Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses • Hacker News Board

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#41

Post by strictnein » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:37 AM UTC

drewrv wrote: post #15

strictnein wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. And how it turned out is that very, very few people earn minimum wage. In 1979 it was 13.4% In 2017 it was 2.3% In 2017, 1% of workers aged 25 or older earned minimum wage. 8% of working teenagers do. https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm

Somebody earning pennies more than minimum wage would be excluded from this analysis, despite the fact that they’re earning poverty wages and would benefit from an increase to the minimum wage. > the Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, reporting that increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour would affect 17 million workers who are currently making below that.…

The data from 1979 would also have those same people who earned just over minimum wage.

Of course drastically increasing the minimum wage would affect a bunch of people.

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#42

Post by worker767424 » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:37 AM UTC

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #22

BoysenberryPi wrote: post #12

So what? I am fully in support of increasing minimum wage but I've been seeing articles like this for weeks and it is frankly garbage ragebait that I hesitate to call journalism.

Why should Wall Street bonuses grow this much and minimum wage not?

They represent different things.

They article picked 1985 as the start date. The 80's and 90's saw a hedge fund boom, so it's not surprising that pay followed, and there was a shortage of people able to do that specialized work.

Minimum wage is a price floor that mostly applies to unskilled labor.

It does point out disparities, but minimum wage not tracking CPI and whether minimum wage is and appropriate and effective policy tool are more interesting discussions. Or on the Wall Street side, does the incentive structure serve shareholders' best interests and the best interest of the financial system. The comparison makes for good rhetoric, but they actual causes are very different, so it just makes intelligent debate harder.

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#43

Post by luckylion » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:37 AM UTC

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #27

holler wrote: post #9

ok but how much would a sandwich cost?

More than it does now, but since wages are only a small part of the costs people would still be better off.

According to this [1] (first thing I was able to find, no clue how accurate): Another major cost for McDonald’s is payroll and employee benefits. These account for 36% of its company-operated restaurant expenses.

I don't know in what world a third is "only a small part". The same article mentions According to PayScale, the average worker in the fast-food industry makes $8.50 per hour. Increase that to $44 and you end up with a much more expensive burger.

[1] https://marketrealist.com/2019/11/how-mcdonalds-wages-major-...

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#44

Post by lettergram » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:37 AM UTC

How are posts analyzing gun statistics or election hacking off limits (and will instantly get flagged) - but discussing minimum wage okay on hacker news?

1. Increasing minimum wage suppresses minorities and the young

2. This has been known since the 60s

Here’s some recent discussions: https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/minimum-wage-h...

Wall Street bonuses are occurring because there’s a tighter labor pool. Basically, they have to compete for top talent. Money will be made on wall street regardless.

Don’t conflate minimum wage and wall street bonuses. Both can be an issue but aren’t necessarily connected nor would increasing the minimum wage lower bonuses.

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#45

Post by strictnein » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:38 AM UTC

skywal_l wrote: post #16

strictnein wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. And how it turned out is that very, very few people earn minimum wage. In 1979 it was 13.4% In 2017 it was 2.3% In 2017, 1% of workers aged 25 or older earned minimum wage. 8% of working teenagers do. https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm

From the reports fine prints: "Estimates of the number of minimum wage workers in this report pertain only to workers who are paid hourly rates. Salaried workers and other workers who are not paid by the hour are excluded, even though some have earnings that, if converted to hourly rates, would be at or below the federal minimum wage. Consequently, the estimates presented in this report likely underestimate the actua…

If there was a significant % of salaried workers at minimum wage that would be quite a story. But this seems rather unlikely, unless you have some evidence to the contrary?

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#46

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:38 AM UTC

xupybd wrote: post #14

NZ just raised our min wage to $20 an hour. I work at least 50 hours a week. A teenager at MacDonalds now earns a good fraction of my income if they work the same hours. Despite my 4 year degree, near decade of experience and the responsibility's that I hold.

[deleted]

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#47

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:38 AM UTC

nilkn wrote: post #18

Wall Street compensation has become more and more bonus heavy over time (i.e., the salary to bonus ratio has shifted even keeping total comp fixed), so the methodology here really just does not make sense on top of the other flaws folks are pointing out.

[deleted]

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#48

Post by worker767424 » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:40 AM UTC

xupybd wrote: post #14

NZ just raised our min wage to $20 an hour. I work at least 50 hours a week. A teenager at MacDonalds now earns a good fraction of my income if they work the same hours. Despite my 4 year degree, near decade of experience and the responsibility's that I hold.

If it helps, a robot will be doing their job in 5 years.

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#49

Post by kristopolous » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:41 AM UTC

nostrebored wrote: post #34

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should Wall Street bonuses grow this much and minimum wage not?

Minimum wage increase fuel underemployment and under the table work and wall street bonuses don't?

Both readily addressable issues with legislation that have long ago been addressed in many places.

Re: Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate as Wall Street bonuses

#50

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Apr 11, 2021, 6:41 AM UTC

BoysenberryPi wrote: post #12

So what? I am fully in support of increasing minimum wage but I've been seeing articles like this for weeks and it is frankly garbage ragebait that I hesitate to call journalism.

[deleted]