Quote:
Originally Posted by oldtimes
The problem is never that simple. There are many college grads who are making minimum wage right now. Due to the pandemic there are also far more people with no income at all right now through no fault of their own. However, raising the minimum wage is also going to raise prices and eliminate jobs and cause more businesses to fail. It is a very complex problem. Also paying someone 15.00 an hour in NYC is a lot different than paying someone 15.00 an hour in Mississippi. I am not in favor of one size fits all solutions.
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I agree to some extent. However, raising minimum wage has not increased prices in states that have already done so. So you can just check that off your list of potential problems.
However, I agree that paying someone $15 in NYC is different than the same in Mississippi. I feel FEDERAL minimum wage needs to be increased - $7.25 isn't a reasonable minimum wage in any state or municipality in the country. Notice I'm not even saying liveable - I'm saying reasonable.
I feel that $10 minimum wage nationwide is reasonable - and states would be free as they already are, to make it higher if they wish. Minimum wage was created to provide a LIVEABLE wage for women and young workers, who - up until that point, were working in sweatshops and unable to pay the minimum bills (rent, food, clothing, heat and water). There was no federally established minimum wage until the 1930's, when Roosevelt implemented the New Deal.
Minimum wage was $3.80 in 1990, 30 years ago. Minimum wage was set to $7.25 in 2009 - 11 years ago. And there are a lot of exceptions to that minimum, including agriculture workers, workers who have "special needs" (the mentally disabled) and people who work for tips. If you're under 20 years old, federal law says you only have to be paid $4.25/hour for the first 3 months of employment. After that they have to pay you at least $7.25/hour.
It's time for Minimum Wage to start catching up with the cost of living in the USA. It should catch up to the -lowest- cost of living. In other words - find out where it's cheapest to live. And raise the Federal minimum wage to accommodate that. Then let the states deal with their own minimums above that amount.