Has the productivity of minimum-wage workers grown in line with overall productivity?
Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
161–170 of 199 posts
Re: Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
#162Wages in the broader workforce haven't risen with increased productivity (in the developed world). Any additional profits aren't exactly getting shared with workers.
The article kind of a raises a moot point, if regular wages aren't tied to productivity what should minimum wages be tied to?
I believe that minimum wage should probably be set to some social factor, above some level of worker exploitation and a wage that a person could actually live on.
Re: Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
#163Imagine if executive compensation had also been pegged to productivity.
Stagnant wages and record profits. Coincidence?
Re: Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
#164Minimum wage wouldn't exist if it had grown in line with productivity because nothing about minimum wage laws has anything to do with productivity or fair wages.
Curious though, why exactly do you think wages need to raise? Why wouldn't they be fine remaining exactly where they were when minimum wage was first conceived in order to keep minorities and "imbeciles" (the words of the architects of it, not mine)? Could it, perhaps have something to do with state involvement in fiscal policy and fiat currency?
Re: Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
#165Re: Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
#166No it would not. The average productivity of a US worker might have increased by a certain amount, but not the productivity of the minimum wage earners. If their productivity had gone up that much, there would be no need for a minimum wage law, the employers would simply be glad to pay them based on their productivity.
This represents a fairly common misunderstanding of "productivity" as used by economists, as in this story. In economics, labor productivity is simply the output per unit of labor. A common metric is revenue per hour worked. How does this fit into the discussion here? If a company earns 10% more in inflation-adjusted currency this year than last year, but headcount has increased It's fairly easy for anyone to apply t…
Yeah… for economists “productivity” is simply an aggregate quantity, kind of like “velocity of money”. It is doubtful one can say anything intelligent about “real” productivity of individual workers based on this number alone.
Re: Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
#167This comment thread has really dashed my hopes of ever having a well-informed economic discussion on HN. Seems like a large majority of commenters are stuck in the 19th century, and have no idea that we moved on from the labor theory of value. Perhaps modern economics education is to blame…?
Re: Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
#168I agree that minimum wages are too low but the argument that wages should track productivity is false from economical point of view, in my opinion. The argument would be true if how people contribute to economy did not change. But over time disparity in contribution to economy changed. Hundred years ago people had very similar jobs, mostly physical, manual, where each would contribute rather similarly. Nowadays compa…
If the goal is minimum standard of living, then the minimum wage is a stupid way to achieve this. Just give people money if their income is below a threshold. Why introduce this bizarre distortion in labor markets by setting a price floor on labor?
I’m not going to cite anything so feel free to ignore this statement, but I’ve encountered a substantial body of evidence indicating that the minimum wage hits teen unemployment the hardest. Teens are not trying to raise families on a minimum wage, they just want some extra cash. The minimum wage kills this opportunity, and the entire justification for it has absolutely nothing to do with the teen’s situation.
Re: Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the wikipedia article: >The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is an American conservative libertarian economic think tank. >FEE, founded in 1946, is considered the oldest free-market think tank in the United States. An early aim was to roll back policies of the New Deal. FEE opposed the Marshall Plan, Social Security and minimum wages, among other American social and economic policies. Points of the video:…
>> FEE opposed the Marshall Plan, Social Security and minimum wages, among other American social and economic policies. AS do I, in a sane world, with a sane court none of those would be constitutional as they are completely outside the scope of the powers granted to the federal government. FDR had to literally extort the court to get them stop striking them down >>Yikes. Good rebuttal to all the points, you have con…
Yikes...
But no seriously, you oppose social security and the minimum wage? We should let corporations exploit workers as much as they please and provide no care for the ones who can't work?
What the conservative libertarian says:
>Personal responsibility! The free market will fix everything if only it was truly free! Charity will provide for the miserables! Real capitalism was never tried, we just need less government intervention. Freedom > everything else.
What the conservative libertarian probably believe:
>** them, I only care about my interests. Why should I care about dumb people loosing at the game? Not my problem. I'm smart. I deserve to win.
The video is as bad as PragerU videos. They misrepresent statistics and historical events to push an agenda backed by multi-millionaires magnates. They use the biases the viewer have to gently confirm beliefs that were never really challenged in their education and work life. Most viewer won't check the sources and take at face value what is presented because they trust that the professor is a good guy acting in good faith and that he did the research and knows what he's talking about.
>Good rebuttal to all the points, you have convinced me that everything is terrible and we all should embrace socialism as our one true economic model /s
Maybe one day you will come around and say the exact same sentence but without the /s.
Re: Minimum wage would be $26 an hour if it had grown in line with productivity
#170I agree that minimum wages are too low but the argument that wages should track productivity is false from economical point of view, in my opinion. The argument would be true if how people contribute to economy did not change. But over time disparity in contribution to economy changed. Hundred years ago people had very similar jobs, mostly physical, manual, where each would contribute rather similarly. Nowadays compa…
> the argument that wages should track productivity is false from economical point of view, in my opinion
This view effectively negates all the other values you expressed. If people contribute N% of overall value but their remuneration tracks value at the epoch of that sort of contribution, you’re effectively ensuring people will exploit that for their own gain without equivalent contribution. And you’re ensuring that they’ll use the power that gives them to protect that disproportionate benefit.