a 26-year high of 9.5% in June, according to the Labor Department.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
The last increase was July 2008.
Let’s just watch the unemployment numbers for July 2009.
Of course, the ‘progressives’ will never equal minimum wage increases with unemployment. Will they?
What’s scary is the union contracts that go up proportionately with the minimum wage increases. That caused cost for everyone to go up.
Do they really still think we can inflate our way out of this depression?
I’d say September will be more telling, with all the summer help going back to school. If it’s still going up then, we’re REALLY screwed.
I fully expect unemployment to be 12% of the end of Sept. This does not help at all!
If 21 states already exceed the new maximum, then it’s not going to have that big of impact.
The only way we are going to compete against China and $2 a day wages is to reduce ourselves to a third world country or automate enough that unskilled labor wages are not a consideration. That will bring production back to America.
Eliminating the minimum wage isn’t going to do it.
Increases in minimum wages will bring increases in union dues, increase in product prices and higher taxes on companies. The goal is to spend our way out of our problems but it won’t work unless you leave it up to the working people. Take more money away from the work force and you have more control by the government.
The Federal government as well as the several states do indeed have the power to mandate a minimum wage.
AT THE MOMENT, neither the Feds nor the States have the power to make business hire ANYONE.
To sum it up..the person at the lowest end of the scale will be told that he will now receive a HIGHER wage at the job the government has just destroyed. He still has nothing.
Somebody is nuts.
The call is for another major downturn in Oct 2009.
“Smart move. Against capitalism, that is. Drive more jobs offshore. Close down more small business. Reduce the tax base.”
Marxism/Obamism 101.
This should drive unemployment and inflation through the roof and put us well down the road to a thirties style depression.
All this really makes one want to get out there, start a business and create jobs, doesn’t it?
High minimum wage = high unemployment
http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/153901_unemploy26.html
Excerpt:
Oregon, Washington and Alaska are among the five states with the highest unemployment rates. It is perhaps no coincidence that these three states have the highest state minimum wages in the nation.
Obama Economics to its logical extreme: Minimum wage = $250,000. We’re all rich. Tax it all away.
Most of the higher wage positions increase accordingly also, but the MSM don’t know this, don’t tell them, they’re on their way down, don’t stand in their way.
That’s a good quote - please don’t read it if you’re holding liquids in your mouth:
(Higher wages increase worker productivity, reduce costly turnover and reduce dependence on government assistance, Goldberg said.)
They’re paying people $9 or $10 an hour to work at Taco Bell and Dairy Queen here in central Texas. I don’t think anyone works for $7.25 around here.
Thats probably the truth. There are studies that show that.
parsy, who thinks minwage needs to go higher over the next few years.
Most people do make more than minwage. That is why much of the fuss over it is a tempest in teapot. The real concern is the wages over minwage that are still not livable.
parsy, who would love to tear into this one but is still tied up on another thread about the same thing.
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