21–30 of 134 posts
That's because depressed wages are caused by the drive for ever increasing profits.
Yes but the workers have a drive for increasing profits too, and there are more of them. So that's not really a good explanation.
Apart from that, more workers who are mostly interchangeable have lower leverage to increase their wages.
It should be pointed out that studies of small increases of minimum wage that show modest harm do not immediately tell us that huge increases of minimum wage will not cause greater harm. Remember that $15/hour is more than the median wage in much of the country.
These jobs that are worth less than $15 per hour are going to be the first to be replaced by machines so whatever happens we need a solution to give people at the bottom high(er) quality lives.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm largely in favor of a $15 minimum wage, but I agree that if we were going to do this on a national level as opposed to local it would be prudent to phase it in over time so that there is time for pulling back if trouble beings to emerge.
How do you decide what the appropriate level is, gut feeling? I'm afraid that debates over what the number should be obscures debate over the harder question of what is causing the minimum wage to have to keep increasing. The question we should be asking is why are we devaluing the completed labor of the lowest wage classes?
Both coincided at the end of the 60s and 70s. Exactly since then wages are not correlated to productivity anymore and are basically stagnating.
- Employers know how many candidates they have for a position.
- Employers know what they have paid for that position in the past.
- Employers can often afford to wait longer to decide.
It should also be noted that the US taxes wages at a higher rate than investment or dividend earnings. This may distort the market as certain income streams are incentivized over others.
The world is not driven by economics (and its simplistic assumptions), it's driven by power relations and human nature. Supply and demand is not the only thing to influence the job market -- power and knowledge asymmetries can do the same thing just as well.
Human nature I understand -- people have mental/emotional shortcuts that are not precise and accurate rational analysis.
It should be pointed out that studies of small increases of minimum wage that show modest harm do not immediately tell us that huge increases of minimum wage will not cause greater harm. Remember that $15/hour is more than the median wage in much of the country.
These jobs that are worth less than $15 per hour are going to be the first to be replaced by machines so whatever happens we need a solution to give people at the bottom high(er) quality lives.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes but the workers have a drive for increasing profits too, and there are more of them. So that's not really a good explanation.
Workers have less power to increase wages than corporations have to increase revenue and profits. This has occurred, arguably, because of right to work laws and the reduction in organized labor (which previously negotiated wages with more power).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
These jobs that are worth less than $15 per hour are going to be the first to be replaced by machines so whatever happens we need a solution to give people at the bottom high(er) quality lives.
It'll always be cheaper to pay minimum wage to mop floors vs a $250,000+ "AI Mopping Machine" that requires a $55hr Tech to maintain.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm largely in favor of a $15 minimum wage, but I agree that if we were going to do this on a national level as opposed to local it would be prudent to phase it in over time so that there is time for pulling back if trouble beings to emerge.
How do you decide what the appropriate level is, gut feeling? I'm afraid that debates over what the number should be obscures debate over the harder question of what is causing the minimum wage to have to keep increasing. The question we should be asking is why are we devaluing the completed labor of the lowest wage classes?