I'm not sure it's about the actual function of the job, as it is about a couple on minimum wage can't afford rent and to feed their children. If I have to pay an extra 25 cents for fries at McDonald's so they can pay their people a living wage, then I would be willing to do so. Not all people on a variety of welfare programs actually WANT to be. They don't have a choice. So, I would rather pay them enough to work and be on their own, than pay the taxes to support them anyway. But, this is just my opinion or the way I think about it. I'm certainly not suggesting I have all the answers or that I'm right.
Starting level jobs were never intended to be a career. There is no reason to believe that someone should be able to buy a house and raise a family on what they earn flipping burgers at MacDonald's, washing cars, or making change at the Dollar General. These were jobs that kids would take to earn a little money to help pay their way through whatever it was that they wanted to do, or that people might take on a temporary basis until they could find something better. Forcing employers to pay $15 an hour or more, as is now being suggested, simply raises the cost of living for everyone and, as some of you may have noticed, those of us on fixed incomes don't get those kinds of raises, and the cost of living raises we do get are accompanied by a corresponding rise in our health care costs. These crazy minimum wage hikes simply make more and more of these entry-level jobs unavailable, as larger companies find that it's cheaper to automate these jobs out of existence, and smaller companies do without. Those whose wages are raised will, like the rest of us, find that it's eaten up by a corresponding rise in the cost of living. As long as we're coming up with crazy ideas, why don't we give every man, woman, and child a check for a billion dollars? We'll all be billionaires and none of us will have to work another day in our lives.
If the minimum wage is raised to $15 then those who are already making $15 an hour or more will not likely be getting a raise for a long time. Any business only has a certain amount of money to spend on wages. If they are forced to use that money to pay new, unskilled workers who add little or no value to the company then there is nothing left to give raises to deserving long time employees. Or they can just not hire any new workers at all. So instead of getting $15 or even $7.50 an hour unskilled people will get zero/
By the way, the average pay for paramedics in North Carolina is under $16 per hour, and above twenty in just fifteen states. In New York, which pays its paramedics the most, the average pay is $22.35. Keep in mind that this is not the starting pay, but includes people who have been doing the job for thirty years or more. Paramedics have to be certified or licensed, depending on the state, and most paramedic programs are from 2-4 years. Paramedics earn enough money to raise their families and pay their bills because they work way more than forty hours a week, many of them working for more than one employer, or holding other jobs on the side. I have a friend who works full time as a paramedic but also has a plumbing business.
O My Holly----------You are in the UK and might want to rethink this. I paid my nephew 3 dollars per hour to sweep out a warehouse.. He did a great job.
No I wouldn't. There are both pros and cons for both the employee and employer but money to me doesn't seem to be the resolution. Education, training for advancement, apprenticeships, assistance with childcare are avenues that should be acted on that would benefit both parties.
States can pass their own minimum wage laws. If a state has no minimum wage law or its minimum wage is lower than the federal law, workers are entitled to the federal wage. If a state’s minimum wage is higher than the federal one, workers are entitled to the state-specific wage. Higher minimum wages are most common in states with higher costs of living. Georgia's is only $5.15. . It's largely symbolic. The policies represent a longtime Southern strategy, according to James Cobb, a history professor at the University of Georgia. “What it is symbolic of is a dedication to the interests of the employer over those of the worker,” He said the South has used cheap labor to attract businesses since the Civil War. And in the 1930's, when a federal minimum wage was proposed, Southern states fought it.
I am in the camp of,"If you can't pay your employees a living wage then you should not be in business. Your pitiful little dream is yours and yours alone,you have no right to encumber society with people the tax payers will need to subsidize. Yes I am fully aware that we would all pay more for goods and services,but we could vote with our dollars,don't use the service if you don't like the price. Love the conservative perspective, rail against the ignorant, the poorly educated, but God forbid owning up to any societal responsibility for the common good and kick the stool out from under them at every turn!
Seattle passed a $15.00 minimum wage and all the fast food places moved outside the city limits. The cost of living in Georgia and Alabama do not compare with that in California and New York. Why would a federal minimum wage make sense? Perhaps if they put a minimum on the price a worker can charge for their labor, they should also have a minimum that a restaurant can charge for a burger or a car wash can charge for a cleaning. It make teenagers unemployable and makes trainees obsolete.
I must have missed the "railing against the ignorant, the poorly educated" part. The only "railing" here so far has been by you.