[Jake Gyllenhaal]

The only people who would want an increase in minimum wage are the workers who are being paid the current minimum wage now. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 73.9 million American hourly-paid workers, 1.7 million earned exactly the prevailing Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and about 2.2 million had wages below the minimum. Together, these 3.8 million workers with wages at or below the Federal minimum made up 5.2 percent of all hourly-paid workers.

Only 5.2 percent of the work force. Why should we care about only a small percent?

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by kyle is hk

Not sure if serious, but that's definitely a large portion.

Taken from an op-ed:

Quote:

But look a little more closely at the figures. Of those at or below minimum wage some 39% are in food prep and related industries. This includes all of your friendly neighborhood waiters and bartenders and we all know absolutely that they’re not living purely on their wages. We rather get reminded of this when we foreigners forget to leave them a tip (I have actually had a waiter in NYC tell me, as I was sitting down, that he had to tell me as a foreigner that a 20% tip was normal). Indeed I’ve done the job myself for a couple of years and no one at all goes into that industry for the joy of the paycheck. It’s the tips that matter and they make minimum wage an irrelevance (I suspect even more than used to be true in the place I worked. The Motley Fool HQ is now across the street which should do wonders for tip income). Another 17% are in sales and related jobs. Again, no one is doing that sort of work for minimum wage without there being a commission system on top.
Another way of slicing the same numbers is that 50% or so of those on minimum wage are 24 or under: students and trainees in effect.
Changing the wages paid of that over 50% of minimum wage earners who get tips or commission on top of the minimum wage really isn’t going to change inequality very much. Or another way of looking at this is that once you take out those for whom minimum wage is just a basic, before tips and or commissions, we end up talking about 3% or so of hourly paid workers, or something like 1.5% of the total workforce.

There, I just reduced the minimum wage earners to 1.5% of the work force. Is that still a "large portion"?

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by kyle is hk

Why does it matter how little the portion is?

Because raising the minimum wage will pass on the costs onto the consumers. Why should we risk lowering consumer confidence and potentially harm the economy if we only give 1.5% of the workforce a pay raise?

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by kyle is hk

This could be a dangerous line of thinking if you look at it from a social perspective.

Do you want to pay $10 for a hamburger just so McDonald's worker gets a 20% increase?

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by caveBEAR

-____-

Originally Posted by suicidesaints

Why would McDonalds have to raise the price of their food 300+% in order to give the workers a 20% pay raise?

I've just been playing devil's advocate in this thread. The $10 hamburger was taken from fox news article commenters.

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by Ricketts

Dude, how? If I could get a job above minimum wage, I fucking would. This is a really ignorant and cunty statement unless you have access to some knowledge I don't.

Seriously Ricketts, get off the couch and get a better job! When I was your age, I was making $10 an hour in retail (and that was in 2004, which equates to $12.02 in today's dollars adjusted for inflation).

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by Ricketts

SIR, YES, SIR!

http://arrandarrdotcom.files.wordpre...nard.jpg?w=630



That's pretty good for you but there's hardly anything that pays above minimum wage in this city, much less something I qualify for.

Is there anything holding you back from leaving the city you're in? If not, you're a full-grown adult. Look for gainful employment elsewhere.

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by <*)))><

Sounds like $10 an hour job, I manage business and make $10 an hour. I'm in charge of payroll, finances and making sure every employee is doing what their suppose to do.

You could make more working as a shift supervisor at a CVS. Plus their health benefits are pretty good.

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by thesinkingship

Sometimes I wish we had a system where top earners were forced to cut from their own salary in order to raise the minimum wages of their employees (you know, the ones doing the real work). They would still be able to earn more than enough to live a great lifestyle. Imagine if there was a cap on executive earnings.

So you want to punish those who are successful?

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by birdman

I have a huge problem with this line of thinking

1. Who is "forcing" people to cut their salaries, are you suggesting a wage cap? There goes the motivation to grow your business if you know the financial reward will be the same?

2. How can you possibly fathom the pressure and stress that befalls a CEO or any C-level executive? The work of a cashier requires virtually no skill or responsibility, while the CEO has to make decisions that impact millions of dollars and thousands of jobs. You think this is easy?

3. Who are you to decide what constitutes a "great lifestyle"??

Oh...you are a teacher...that explains it.

Your mom's a teacher

[Jake Gyllenhaal]

Originally Posted by a speedo model

There seems to be this idea that CEO's shouldn't be out to make a lot of money.

Dude, you're 25 years old. You have to had some real world experience that shows how capitalism works and why workers strive to have top-earning positions.