Why won't Employers pay a living wage to their workers instead of Poverty level wages???????

Question

No one who works for a living should have to live in Poverty!!!! An honest days pay for an honest days work is not much to expect from Employers!!!! To not do so is to keep them in perpetual Poverty!!! It' short of immoral not to do so!!!If they want to improve the lives of people working for poverty level wages then they will have to pay above poverty level wages!!! You cannot enrich others without enriching yourself!!! Pay them a fair and equitable wage!!! The value you place on your employees is the value you place on yourself!!! An honest days pay for an honest days work is long overdue by the Government and Employers!!! There are eight(8*)+ million workers working for Poverty level wages in the U.S.

Answer 1

Well said! My current employer is also money greedy. I work for an auto parts manufacturer here in Indiana. When our Union contact expires on June 4th 2008 it looks like they plan on closing the plant unless we take a substantial cut in pay. All we ( the hourly employees ) hear from management is that we are not meeting the profit goals set by the corporate office. Money, money , money, profit, profit, profit , and don't give a crap about the employees. :-)~

Answer 2

WHAT? 8 million workers working below the poverty level? Exactally how is that?

Acording to the US Health and Human Services website, poverty level is as follows

Family of 1, in the Continental US - $9,310 - $1402 dollars less than full time minimum wage (5.15 * 40 * 52 = 10,712)

Family of 2 - 12,490. That is $8,934 dollars less than 2 people working at minimum wage.

Family of 3 - 15,670. - still 5 grand less than 2 people making minimum wage at full time.

Feel free to look up the US poverty level stats. I am linking it below. In a most unlikely turn of events, according to the census bureau, the people with the highest percentage of poverty? Households with no male present. Can you believe that? I was stunned to find that out. Another strange statistic: Households with at least 2 full time year around working adults, lowest percentage of poverty (less than 1 percent). Another very interesting fact - 20% of those in poverty - have no high school diploma. Incredible, I CANT BELIEVE IT.

Please, do some research before posing such a question. The correct number of people in poverty: 37 million.

Finally, I guess I have to say this: Poverty is a DIRECT cause and effect relationship. A person makes bad decisions in life like - not graduating high school, being a single parent (I know, not ALL people CHOOSE to be single parents), having children before 18 years old, failure to plan for retirement, poor fiscal decisions, chooses not to work, "can't find work" - they end up in poverty. All I can say is choose better for yourself. We HAVE to have some personal responsibility, grow some sack and be responsible for our decisions in life.

Answer 3

The USA is operating under a Market Economy, supply and demand. Presently our standard of living is so high because of passed gains from high salaries. Now at the present we cannot successfully compete with the rest of the world because our products are too high in cost because of labor expenses and other benefits attached to that.
Look around you, what products are 'Made in USA'. High tech jobs are sourced out for the same reason. We either have to downsize or suffer the consequences.

Additionally there is an influx of illegal immigrants who used to work for $4.85 per day, who are now working for minimum wages here and are living together with others in converted garages with little overhead. Stop the illegal labor and pay regular wages to legal resident laborers

Answer 4

Do you realize that ALL your payroll taxes paid by your employers are considered as part of your per-hour pay? If you make $ 10.00 per hour and your employer pays $3.00 per hour in payroll taxes, you are making $13.00 per hour. Why do the liberals need to play all these shell games when they install their new higher taxes? If they want to improve the lives of the poor, they would have instituted a COLA, cost of living adjustment, indexed to inflation, not some silly "minimum wage" which only raises prices of EVERYTHING and raises the pay of a small select few, mostly young inexperienced workers just entering the work force.

Answer 5

I couldn't agree more, but there are lots of things that factor into this equation:
-The economy ain't as rosy as some people say
-Heath insurance and benefits cost is insane, and that affects employers.
-The US needs to stop offshoring jobs PERIOD. AND they need to close the H1B visa avenue by which cheap labor is pouring into the US.. Any business owner that refuses to employ Americans at American rates should be shut down. Competition is when you compete on the same level, not when you're competing against slave labor.
I may not be quite at poverty level, but I'm getting pretty close to it.
I lost most of my hearing to a disease that makes it hard to advance up the corporate ladder (nobody wants people who can't talk on the phone).
I make barely 42K as a software developer (thanks India)
My school loans and credit card loans add up to 60K.
My kids, my wife and my mother in law who is staying with us have no health insurance.
I get health insurance from work, but I can't really afford the copays and any prescriptions.
Yup... I'm F&$#(*ked up.

Answer 6

Look at this question from the other side.

Start a business. Pay your workers whatever wage you choose. Suppose this wage is double the market rate. Now you need to pass these wages on to your customers. If it sticks, great, you're a good boss. If it doesn't, you've bankrupted your business.

Since most businesses that survive pay near the market rate, that's what it takes for businesses to survive.

Good question.

Answer 7

If you don't like your wages, find a job that is worthy of your education and experience. If you can't find a job that will pay you what you want because you lack education or experience, then improve yourself. Don't expect private business to cough up more money due to your shortcomings. You have to make yourself live within your earned income.

Answer 8

Because corporations aren't satisfied with decent profits,they gotta have obscene profits.Even if minimum wage becomes reality,they'll just employ more illegals to undercut the working class even more.

Answer 9

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go2304/is_200407/ai_n6446337
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/ib231
http://joshuakane.diaryland.com/older.html
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/lwlm99/smithwood.htm

it is a never ending disease - LIFE - each day every day remains dormant, as i get older i realise that we exist to consume and be consumed. We are ants, scuttling around, existing in a world created by governments, corporations, financial institutions and religions. It is strange to me that we are told that we live in a free society, yet, is it truly free? we pay taxes on everything we need, everything we buy, water which should be free, is charged to us, whether from the tap or by the bottle. Essential needs like healthcare, heating, clothing are all charged or/and taxed. To have a roof over our heads, we pay ridiculous sums of money for decent housing, so the rich keep getting richer and the poor, will, eventually die. Sometimes i think i am the only one who see's all this. who thinks all this. Does not anyone else care? Liberal minded people come across as too weak, other political parties change their minds like the wind. There is no fair government for anyone in the world. It is time for change, it is time for sensible decisions to be made, it is time for all of us to be treated as equals.

Answer 10

Do u mean Burger Boys should make 15 - 20 an hour?

How about learning how to make a buck?

Sure, if they need help to learn...give that.

Socialism sucks. Unless your lazy.

Hey, NAFTA fans... that had nothing to do with it? As I recall, both Dems and Reps pushed it. So it must be good for us....Aye?