Americans Want to Believe Jobs Are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not

631–632 of 632 posts

Re: Americans Want to Believe Jobs Are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not

#631

Post by boulos » Sun, Sep 16, 2018, 10:59 AM UTC

boulos wrote: post #504

bko wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are nearly twice as many Americans working below the minimum wage than at the minimum wage [0]. The BLS data is from self reported numbers. It doesn't include information about Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or by individual state or local minimum wage laws. But if even a portion of those individuals working below the federal minimum wage in the gray market or under the table, it kind of makes minimum wage rat…

Hmm. I don’t think that data necessarily leads to that conclusion. Two things: - Many states have a higher minimum wage, so the BLS reports are annoying. They do strictly less-than-or-equal rather than also including “nearby” or even “minimum in state”, making the overall percentage fairly low. I’m guessing data for “What percentage of the labor force makes less than $15/hr” would be more helpful, but is too far from…

It’s too late, but I found that the BLS has a decent histogram of pay: https://www.bls.gov/oes/2017/may/distribution.htm including broken out by industry.

Re: Americans Want to Believe Jobs Are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not

#632

Post by dennisgorelik » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:23 PM UTC

southerndrift wrote: post #613

dennisgorelik wrote: post #592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> minimum wage helps people in employer markets No. Minimum wage helps software developers to take away jobs from low skilled workers (because it forces employers to automate low-paying jobs). Most of workers are hurt by minimum wage limit. The higher minimum wage limit is - the more workers are hurt by it. It does NOT matter if job market is "employer market" or "candidate market". The impact of "minimum wage limit"…

Only the work of those who create value below minimum wage has to be automated. I agree with you that their jobs have to be automated by software developers, or restructured in another way. E.g. delivery or Uber drivers can earn less than minimum wage because they are often not paid for their time. However, every other job can be continued. Why should people be fired if employers can still make a profit? Minimum wage…

> Why should people be fired if employers can still make a profit?

In the situation when employer is forced to pay more -- he, usually, would benefit more if he hires more qualified person (for that higher rate of pay). So less qualified (but cheaper) worker will be fired (or not hired in the first place, if you consider long-term effects of minimum wage increase).

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