What is a fair minimum wage for an American citizen?

Question

What is a fair minimum wage for an Illegal working in America?
And lastly, what is the average hourly wage for a citizen of Mexico or Central or South America.
I'd love to hear some opinions.

R1 - surely you jest. Unbelievable

I'm a capitalist. Wage should be market driven not dictated by the government,
And I would venture to say that the average hourly wage south of the "US" border is in the neighborhood of 25 cents an hour. So are we exploiting someone that gets paid 25 cents an hour at home but can make 5 or 6 dollars an hour working in the US?

R1 -- I have been around the world and have never been asked if I was a United Stater. I have been called an American many many times.

Answer 1

People miss the point of minimum wages. They are meant to be trial wages to give employers a chance to evaluate performance. Instead of minimum wage employers should be allowed to have programs where longevity in a job automatically gives them raises. If they do not progress they should not get more than training wages. Democrats push the minimum wage issue to keep lazy people voting for them. Anyone that wants to work can improve their wage by adding to their value.

Answer 2

I am impressed with the variations in what people "know" about economics.

I believe basically in capitalism. But minimum wage laws are necessary because businesses would otherwise take advantage whenever there is a surplus of workers. I believe they are doing this today. Illegal workers, and there are many more than just the ones from the American nations, can not complain about their mistreatment or their wages in fear of being deported. So many are paid sub-minimum wages or otherwise mistreated.

While I do not like an open border as we have it today I understand people who can not find work will go to great lengths to feed their families. Therefore I believe when we find and deport people who are here illegally, those employers who hired them should be punished severely, and if they paid their workers sub-minimum wages they should be forced to pay back wages due.

While I think the federal minimum wage is too low for some areas it is probably too high for others. I think the minimum wage should be set for each state even if this creates some imbalances between cities and rural areas. It is not right to discriminate among workers even if they are illegal, teenagers, women or disabled. Law protecting workers are necessary if we wish to avoid sweatshops, child labor or unsafe working condition. an unfettered workplace is not the American way.

Answer 3

1. As far as an American citizen goes a fair minimum wage would be the least he's willing to work for.
2. For an illegal the fair minimum or maximum wage would be nothing. they don't belong here and you don't pay criminals to break the law.
3. Who cares what they pay in Latin America I don't live there. If they don't think they are being paid enough they can do the same thing down there that we did up here such as unionize and go on strike.

Answer 4

It should be based on competition and profit. I don't think businesses should be allowed to open their doors if they can't pay their workers a decent wage while they rake in the dough.

It is always the rich who think the are entitled, but their entitlement IS ALWAYS on the backs of others. If it were not, they would be poor as well! Free Enterprise was always meant to be a 2 way-street. Now it is only 2 ways when they are asking workers to give back or asking the government for a bailout like the airlines, like Chrysler and like oil when FDR bailed them out when oil was 4 cents a barrel!

There is absolutely no excuse that in America almost 1/2 the homeless have full-time jobs and can't afford a roof over their heads!

I bet that doesn't exist in any industrialized nation to even close to that but ours!

Wage has never been market driven. At least not in more than 100 years. Who are you kidding! Wages have been DICTATED by a few!

Answer 5

This is a bigger issue than minimum wages. Both small businesses and large corporations exploit these people. As Economics 101 dictates, they show a larger profit by minimizing overhead. Obviously, illegals provide services/labor at bargain prices and make their employers look like financial wizards in the process. I believe the illegals know the game as well as the business owners and take advantage of this. They hope to gain a foothold in the U.S. and use the system to provide them with government benefits, possibly even citizenship. Personally, I don't blame them, I would probably do the same myself. My problem is that others have been waiting in line before them and deserve the first consideration in becoming U.S. citizens. Also, the influx of untold millions on the dole is a heavy burden on our economy.

Answer 6

I think people need to make atleast ten bucks an hour, just to get by, but it also depends on where you live. The cost of living varies from city to city. In a bigger city maybe twelve an hour but that's just if it were up to me and what I believe with my life experience. As for the illegals part, I wouldn't have a clue of what they deserve to get payed. The hourly pay in Mexico and Central and South America are extremely low. That's why they want to come here to work. They think we are makin bank compared to what they are used to.
Hope you get more good answers.

Answer 7

There is no one answer.

Fairness I guess is a term that varies with how it is interpreted.

One element in fairness is what is needed to keep someone out of poverty, I have heard that definition a number of times when it comes to minimum wages. Is it based on a 30 hour week, a 40 hour week or some other number. If I needed the money I would work for as many hours a week as necessary as long as I had the time to eat , sleep and be transported to and from my job.

One would also have to consider that different areas of our country have different costs of living. Should we consider that in establishing minimum wages?

Answer 8

The problem is that the minimum wage was designed to regulate competition between the states. It was intended to let the NE compete with the South that was paying lower wages.

The argument that was missed during these debates was that the pay difference made sense. The cost of living was lower in the South.

I know.....not really an answer, but since it negates the need for the question I thought I would answer anyway.

Answer 9

There never will be a fair minimum wage as long as corporations and businesses raise prices every time there is an increase. Unless they are willing to cut CEO salaries and bonus and deal with slightly lower profits, the minimum wage earners will never catch up. So it went up a dollar. That means what? About 36 dollars a week after taxes? That will not buy about a half tank of gas. Big freakin deal. Also will not keep up with health insurance costs. Reduce company spending and stop raising prices, stop gouging on essentials and there would not be a need to raise the minimum wage.

Answer 10

Illegal or not, a subsistence wage now is considered to be $10.18 per hour in the U.S. That is not including extraneous expenses such as entertainment and disposable income. That wage is just to pay the rent, utilities and buy food. Having worked for that wage, I know it is barely subsistence. I had to work a lot of overtime to get any disposable income.

Answer 11

Between 10.00 & 11.00 an hour. Employees are the back bone of any company or corporation. I think many times companies forget this and feel their employees should be grateful they have a job at all. Let the Mexicans come do it half way for awhile at half the wage and continue to send our money to Mexico and see how long businesses last with no one to spend money. The higher the wage the more money Americans have to spend and the more business companies have.