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The Center for American Progress reports:
Think a higher minimum wage is a job killer? Think again: The states that raised their minimum wages on January 1 have seen higher employment growth since then than the states that kept theirs at the same rate.
The minimum wage went up in 13 states Arizona, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington either thanks to automatic increases in line with inflation or new legislation, as Ben Wolcott reports in his analysis at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The average change in employment for those states over the first five months of the year as compared with the last five of 2013 is 0.99 percent, while the average for all remaining states is 0.68 percent.
Digging deeper, all but one of those states are experiencing increases in employment, and nine of them have seen growth above the median rate.
(Score: 2) by khallow on Monday July 07 2014, @02:44AM
Unless they lose their job. And where's the long term incentive to invest in these more expensive employees? You have to stop eating the seed corn at some point.
(Score: 2) by dry on Monday July 07 2014, @03:53AM
The long term incentive is to have higher employee loyalty, productivity, lower absenteeism, less employee turnover and saving money by not having to hire and train new employees.
We're not talking about eating the seed corn, rather using it to grow corn for eating and having more seed corn.
(Score: 2) by khallow on Monday July 07 2014, @08:37PM
The same long term incentives exist in the absence of a minimum wage. People aren't going to jump ship just because someone out there is earning less than a certain arbitrary amount.
Further, this actually has advantages. Someone who is willing to work cheap demonstrates a number of positive traits which an employer would like. The employer can thus pay more to keep those who demonstrate such fitness. Unpaid interns do this all the time, I might add, so it's not some alien thing that businesses won't touch.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday July 08 2014, @05:15AM
Of course they are, with that arbitrary amount varying but basically less then what is needed to live. Witness the 2 million plus prison population in the States and remember that most criminals don't get caught.
Would you work for less then it costs you to eat? At least for an extended time.
I wouldn't hire someone who was willing to work too cheap, with the exception of perhaps a kid or someone who wasn't working for their livelihood.
Unpaid interns are one of the most abused positions there are. Though the idea of working cheap or even for free for a short while to learn enough to get paid more is fine. I've even offered to do it in the past, no employer accepted.
Perhaps you dream of going back to slave labour or an economy like Qatar where the labour abuse reaches amazing highs.
(Score: 2) by khallow on Tuesday July 08 2014, @01:35PM
You'll have to take my word for it, but I'm rolling my eyes. You can live on a lot less than minimum wage. Buy bulk food, live with a bunch of people, etc. In addition, low wages aren't a permanent state of affairs. If you can show that you're a good worker and you pick up some skills, then you can earn more than bottom of the barrel wages. OTOH, if you're a shitty worker who can't be bothered to learn the basics like how to show up to work on time or when not to take recreational drugs, then I can't be bothered to care.
It's worth noting that there are a fair number of people who can actually afford to work for less than starvation wages. That's because they have a second income source. Most teenagers fall into this category (their parent(s) work), for example.
Further, we need to remember that the actual minimum wage is zero dollars per hour. If you're not working at all, then you can't pay for your own food, place to live, etc and you're even more stuck than if you have a job that at least makes ends meet.
Of course not. Because I don't have to and I'm pretty cheap to feed as well.
Well, you have to put the people who aren't worth hiring at minimum wage somewhere. Prison is one of the big places where the perpetually unemployed go.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday July 07 2014, @05:36AM
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(Score: 2) by khallow on Tuesday July 08 2014, @01:59PM
Minimum wage doesn't create more experienced companies or employees.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday July 08 2014, @03:50PM
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(Score: 2) by khallow on Tuesday July 08 2014, @07:11PM
Exploting workers does not create experienced companies or employees.
That's a separate issue from minimum wage. You really ought to look into all these hidden assumptions you are making. A certain level of pay doesn't make exploitation. Nor is exploitation of workers automatically something which proscribes experienced companies or employees. After all, any employer can be considered to exploit their employees. That is the whole point of employment - exploitment in exchange for wages.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday July 08 2014, @07:32PM
No, it isn't.
"A certain level of pay doesn't make exploitation."
What an absurd thing to say... Yes, it most certainly and obviously does. You'd seriously have to be unaware of cost-of-living to assert something like that.
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