Florida Minimum Wage
 

Amazing! I just read in the Daily Sun that the minimum wage in Florida will be rising TO $8.10 per hour. This is an increase FROM $8.05 per hour!

That figures out to $2 per WEEK or 40 CENTS per day!

Ridiculous is all I can say. Why bother to go through the motions of a pay increase for 40 CENTS per day?

If they increased it a $1.00, they would not get re-elected.

Agreed. Most likely this is the first step in bring the minimum wage up further, but at levels that initially seem "ok" and will not cause an uproar. The uproar will come as prices increase to cover these additional costs. What do you think the price of a hamburger at McDonald's will be if/when they pay $15.00 per hour? Talk about providing an incentive to reduce manual labor positions. Who remembers eating at an Automat restaurant? Talk about being ahead of their time.....

Even at $15 an hour how can anyone make livable wage these days
Car insurance $90 month car payment $250 Fuel $200 month cable $150, cell phone $125 Rent $900 to $1200 month electric $100 month food at least $300
health insurance $500 plus other expenses

May I suggest that the problem is that there are jobs which exist that were never meant to provide an income that would cover the cost of living, yet expectations for these jobs have changed? And why is that? Yes, people lost jobs and are still losing them, but they are turning the wrong way if they expect to flip burgers at McDonald's for a living and thinking that should pay their rent. We are also "carrying" people who made decisions and can't/won't face the consequences of their decisions. This is a much larger issue but relates IMO in some way to the current minimum wage discussions

I am not suggesting that businesses aren't part of the problem either. Many companies don't provide pensions anymore, there are businesses which don't hire full time employees so they don't have to worry about benefits, and that does provide a burden on people to hold down more than one job. If you need more than one part time job, then get a second job. Is it easy for me to say? Yes, but then again, I already lived through "my pains" so I can speak to my experience.

Part of the problem is that there are expenses which are truly optional-it might be ideal to have them, but you can live without them. Rent, food, utilities and some form of medical insurance are a must. Owning a car, having a cell phone (a landline is still an option with an answering machine), having cable TV can all be eliminated. If you live where there is bus service to a subway, you take those means of transportation (if either fit in your budget) or you walk/ride a bike (granted, this may be less of an option for an older person). You could also share the cost of a house or apartment rental and get a roommate.

Whatever the minimum wage is, there is still a lack of context in terms of the number of hours that someone works at that scale. A 40 hour work week at $15/hour is $31,200. If no employer will hire for more than 30 hours a week,you are down to $23,400.

Ultimately we all pay the price one way or another and I merely suggest that some "may choke when they get their bill".

The price will be the same. McD's already has ATM's in place to order from. Panara, the same. So, we can pay less people more money and add more to the rolls of the underemployed and welfare rolls. Genius.

They already made a self serve McMachine that can make the whole menu - the quality is higher, the taste is better and no issues with race/sex/intellect/religion or OSHA

When I started working, I always lived on 50 percent of my take home pay. I was financially independent at age 40. Never had a car payment, just bought cheap cars. Even today, I could live on $15 per hour, if I had to do it.

If you can't pay the bills you are motivated to get a better job. Entry level jobs are exactly that: entry level jobs. Also, if you are having trouble making ends meet then the $150/month cable bill can be canned along with the $125/month cell phone bill.

[QUOTE=Sandtrap328;1341221]Amazing! I just read in the Daily Sun that the minimum wage in Florida will be rising TO $8.10 per hour. This is an increase FROM $8.05 per hour!

That figures out to $2 per WEEK or 40 CENTS per day!

Ridiculous is all I can say. Why bother to go through the motions of a pay increase for 40 CENTS per day?[/QUOTE

It is adjusted automatically. Similar to social security and not through any formal current legislative action.

4)(a) Beginning September 30, 2005, and annually on September 30 thereafter, the Department of Economic Opportunity shall calculate an adjusted state minimum wage rate by increasing the state minimum wage by the rate of inflation for the 12 months prior to September 1. In calculating the adjusted state minimum wage, the Department of Economic Opportunity shall use the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, not seasonally adjusted, for the South Region or a successor index as calculated by the United States Department of Labor. Each adjusted state minimum wage rate shall take effect on the following January 1, with the initial adjusted minimum wage rate to take effect on January 1, 2006.

I'd like to know exactly when it was decided that the minimum wage was supposed to be a livable wage? I worked minimum wage jobs when I was in high school and college. I lived with my parents. I didn't have a car, I took public transportation. I don't ever think that I or anyone else working those kinds of jobs in the 60s and 70s expected to be able to live on our own or raise a family on a minimum wage job. I knew kids back then that wanted to live on their own and worked two minimum wage jobs to share an apartment with a few other kids.

This kind of thinking has gotten out of control. Just because you work 40 hours a week does not guarantee that you'll be able to take care of yourself.

Minimum wage is for entry level unskilled work not for supporting ones self or raising a family. If you want to be independent then I would suggest that you go and get some education or some salable skills so that you would qualify for a job making a livable wage.

Social Security was never meant to be a livable wage either but time has changed that concept.

Meanwhile the Social Security increase for 2017 is the same amount that Medicare Premium increased.

McDonalds
 

There are many entry level jobs in Florida that are paying more than the minimum wage just to get help. The McDonalds at Colony had a sign on their window "help wanted $9.00" for weeks because they couldn't get employees for minimum wage. It's supply and demand. In a college town, a McDonalds had young people on a waiting list to get a part time job at minimum wage. Again, supply and demand. Yeah, I can remember a 15 cent hamburger.

Weston burgers were 12 cents ! Best burgers ever...

Thomas Sowell defined the minimum wage as $0.

The market in each community and industry should determine the value of a worker and the market is based on among other things supply and demand . I read recently read where the Job guy who has a television show said that they cannot get people to do trade type jobs. Welders he said were paying up to $140,000.
So, either potential employees do not want trade jobs , don't desire to apprentice or they do not have the motivation or employable skills to perform them

Employers are also subjected to supply and demand and as such you cannot artificially alter this equation without consequences and certainly not without increases in productivity.

Making such demands as we deserve an increase in...is tantamount to giving every kid a trophy just because s/he showed up for the game

Too many people have been brained wash by this entitlement mentality and have such do not understand that value is based on successful and productive improvement.

when I was a kid I parked myself at the Personnel Office every morning for three months begging for a sweepers job in a factory because I was married and going to college nights. I recognized that all I had then was desire to offer an employer. I suspect many reading this post have similar stories.

Personal Best Regards: