What Should Minimum Wage Be? Or should there be a minimum wage at all?

This is a tough topic. I do think there should be a minimum wage in the US but I think it should vary by area. I believe the cost of living should be taken into account. A place like NYC cost more to live in then say, Tulsa, OK. You might be able to make it in a small town on $5.25 but in NYC or any larger city for that matter, you'd have to work a few jobs to be able to even afford to live.

There should be a minimum wage cap to prevent cheapskate corporation from shortchanging you. To be fair a good amount shd be about US$5/hr

i think there should be a minimum wages and and it should be the same everywhere. up north people are paid more for the same jobs we do down south for less pay. the companies make the same in both areas for the jobs that are done. People always say that the cost of living is higher up north but if you really look around it all equails out in the end. because of the pay difference most people in the southern state are considered living in poverty. its not right to pay someone in new york $20 dollars and hour to dig a hole but pay me only $9 for the same hole. every job should carry the same pay.

Well, here, in Quebec, the miminum wage is 7.85$/hr and it is not enough. I think they should put it to 9.00$/hr at least. I think they should raise the minimum wage, 5.25$ is really not a lot if you ask me.

I don't think there should be wholesale changes to minimum wage. If they do decide to increase it, the increases should be small and gradual. If it gets ramped up a few dollars per hour, one still need to remember that in the long run it makes little difference. Paying higher wages increases the total cost of goods. Increased cost of goods will increase cost of living. That will eventually balance out and these people who got the couple dollar raise will be back where they started (even if it does take a number of years for the equilibrium to occur). BTW Ted, thanks for contributing another great topic for discussion. It's nice to find real questions/topics here in the pile of spam and nonsense.

Minimum wage here is 8 dollars. I think that there should be a minimum wage because if it didn't exist this would almost abolish anti slave laws and child labor. This would also probably start a bigger imagrent problem.

Well buddy there shouldnt be a minimum Or atleast minimum should be that amount which you deserve And you are right With this costly world, the wage should be kept so much that it is atleast appropriate for a person to live!

Due to exploitation of employers these laws have to be set.

In Minnesota in the late 90's our governor said that to live within the median standard of living in our state the average worker needed to make $15.00 per hour. At that hourly rate a family of hour would be able to, without state assistance, be able to pay for food, housing, electricity, heating fuel, fuel for the vehicles, home and auto insurance etc. As more jobs in the US get 'out sourced' wages will not rise and fewer will be able to support themselves without state aid. If anyone is interested there is a book written by Byron Durgen, South Dakota's Senator, the name of the book is Take This Job and Ship It.

I think that minimum wage should be between $9 and $10 per hour. This is based on the cost of living where I live now. If you live anyplace line NYC or out west you certainly need it to be much higher then that. With poor apartments going for $900 per month minimum wage needs to catch up. It's sad how corporations have to maximize profits by not giving money to the very people that are making them billions of dollars.

I know that where I work, minimum wage is only an object for some employees. I am a waiter who make 2.13/hr sooo in order to make atleast minimum wage, I depend on tips! I know that I whole heartedly agree with the minimum wage principal though. I think that without it people could be more in trouble with finances than they are now.

I live in Holland(Europe) and we don't have minimum wage anymore. This should be done in your country. Minimum wage is just legal robbery.

A lot of people says its a tough decision. I don't really think so. I think the min. wage should be around $10/hr. Our economy is slipping because no one but those that are rich can afford anything. Many people are becoming homeless because they can;t afford to live and corp.s moving businesses over seas. That should be illegal. It's sickening really and sad. The great USA is not becoming so great anymore.

I would say about 8 dollars an hour, however....raising what it costs to have johny work at mcdonalds is going to raise the cost of your favorite junk burger or fries. I don't have a solution, but I think the minimum wage is pushing up the cost of necessities. Companies are leaving the country because of the level of non minimum wage jobs. Increasing the minimum wage won't be a cure all, well all will suffer with higher costs of living.

Well it really depends on how much it costs to live were you live and the minimum wage here is 6 dollars and 50 cents and i don't think that is enough.....

Actually, I believe minimum wage should be at least nine dollars an hour in the U.S. That way, even if you're just starting out, you could support yourself, and if you've been working longer, you'd make more than that anyway. And I thin the U.S minimum wage is $5.15 per hour currently. Here's a link that has the different minimum wage by state. http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

Personally I think minimum wage should be at least $9.00 an hour. $5.25 is just too low and people with families have a hard time living off of that. I know I wouldn't take a job that's paying less than $11.00 an hour and i don't even have a degree. So $9.00 a hour will satisfy a lot of people and make people want to accept jobs and make people want to work. I understand a little why there are people taking advantage of the welfare system scamming and scheming. I guess they look at it like they can get more money from welfare than they can get from a full time job. People that know how to work the welfare system to their advantage get like a good $1000 a month, so they figure why work. If the minimum wage increase a lot of employers would be able to keep a lot of employees.

I really feel like minimum wage should be $10.

i think there shouldnt be any such munimum wages kind of thing. it all depends how difficult the work is so better decide the minimum wages basing on how much power the work needs to be done wat do you say

I think there should be a minimum wage to protect employees. However, it does make it hard for small businesses. Here is California in January the minimum wage is going up to $8 hour. It is still nowhere near a living wage for California. But people need to get educaiton and support themselves with better paying jobs.