Seattle sees fallout from $15 minimum wage, as other cities follow suit

[Dr.Pecker]

I remember working for $4.50 an hour. Try to do that now.

 

[bearkat42]

I remember working for $4.50 an hour. Try to do that now.

When I was in high school, minimum wage was $3.35 an hour.

 

[Padawanbater2]

If wages have decreased since 1968 ($10.10/hour accounting for inflation), and this idea that raising wages increases unemployment, why isn't the inverse true as well? If we lower wages, according to opponents of raising the minimum wage, unemployment should correlate because businesses will have more money to hire people, right?

Anybody wanna take a guess what actually happened?

 

[bearkat42]

Expecting everything and everyone to be equal is naive.

Some people work harder or smarter and make more money than others. Some people develop a skill that is worth more to employers so they get paid more.

And some people won't hire me because of the color of my skin. So in many cases my work ethic and skill are irrelevant.

 

[UncleBuck]

If wages have decreased since 1968 ($10.10/hour accounting for inflation), and this idea that raising wages increases unemployment, why isn't the inverse true as well? If we lower wages, according to opponents of raising the minimum wage, unemployment should correlate because businesses will have more money to hire people, right?

Anybody wanna take a guess what actually happened?

wooooops, sucks when their logic comes back against them.

 

[nitro harley]

I remember working for $4.50 an hour. Try to do that now.

I remember working for 1.75 in the early seventies. The baby boomers worked cheap when they were young also. It is time to get it over ten bucks definitely.

Minimum hourly wage of workers in jobs first covered by
Effective Date1938 Act 11961 Amendments 21966 and Subsequent
Amendments3
Nonfarm

Farm

Oct 24, 1938

$0.25

Oct 24, 1939

$0.30

Oct 24, 1945

$0.40

Jan 25, 1950

$0.75

Mar 1, 1956

$1.00

Sep 3, 1961

$1.15

$1.00

Sep 3, 1963

$1.25

Sep 3, 1964

$1.15

Sep 3, 1965

$1.25

Feb 1, 1967

$1.40

$1.40

$1.00

$1.00

Feb 1, 1968

$1.60

$1.60

$1.15

$1.15

Feb 1, 1969

$1.30

$1.30

Feb 1, 1970

$1.45

Feb 1, 1971

$1.60

May 1, 1974

$2.00

$2.00

$1.90

$1.60

Jan. 1, 1975

$2.10

$2.10

$2.00

$1.80

Jan 1, 1976

$2.30

$2.30

$2.20

$2.00

Jan 1, 1977

$2.30

$2.20

Jan 1, 1978

$2.65 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Jan 1, 1979

$2.90 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Jan 1, 1980

$3.10 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Jan 1, 1981

$3.35 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Apr 1, 19904

$3.80 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Apr 1, 1991

$4.25 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Oct 1, 1996

$4.75 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Sep 1, 19975

$5.15 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Jul 24, 2007

$5.85 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Jul 24, 2008

$6.55 for all covered, nonexempt workers

Jul 24, 2009

$7.25 for all covered, nonexempt workers

 

[Padawanbater2]

I remember working for 1.75 in the early seventies. The baby boomers worked cheap when they were young also. It is time to get it over ten bucks definitely.

Adjusted for inflation, the wage was between $10.10 in 1968 and $8.56 in 1980

Meanwhile...

 

[fandango]

I remember working for $4.50 an hour. Try to do that now.

Jeepers...my first job paid $1.35 per hour pumping gas and washing windshields and checking the oil level
but my brand new surf board cost me $110.00 dollars.
and my vw cost me $400.00

 

[Fogdog]

We live comfortably enough. We have good credit and a mortgage in a nice neighborhood. We save and budget.

His electrical labor should be worth more than a general laborer.

I always thought of movie theatres, fast food, and groceries as a job for teens that live at home. Something to pad their resume to get that coveted bed bath and beyond job or something one ate up the pay ladder.

You are absolutely right in that part time minimum wage jobs were originally meant for the entry level worker. The idea was that a teen or recently graduated high school worker moving on to college but still living at home would be able to make a little for personal expenses while going to school. The concept has become bastardized into minimum wage as the base salary for full time general laborers. Please note that general laborers are much more skilled than entry level workers and before Reaganomics were paid well above minimum wage.

I don't know where you live but $13.00 for part time work is not enough to get by for a two person household, anywhere. Your husband would have be working full time and extra hours to make enough. Is he the only wage earner in your household?

Then you blithely say that minimum wage must not be raised to $15 an hour because then your husband would make the same as a burger flipper. A $2 per hour or 15% raise for your husband would mean he wouldn't need to work so many hours to make ends meet. Don't you like to spend time with him?

 

[Padawanbater2]

If wages have decreased since 1968 ($10.10/hour accounting for inflation), and this idea that raising wages increases unemployment, why isn't the inverse true as well? If we lower wages, according to opponents of raising the minimum wage, unemployment should correlate because businesses will have more money to hire people, right?

Anybody wanna take a guess what actually happened?

As you can see, the minimum wage (gray line) does not correlate to unemployment, actual purchasing power, i.e. how much the middle class actually has to spend (yellow line) to stimulate the economy has much more to do with unemployment numbers (blue line)

 

[Padawanbater2]

 

[Flaming Pie]

You are absolutely right in that part time minimum wage jobs were originally meant for the entry level worker. The idea was that a teen or recently graduated high school worker moving on to college but still living at home would be able to make a little for personal expenses while going to school. The concept has become bastardized into minimum wage as the base salary for full time general laborers. Please note that general laborers are much more skilled than entry level workers and before Reaganomics were paid well above minimum wage.

I don't know where you live but $13.00 for part time work is not enough to get by for a two person household, anywhere. Your husband would have be working full time and extra hours to make enough. Is he the only wage earner in your household?

Then you blithely say that minimum wage must not be raised to $15 an hour because then your husband would make the same as a burger flipper. A $2 per hour or 15% raise for your husband would mean he wouldn't need to work so many hours to make ends meet. Don't you like to spend time with him?

He works full time. Some overtime about two months out of the year.

He's home every day by 3:15. We have a daughter. I am a medical caregiver and am compensated for my time and costs of grow.

Our mortgage is 615 dollars a month. 1100 square feet is a comfortable cozy living for us.

Around here you can get condos for 35-40k and homes for 80-100k.

 

[Flaming Pie]

I only became a caregiver after we got a home. I was working 20 hours a week and going to school before that. We lived in the cheapest shitty apartment with a roommate.

 

[Flaming Pie]

To clarify, I don't have a problem with people making more money. I am just concerned about the price of services and goods rising and the possible reduction of labor to compensate for increasing labor costs.

 

[heckler73]

To clarify, I don't have a problem with people making more money. I am just concerned about the price of services and goods rising and the possible reduction of labor to compensate for increasing labor costs.

What services and goods are you concerned with most?

 

[Flaming Pie]

What services and goods are you concerned with most?

Groceries are my main concern as I don't really eat fast food. I do like to go to breakfast once a week with the family.

So maybe not services so much as rise of the cost of American made products and groceries.

I do appreciate the mature tone you guys are taking with me. I like to discuss and learn new things. I also enjoy hearing other peoples perspectives so that I can learn to look at things in a new way.

 

[Fogdog]

To clarify, I don't have a problem with people making more money. I am just concerned about the price of services and goods rising and the possible reduction of labor to compensate for increasing labor costs.

Sounds to me as if your family is off to a good start and good luck to you and yours for that. Big respect from me to anybody working hard at whatever their occupation.

I don't know where you are getting your economic theory from. Economic theory coming from the television is not to be trusted. You'd do better reading about wages and inflation on Wikipedia than wherever you heard that minimum wage increases drive inflation. Maybe a trip to the library will help.

Think about this: wages adjusted to inflation were flat for about 30 years and for the last 15 years, they have dropped by about 15%.. Forty years of hard work and what do you get? A pay cut! If inflation was strongly linked to wages, especially the wages in the lower income brackets then we'd expect to see it go down eventually. But it has not.

When prices go up without a rise in wages, consumers need to spend more to make ends meet and they (you and I) cut discretionary spending. This cools the economy and slows job growth which is exactly what's happening right now.

Where then is the extra profit made from denying wage increases but continually increasing prices going? It's going into the pockets of those that have control of the economy -- the Koch brothers, and Trump for example. People at that end of the wealth bracket speculate and consolidate, not invest to grow their wealth. Compared to how hard you and your husband work, Trump and his ilk don't work hard enough to earn the kind of income they receive nor do they create new jobs.

Don't expect things to improve by denying wage increases to those in your income bracket and and lower. Things are only going to get worse if that trend continues. Perhaps you might want to consider joining that union and demand more from you and your husband's labor. Its the best thing you could do for this country.

 

[nitro harley]

Sounds to me as if your family is off to a good start and good luck to you and yours for that. Big respect from me to anybody working hard at whatever their occupation.

I don't know where you are getting your economic theory from. Economic theory coming from the television is not to be trusted. You'd do better reading about wages and inflation on Wikipedia than wherever you heard that minimum wage increases drive inflation. Maybe a trip to the library will help.

Think about this: wages adjusted to inflation were flat for about 30 years and for the last 15 years, they have dropped by about 15%.. Forty years of hard work what do you get? A pay cut! If inflation was strongly linked to wages, especially the wages in the lower income brackets then we'd expect to see it go down eventually. But it has not.

When prices go up without a rise in wages, consumers need to spend more to make ends meet and they (you and I) cut discretionary spending. This cools the economy and slows job growth which is exactly what's happening right now.

Where then is the extra profit made from denying wage increases but continually increasing prices going? It's going into the pockets of those that have control of the economy -- the Koch brothers, and Trump for example. People at that end of the wealth bracket speculate and consolidate, not invest to grow their wealth. Compared to how hard you and your husband work, Trump and his ilk don't work hard enough to earn the kind of income they receive nor do they create new jobs.

Don't expect things to improve by denying wage increases to those in your income bracket and and lower. Things are only going to get worse if that trend continues. Perhaps you might want to consider joining that union and demand more, not less from you and your husband's labor. Its the best thing you could do for this country.

You should of included the three richest people in america are democrats , like gates, buffet, ellison. Why are you just picking on the cherry picked conservatives when the dems are leading the pack? Get the story straight or what good is it?

 

[Flaming Pie]

Sounds to me as if your family is off to a good start and good luck to you and yours for that. Big respect from me to anybody working hard at whatever their occupation.

I don't know where you are getting your economic theory from. Economic theory coming from the television is not to be trusted. You'd do better reading about wages and inflation on Wikipedia than wherever you heard that minimum wage increases drive inflation. Maybe a trip to the library will help.

Think about this: wages adjusted to inflation were flat for about 30 years and for the last 15 years, they have dropped by about 15%.. Forty years of hard work what do you get? A pay cut! If inflation was strongly linked to wages, especially the wages in the lower income brackets then we'd expect to see it go down eventually. But it has not.

When prices go up without a rise in wages, consumers need to spend more to make ends meet and they (you and I) cut discretionary spending. This cools the economy and slows job growth which is exactly what's happening right now.

Where then is the extra profit made from denying wage increases but continually increasing prices going? It's going into the pockets of those that have control of the economy -- the Koch brothers, and Trump for example. People at that end of the wealth bracket speculate and consolidate, not invest to grow their wealth. Compared to how hard you and your husband work, Trump and his ilk don't work hard enough to earn the kind of income they receive nor do they create new jobs.

Don't expect things to improve by denying wage increases to those in your income bracket and and lower. Things are only going to get worse if that trend continues. Perhaps you might want to consider joining that union and demand more, not less from you and your husband's labor. Its the best thing you could do for this country.

We don't have cable and I stopped watching the news a long time ago.

I do see both sides of the argument. I am open to be ideas and understand that wages have not gone up enough to keep up with inflation.

I guess I don't see how a jump from 9 to 15 wont shock the system. I think 10 would be a good minimum.

Some areas do have a higher cost of living and perhaps those areas should get 15+.

I believe that sometimes in life you have to work hard to achieve the comforts in life. You also have to better yourself so you aren't stuck in a minimum wage job. It may take a couple years, but its possible with budgeting and training.

Minimum wage means to me the minimum that an employer has to pay the least skilled entry worker.

 

[travisw]

You should of included the three richest people in america are democrats , like gates, buffet, ellison. Why are you just picking on the cherry picked conservatives when the dems are leading the pack? Get the story straight or what good is it?

You need to get your story straight.

Lawrence Ellison, California, Co-founder of Oracle Corporation – Republicans

Worth: $48 billion

Ellison gave $3 million to the Restore Our Future PAC in 2012, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. He has given to a mix of GOP and Democratic candidates over the years, but most of his recent donations have gone to Republicans like John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

Bill Gates, Washington, former CEO Microsoft – Democrats

Worth: $76 billion

The richest man in the country, Gates has given $15,000 to both the Democratic and Republican congressional campaign committees this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2014/08/05/wealthiest-americans-in-each-state-primarily-support-republicans/