Raise in Minimum Wage Does Not Mean Rise in Unemployment

"I actually saw someone say that if a person wants to make more money then they should go to school and work hard and get a better job." Are you saying that's not the American dream? "School is REALLY expensive. I come from an upper middle class family and we still could barely afford it." I'm not sure where you went to school, but there are inexpensive schools out there. I did my first years at a community college for about $40 a credit hour and did the last two years of my bachelors degree paying about $80 a credit hour at a 4 year state college. I got help from my job which offered a fair bit of tuition reimbursement to help me along, but I still paid my way through. My Masters degree was a lot more expensive. It cost about $270 a credit hour. I took out student loans to help with that. The job I had at the time offered 50% reimbursement for one class and the rest came out of my loans. My point is, ANYONE can do what I did. There's no reason anyone can't take out student loans to help them get through college. With internet courses available at so many colleges you don't even need transportation to get to class anymore. The simple fact is, this is the land of opportunity. ANYONE can make something of themselves and people from the worst economic backgrounds have done it. You talk about feeding a family on minimum wage. I have to ask what choices a person made to be an adult with a family to care for on ONE person's income with only minimum wage. Our lives are a series of choices and I believe in people taking responsibility for those choices. It's not my job to bail people out because they don't qualify for better jobs.

There are many issues that liveable wages can make better that you do not consider taskr. First if only one parent has to work than perhaps they can do their job of parenting better, lessening the chance their kids will wind up costing tax payers money through various avenues. Lower crime rates would likely result because of a multitude of factors, this would reduce tax stress on many fronts. Better educations for children of minimum wage workers would likely result, meaning that kid who could turn out to be the surgeon that saves your life will likely be there. Ultimately societies and governments can not funtion when rich/poor gaps become too wide. No matter your stance on this issue it is in your interest to have a semblence of equity.

katran: I see you point with the school issue. So,you come from an upper middle class family which makes it very difficult to afford college while lower income people get grants and higher income have no difficulties paying. We need national education at the college level that is paid for no matter income level if it is shown that the student can do the work. "Let them eat cake" is how we end of one of the most violent societies in history.

If you have lived it, you do realize the anti-motivational effect it can have. I think health care costs hurt American business much more than a raise in minimum wage ever would and data backs it up.

Anti-motivational my butt. Working for minimum wage when I was 17 motivated me to leave and get a better job. Not being satisfied with the wages I made and raises I received at that job motivated me to get myself through college so I could EARN a living wage. If you want better than minimum wage, you need to earn it.

Teenagers don't deserve a living wage. They are teenagers and for the majority of them, they aren't worth a living wage. I've been a teenager, I've worked with teenagers, and I've been a manager that had to put up with teenage workers. Some are good, but the vast majority aren't worth any more than what they are getting paid. The minimum wage workers that aren't teenager are typically retired folk who just like having a low stress job that puts a little extra spending money in their pockets. Here's a rundown from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. You'll notice that "About 2 percent of workers age 25 and over earned the minimum wage or less." I don't we should all have to foot the bill for that 2% who lack the drive to better themselves. http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2002.htm

Well Miami has a higher minimum wage than the rest of Florida, yet we also have the highest poverty rate in Florida and the 5th highest poverty rate in the country so tell me, what exactly is raising minimum wage doing for this dump of a city? What it's causing is a decrease in wages for other jobs to compensate. "For example, a sales position that a year ago offered a $60,000 base salary that could grow to $150,000 with commissions has turned into a $35,000 entry-level job with earning potential of only $60,000 or $70,000." http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/yourmoney/sfl-paycut-072409,0,5477660.story The money to pay for increases in minimum wage comes from everybody making ABOVE minimum wage.

The wage declines outlined in the link you provided may be more to do with a tight job market than min wage. At any rate, raising min wage does not always equal higher unemployment or drop in other wages as links I provided point out. Personally I feel we need to adopt more strict wage requirements on all levels. This would increase the chance of having a real republic, decreasing influence of cprs on decisions. I'm not saying everyone should make the same but standards need to be set...oh that sounds like the dreaded S word. Issues are not simple or straightforward.

"payroll is increased without any increase in productivty..." Many studies, including one of those provided, point out that productivity does increase because job retention increases. The net affect on labor costs is often a wash because of this increase productivity and the savings brought from the retention of employees. It costs money to bring in and train new employees. I don't know about your area but I can find the stats here on min wage jobs and since the service sector is booming a gaurantee you they represent a significant number that would affect employment stats in my state.