Will the raise in the minimum wage help you or anyone you know over 19 years old?

Question

It will not help any one I know.Even the resturants in my area pay above minimum.

Answer 1

I don't know anyone who works for minimum wage, but a raise in the rate will not help. The greatest misconception about minimum wage is the idea that it is a living wage. Minimum wage is not and was never intended as such. It is a benchmark rate for workers entering the system. It is assumed that the average worker will gain skills and either move up in their current company, or change positions based on their acquired experience. The reason minimum wage does not help anyone is related to economic cause and effect. If the price of labor increases then the prices of goods and services must also increase to reflect the added cost of doing business. Therefore while you make more money you will also be forced to pay higher prices thus eliminating your surplus income.

Answer 2

Well, we don't. Just lower the prices on everything so we can all afford to buy them. The actual rate of minimum wage is irrelevant. It's the cost of living that causes problems. I don't mind working for $5.15 per hour, as long as it doesn't cost me $1500 a month to maintain a household. The entire economic system is so far out of whack. When I made $4.25 per hour (minimum wage back in the 70's), I only paid $0.78 per gallon of gas. Now minimun wage is a whopping $5.15 we pay $2.80 or so per gal of gas. That's only one example. Look at housing. In the 1960-70 era you could by a mansion for about $36,000. The same exact house today sells for over $150,000. And of course your taxes are based on the market value, too rather than what you actually paid for it. So the entire tax system is out of control. Your comment about minimum wage being for people starting out at age 18/19 is rediculous. Do you know how much car insurance costs for someone that age? Usually as much or more than the car payment. And I don't appreciate you labeling us as losers because we can't get a job that pays more than minimum wage. The fact is companies are not offering many jobs above minimum wage, and the ones that do pay more than minimum wage, pay just enough to break even with bills, if you're lucky. The fact that this is even being discussed is a disgrace to this country and everything it was founded on to begin with. Like all men are created equal. Yeah right...

Answer 3

I work with low income families and there are many who have both the mother and father working at or just above minimum wage. Yes, a lot of people make more than $5.15, but $5.25 or $5.50 is still too low. So these people would be impacted by a raise in the minimum wage as well.
75% of the people who make minimum wage are age 25 or older, it is not solely for kids in high school, as the republican leadership touts. The workers planting bushes around new houses, or cleaning hotel rooms, or working as general laborers on new construction are barely surviving.

Answer 4

No. Raising minimum wage is a band aid solution that the American left bandies about when they need votes. When the government tells businesses what they ought to be paying people, small business suffers to the point where more close, and fewer new ones open. This gives way to yet another Wal-Mart opening in your hometown. Competition is all but eliminated.
Add to that the fact that for every minimum wage increase, the chances of more illegals flooding into the country can only increase. More incentives to sneak in and break more US law. Cuz these poor illegals can't be treated unfairly no, can they?
Everything has an argument. ALL I can tell you is to read both sides of them all. You may be surprised.

Answer 5

I live in a tourist area where the vast majority of the service jobs pay minimum wage.

Let me dispute a few "facts" about the minimum wage.
-Minimum wage jobs rarely include health insurance coverage. This leads to greater dependency on welfare and Medicaid and higher health care costs.
-An estimated 1,395,000 single parents with children under 18 would benefit from a minimum wage increase to $7.25 by 2008. Single parents would benefit disproportionately from an increase — single parents are 9% of workers affected by an increase, but they make up only 7% of the overall workforce. Approximately 3.9 million parents with children under 18 would benefit.
-Adults make up the largest share of workers who would benefit from a minimum wage increase: 80% of workers whose wages would be raised by a minimum wage increase to $7.25 by 2008 are adults (age 20 or older).
-Over half (54%) of workers who would benefit from a minimum wage increase work full time and another third (30%) work between 20 and 34 hours per week.
-The effect of the last minimum wage increase in 1996-97 has been completely eroded by inflation.
-$5.15 today is the equivalent of only $3.95 in 1995 — lower than the $4.25 minimum wage level before the 1996-97 increase.
-A 1998 EPI study failed to find any systematic, significant job loss associated with the 1996-97 minimum wage increase. In fact, following the most recent increase in the minimum wage in 1996-97, the low-wage labor market performed better than it had in decades
-A recent Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) study of state minimum wages found no evidence of negative employment effects on small businesses.
-The minimum wage 25 years ago was $1.60. That is equal to $7.92 an hour, in today’s dollars.

Answer 6

Great Question !! You should get 20 points for asking.

You're right too !! Nevermind the Negative impact on small business. Raising the minimum wage hurts the entire economy.

27 years ago, at ages 17-18, I was making $ 7.50/hr. And that wasn't union. I was just an apprentice chef. If people want to make more, then they should learn more or switch jobs.. How much more simple can it be ?!?!

Answer 7

Your right. I live in Maryland, were most places pay above minimum wage. However, many places in the south don't. My cousin works in a factory in N.C where the starting wage is minimum wage. So it may not help me or most people I know but it will help others.

Answer 8

All union contracts have a clause that if the minimum wage goes up , the union gets the same raise .
The whole thing is not about people working for minimum wage but getting more for the unions .
The unions always back the dems andget well paid for the support .
they even get Hundreds of millions in your tax dollars , every year .

Answer 9

Well your area isn't the entire United States. In my area, almost all of the restaraunts, telemarketing jobs, and store jobs pay minimum or BARELY above it. So to answer your question, yes. It would help several people I know who are of several varying ages going up to their 60's.

Lol I can't believe I got a thumbs down for stating a concrete fact about the area I live in. I guess some people just like to ignore the places where most available jobs pay minimum wage. And I do think supermarket jobs are necessary are they not?

I have a question for the cons here. I've seen MANY conservatives posts about wanting to raise tuition costs for colleges as well as not give any tuition tax-breaks. Now you tell me, if you lower the minimum wage, and don't help out any with college tuition. How could anyone who's not already in a wealthy family afford to go to college? You'd HAVE to get a scholarship or be rich already. It works both ways. Your solutions do not work. If you lower the minimum wage, yet you want people to get more decent jobs then you can't simply make it harder for them both ways.

Answer 10

contract based employment will benefit if their wages are bound with the minimum wage increasements.
the question should be.." which pocket is Peter pulling the money out of to pay Paul?"
will wage increases across the board be minimized to cover the extra expense or will monies for the benefits be diminished to make up the difference?