Minimum wage compensation
By Leon Bullock
@Leonbullock (2)
April 20, 2016 12:42pm CST
Word around town, is that the new minimum wage will be set at $15.00 an hour. Well my concerns are , If that's so then will the management go into a higher pay bracket as well. And will the cost of living get increased as well.
Please , comment & Share:
5 people like this
10 responses
@Mike197602 (15505)
• United Kingdom
20 Apr 16
That's quite a high minimum wage.
Here the minimum wage for over 25's is now £7.20 which is $10.34.
3 people like this
@infatuatedbby (94914)
• United States
20 Apr 16
In California the minimum wage is $10.
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15505)
• United Kingdom
20 Apr 16
@infatuatedbby same as here more or less.
Is it related to age there or is it for any adult?
Here it is age related.
1 person likes this
@infatuatedbby (94914)
• United States
20 Apr 16
@Mike197602 No age, just minimum. So if someone is older say 26, what is the pay range for the minimum? OR what if someone is older like 65?
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (67704)
• United States
20 Apr 16
Of course everything else is going to go up. If unskilled, uneducated labor gets a starting wage of what I'm making now with nearly 40 years in the work force and a college degree, my skills and education are completely devalued unless I get a raise. I'd have to make $30 an hour to keep the current "value" (twice what a minimum wage worker makes), or else I have in essence taken a pay cut.
And, of course, no company is going to absorb the cost of that increase. They will either raise their prices accordingly; or (as many companies already have done with the health care) cut the employee's hours. Or maybe they'll raise the prices and cut the employee's hours. Either way, this is BAD for the economy. Less than 2% of the workforce makes minimum wage, and the overwhelming majority of those people are either high school kids with their first job or senior citizens looking to supplement their Social Security. This kicks the latter to the curb because Social Security laws say that a person on SS can only make so much money in a year before having to take a cut in their monthly check.
2 people like this
@Ruby3881 (1963)
• Canada
20 Apr 16
In Canada we have 7.2% of the work force who earn minimum wage. And in Ontario, the most populous province in our nation, that statistic is 10.9%. Of all women in the work force, 9% earn minimum wage. Fully 50% of those who earn minimum wage here are adults aged 20-54.
So I'd say it's a much bigger concern here, especially as prices for consumer products here can be more than twice what you pay in the US.
I honestly don't believe that corporations couldn't absorb the cost of paying everyone in their employ a living wage. It's just that they don't want to. (Check out this video from Slate, which estimates the price increase on a box of mac & cheese, if Walmart were to pay a living wage to all its employees and pass on the cost to consumers: it comes out at one penny per box!
Raising the minimum wage would only result in backlash against employees, and would probably end up creating a bigger bottom line for the corporation at the same time that it drove the standard of living down for low-income earners. It's also likely to result in many people losing benefits such as food stamps, which could mean a net loss rather than an increase in earnings.
We're far better to have a guaranteed living wage for everyone. It would mean nobody will lose benefits or be asked to do more work for less money. And it would actually get more people out working, so fewer tax dollars would go to welfare.
READ MORE: http://slate.me/1j6hRyo In the series "The Secret Life of a Food Stamp," Marketplace reporter Krissy Clark traces how big-box stores make billions...
1 person likes this
@rebelann (112770)
• El Paso, Texas
20 Apr 16
It's a given that when minimum wages go up so does everything else, the spike in wages is only a bonus for perhaps a couple weeks before those with the PHDs, Masters Degrees and people trying to sell goods need to hike their wages/prices to gain profits.
Happens every time.
@Ruby3881 (1963)
• Canada
20 Apr 16
First of all, I just want to say welcome to MyLot!
Yes, I definitely have a concern that an increased minimum wage would result in other changes that might negatively impact on low-income earners.
First of all, there is the very real possibility that employers will compensate for higher wages by cutting work hours and still expecting workers to do the same work. Then there is the fact that employers will not likely apply a raise to lower income earners who are already earning the minimum. So if the minimum went from $10 to $12, as an example, the employee who has worked hard for years to get that little increase to $12 for the merits of his work, will stay at $12 and find himself back at the minimum.
You are quite right that the cost of living could increase with the minimum wage. Although it's much more likely that a large increase (say, from $10 to $15/hr) would likely result in the low-income earner losing government benefits or having the amount of benefits clawed back. This can actually result in a net loss of income over the course of a month, rather than an increased standard of living for a family.
We need to do better. A guaranteed living wage is a far better idea than increasing the minimum.
1 person likes this
@maezee (41988)
• United States
20 Apr 16
It would also concern me that the standard of living would hike up a lot due to this. So I am not sure if it would be a good thing or not. I wonder if everyone else's wages would increase too - people who do not make minimum wage now - but I am guessing that is not the case. it is quite scary indeed.
@infatuatedbby (94914)
• United States
20 Apr 16
If the minimum wage increases, the cost of living, goods, foods will go up as well.
@fedupjane (191)
• United States
20 Apr 16
Inflation is responsible for cost of living increases. The US dollar has lost 96% of its purchasing power since the president signed the country up with the privately owned federal reserve bank back in 1913.
If the minimum wage had kept up with the cost of living in the US, it would be closer to $25 an hour. Now with the increase in minimum wage other wages would increase as well.
I am with the camp though that minimum wage jobs should be held by teens and shouldn't be so high so that way it can give people incentive to try a more lucrative path instead of burger flipper. But that is just my opinion.
