Minimum wage, good or bad?

[Bruce Wayne]

The UK minimum wage rises today to more than £5 per hour. Do you think the minimum wage is good or bad?

[Bluezy]

It should have been raised ages ago. Still, that is very little and will barely cover the necessities.

Without the cap of how low a wage can go, employers paying £2 - £3 would continue to do so. More poor families, especially single parents, would be driven to benefits.

[Bruce Wayne]

Originally Posted by Bluezy

It should have been raised ages ago. Still, that is very little and will barely cover the necessities.

Without the cap of how low a wage can go, employers paying £2 - £3 would continue to do so. More poor families, especially single parents, would be driven to benefits.

I've heard it said recently that the people in poverty aren't those recieving benefits right now but are those on the minimum wage.

Do you agree with that?

[tuscan minoque]

I think minimum wage is good,the purpose is to avoid people being under paid,a little over 5 pounds a hour is a bit under the cost of living for anyone or anywhere.I hope some day the minimum wages meet the true cost of living.

[Bruce Wayne]

Do you need laws for this? If a job pays an unsuitable wage, why would you take it?

[PrincessPerky]

well there are two sides, you would take it cause it is more than nothing, or you would take it cause that is the work you can do.

IMO and I doubt many will agree, minimum wage is making things worse. A kid can sweep a floor for a buck, but not with the minimum wage laws, he has to get X amount for it, I wouldn't pay someone that much just to sweep a floor would you? so you have to get someone who can do more than sweep the floor, leaving the kid with that simple skill SOL.

Also when you make all first time people get X amount who do you think loses? the company profits? no, it is the the oldtimer who deserves a decent raise, but the company has 20X amount to spend on labor (I know the CEO gets a ton, we are not talking utopia here, we are talking real life) company can divide it between the 20 people needed, they can spend less than X on a few and give more than X to those that do more/have more practice, or experience. But with the law, he cannot pay anyone less than X. Course that means you are paying the slow schmoe that you can't fire (HR laws, you can't fire people cause they arn't great, only for major failures)) the same as speedy gonzalas, but hey, equality and all that.

Another problem IMO with minimum wage, that is the expected worth of ALL lower level jobs, and it is assumed that it is enough. If it desereved more the Govt would make it more. Stop asking the govt to decide what you are worth! They think toilets cost thousands and hammers 800, what on earth does the govt know about the worth of your skills?

[Dingoluv4eva]

I read all of your replies, my thoughts on it,

Only minimum wage jobs or close to it in the northeast part of the united states, is in Retail.
Everything else is probbably atleast 2 or 3 dollars above it.

But in retail, usually u have the high school kids, working part time in the afternoon, or the old granny working full time in the morning.

They take these jobs because A) they are old and prolly have artheritis, and dont want to travel far... or B) have no experience doing anything at all, need it on part time basis, and need it to be flexible.

So i'm thinking these 2 samples of the population, would probbably still take the jobs even if they were getting paid less than minimum wage.

so i think minimum wage is good, cause if it wasn't there, those two segments of the population would get extorted by the corporations.

they would use them and abuse them. At least now they get some protection.

[tuscan minoque]

You have a good point there,but let's say you are new at a job and the gov't agree that the company have the rights to start you at whatever wages they feel best suit you depending on experience.But in the law it's says after 6 months probation peroid the employee must received the minimum wages required by the goverment.tell me now is'nt that better than bashing up the minimum wages plan?The company don't lose neither the employees.

[jmjj215]

I have mixed feelings about the minimum wage. Right now I'm reading "Nickel and Dimed" to see one side of it.

If you want to make more, you need to work harder and/or increase your skill set. That's something we should never forget.

[Dingoluv4eva]

JUST A QUICK WORKSHEET ON MINIMUM WAGE.

minimum wage in MA = 6.25

6.25x40 = $250
lets say 20% goes to taxes and SSI etc = $200 take home.
fill up the gas tank twice a week just to get to work... $150 left over a week.
Eat food, spent $10 a day, on breakfast, lunch, dinner (7days a week = $80 left over.

Get a flat tire on the way to work and have your car towed + purchase of new tire (cause u cant really afford AAA) minus -400

so now u're $320 in the minus..
thats gonna take you 6 weeks to earn and save, well 7 cause the credit card will gain interest.



in the meantime your cell phone gets shut off. And your car insurance gets cancelled.. In MA its illegal to drive without insurance, so now every day u're praying u wont get pulled over, and be charged with a criminal offense and a $400 ticket.
and xmas is coming up.. and you are a 65 year old grandma, who has 10 grandchildren.

than ofcourse you need to fill your prescription, and think u might lose your job, cause the boss is getting fed of your outside the work problems, and is telling you, you have to focus more on the job LOL he has a couple of high schoolers lined up.

and than ofcourse u get pulled over, and they tow your car, another $100 plus give u that $400 ticeket.. on top of that you cant drive until u pay insurance the $90 a month they want, but u really owen them $180 for 3 months.. and they want u pay the policy in full so they want $800 suddenly $1300 in the minus..

Grandma found dead? suicide?

[Snoopy2645]

I do think minimum wage should be higher in the US I mean like above poster states I cant see how you can survive on 6.50 an hour or whatever minimum wage is now when lots have a family to feed. I mean if factor in daycare costs you are basically making nothing!!

[Fern]

I wouldn't begrudge minimum wage to anyone. It's never lifted anyone out of poverty. These are the bottom of the barrel jobs that most people don't want to do. Minimum wage should be paid for by additional income taxes on everyone earning $150,000+.

[Bruce Wayne]

Originally Posted by Snoopy2645

I do think minimum wage should be higher in the US I mean like above poster states I cant see how you can survive on 6.50 an hour or whatever minimum wage is now when lots have a family to feed. I mean if factor in daycare costs you are basically making nothing!!

The people on this forum are good examples of living within your means. Just using the example used in the previous post, that person doesn't have to have a car, they didn't have to have babies (contraception anyone?), they don't have to spend $70 a week on food (when I was at university I spent £25 a week on food for two people (around $40) by shopping sensibly).

Believe it or not in years past people managed to live without cell phones too

Christmas is supposed to be a religious festival not a commercial merry-go-round. If you can't afford gifts then don't pander to the corporations.

If the person in the example lost the car then they take home $200 a week for food and living. Members here talk alot about budgeting and living within your means. Seems a simple solution to that dilemma doesn't it?

Governments should provide you with a safe environment to fashion a life, they don't owe you a life, that bit is down to you

[tuscan minoque]

You should not have that much mix feeeling about minimum wages,it's simple and safe,instead of making per se 3 pounds a hour, you make 6 to 7 pound a hour instead,with a better chance of a raised,for the raised is more guaranteed because the goverment would put in place how much you should be raised by in a year,lYep i understand that companies will find this difficult to bare,but in this real life everybody got to survive,even the companies might profit from this in the long run.To me it's away forward, remember whenever change have to be made sacrifice got to be made.

[Fern]

Bruce, you're just not being realistic. Not eveyrone lives in a metropolitan area where public transporation can take the place of a car.

Many young and sexually active women truly do not believe THEY will become pregnant. But of course they do. Young men do crazy things because they really don't have a sense of their own mortality. It's the same principle at work. We all learn by making mistakes.

Minimum wage is not a handout, but a safety net and as such, should be preserved for those less fortunate than ourselves in terms of intelligence, wealth or capability.

[sweeps]

Hi all. First time poster!

Just want to note that there are exception to the minimum wage rule, at least in the U.S. According to the DOL:

Various minimum wage exceptions apply under specific circumstances to workers with disabilities, full-time students, youth under age 20 in their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment, tipped employees and student-learners.

So this would cover some of the ethical issues that were brought up.

[niki_the_tiger]

Originally Posted by Dingoluv4eva

I read all of your replies, my thoughts on it,

Only minimum wage jobs or close to it in the northeast part of the united states, is in Retail.
Everything else is probbably atleast 2 or 3 dollars above it.

I'm a little bit more northeast than you and most jobs around this area are minimum wage or barely above it... and not just in retail. :S

[dolfinrose]

In Tacoma, Washington min wage is $7.35 an hour

[Dingoluv4eva]

Originally Posted by niki_the_tiger

I'm a little bit more northeast than you and most jobs around this area are minimum wage or barely above it... and not just in retail. :S

I am a spoiled city slicker lol

[PRICEPLUS]

Minimum wage might be decent in an area where housing costs as well as other costs are low. In urban and suburban areas costs are very high. Minimum wage might work two counties north of here but in the area I live in it is just not doable!