The Minimum Wage Destroys Jobs

while i concede that minimum wages eliminate jobs, i would urge you to find the families who are being supported by less than $6/hr and tell me their quality of life is acceptable.

now comes the argument that low pay is better than no pay -- well, that may be true. in fact, it is true for the individual worker. but at the same time, on a larger scale -- a scale closer to state or national levels, fewer jobs does mean more competition for the positions available, which means people will work harder once they have a job so that they don't lose it / so that they might get a raise. this simple concept is what drives productivity in the work force. you could imagine a world where everyone is guaranteed employment but does less work because they don't have to worry about being employed.

don't get me wrong, i'm actually a pretty socialist guy, but at the same time we do have to keep our economy afloat, or else we won't be able to sustain ourselves as a nation and have all the government services that should be inalienable to all our citizens (while this may not yet be the case in the US, as we lack things like universal health care, we could never get to a place where universal health care is a possibility with a sinking economy).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Night Phoenix

What kind of idiot tries to support a FAMILY on six bucks an hour?

have you been to an urban area?

Originally Posted by Night Phoenix

If the only job you can get is a minimum wage job and you have a wife and kids, then it's quite obvious that you have virtually no marketable job skills and you would be exactly the type of person who would be fucked over by a raise in the minimum wage because you'll be the first one to get the axe when employers have to cut costs when you raise the wage.

like i said later in the post: true, sad for the individual, but better for an economy.

Originally Posted by Night Phoenix

Sinking economy? The economy hasn't been this strong in decades. Tax revenues are at an all time high, unemployment is at 4.4% (which most economists consider to be basically full employment), So what sinking economy are you talking about?

the hypothetical one in which minimum wage is never raised.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Night Phoenix

Now play fair, I've answered yours - answer mine.

answer your what?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

the kind that doesn't have any other better choice --- like i said, visit an urban center and the poor there are often working for minimum wage and supporting a family (trying, anyway)

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

i conceded that in my first post of this thread -- it's sad, but this kind of measure would indeed hurt the individuals, if the economists are right about minimum wage raises being equal to job loss. at the same time, those very economists would predict that higher minimum wage would help our overall national economic strength.

that's my point, it's a conundrum and it's going to be a decision whose outcome no one will like either way.

I was speaking idiomatically.