Why Increasing Minimum Wage is Meaningless

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Well, if raising the minimum wage is so bad, then how about the government compelling businesses to lower their prices? Especially when it comes to rent and housing, and medical care and medicine.

Uh, that doesn't have a very good real world track record, even your pretty far left types will usually draw the line at those types of price controls, the inefficiencies are too hard to ignore. If the government sets the price below the cost of production, no one will make the product or it will only be available on the black market at it's true price, or if they set the price too high, companies will rush to produce whatever the product is as cheaply as possible in order to sell them to the government at a huge profit, while regular people won't pay the inflated price, and again, turn to the black market. This is what the market is for, determining price, and it does it better than any other mechanism yet discovered.

Yeah they won't do that either. Lowering prices reduced profits and then....you know they lay off staff.

Just how are people supposed to afford a roof over their heads when rent is priced beyond their ability to pay. And that is happening all over the country, even as we speak. And too few low income housing is being built, as middle class people constantly say: "Not in my neighborhood!" As if being poor equates criminal conduct.

With health insurance? Enough to cover medications if they are diabetic? What about areas where rent on a studio starts at $2200/mo? What if they have a child?

Cost of living varies quite a bit by location. Minimum wage probably should, too.

Of course, just to complicate this discussion, it isn't just the minimum per hour that is the problem. Many jobs won't allow employees to work more than 29 hours a week (30 hours is benefits eligibility) but utilize flux work schedules that make it impossible to hold another job at the same time.

I think part of the problem is the inability for younger people to transport themselves and a glut of younger people who have fixated on working in the humanity field and I think city living is glamourised and many are even dependant on it. Some will simply refuse to contemplate living anywhere else.

Back in the day everyone was desperate to get out of big cities. Now everyone wants to pour into them. Blue collar work outside of cities have taken a nosedive and skill sets are moving towards office and service sector work that can be done in cities.

If people wanted to keep house prices affordable, they shouldn't have abandon the housing stock and employment in rural areas.

That's not the role of private industry to figure out, they're just in business to do business, nothing more.

Also, is anyone going to even acknowledge that I've said "wealth redistribution" like 4-5 times in this thread alone, or are we going to keep pretending like the minimum wage is the only level we possess here?

I think I mentioned that I was intrigued by the idea of UBC changing the formula (although I think I had a typo and called it UNC). Pragmatically, a higher minimum wage will be less scary to politicians and voters. Among other reasons, there is data to show how it affects the overall economy and wealth gap. Creatively, there probably is a better solution out there.

When the minimum wage skyrocketed where I live, so did my rent. Which forced me to move into a tiny room in a 100 year old bedbug and cockroach ridden hotel.

I agree with you, Nades. Too many people want to live where they just cannot afford to. It is like they think that they should have a right to live in the most expensive places, but at their budget level that is not that large. Rather than moving to a cheaper location to live, they stay put. They would rather live in squalor in a city than have to go to a decent place that is more rural.

While in college, I saw the overproduction of humanities majors first hand. They were not concerned about how many there were in their area of study, as they assumed that they would buck the trend and land a big paycheck in the end. They used to make fun of those in the physical science majors, as we “were stupid to work so hard” to obtain our degrees. I am not saying all of them were like that but I heard that quite often at school gatherings and events. I see it as a form of job security that they did not go my route.

We need more technical workers (plumbers, electricians, etc.) than what we currently graduate. Unfortunately, some see a stigma with working those jobs. The US will not function without those workers, as they are a backbone part of our workforce. At least they pay well now.

Yep. There will always be a need for people who work in “trades.”

To some people, it’s “dirty work.” But I don’t agree.

We certainly will need these sorts of workers, like Quantum said, in order to maintain our infrastructure.

Just like health care workers.

We must respect “the trades” more, and not thumb our noses at them.

Yep, raising the minimum wage can lead to inflation in housing prices for renters. Landlords are not dumb. They can actively raise rent to get their hands on some of that new money coming in. Even rent controlled apartments can go up as the renter’s income goes up. It can even get to a point theoretically that one could get kicked out of rent controlled ones because the income amount it too large per the initial rental agreement. They would be forced into regular housing at a much higher cost.

Have you noticed that due to inflation people earning minimum wage today have way lower purchasing power than they did decades ago? That corporate profits have taken the lions share of gains over the last half century? Why are you so opposed to the people earning the least amount of money taking home enough to provide themselves with basic essentials?

"Wealth redistribution," ya - should be done via wages/salaries. Pay people enough to live and be healthy/happy. Pretty simple stuff.

Minimum wage is $15.20 here now, and it’s still too low relative to the sky high cost of living here.

Minimum wage in the USA, federally, is $7.25/hr, which means if someone works full time for a year they’ll gross approximately $14,500.00/year.

Where in the USA can someone rent a home, feed and clothe themselves, pay for healthcare and medicine, and cover transportation costs on $14,500.00/year ?

I suppose it’s possible to squeak by, but just barely exist, and certainly w/o any dependants or a car on the road etc. In 2022, $14.5k is a horribly low sum to work 2000 hours for.

I've been saying that for a while, that we need to destigmatize the trades as an option after high school, as college isn't for everyone. Someone who goes to trade school will have a stable income, and not as much debt as those who graduate from college or university.

This seems to be a problem in government highschools in "well to do" areas in Melbourne where there are no pathways offered for vocational education (trades/services). Part of the problem is good government schools in high demand suburbs tend to attract "tiger parents" (I won't advertise their backgrounds but its obvious who I'm talking about) who only want their kids to go to university.