Why minimum wage jobs are bad

Hi I'm postulating here and making an assertion so please feel free to educate me.

Companies who pay low wages devalue the entire job market.

If low wage jobs had the bar raised such as mcdonalds it would force the entire labor market to adjust to their income level. The reason this would happen is because in order for companies to compete and find better emoyees they would need to raise the bar or risk not attracting better employees.

Anyway I think that I got the general premise out.

a reply to: onequestion

The reason is simple. A chart can show just about anybody why GREED is the primary reason wages are low.



The cost of living has increased, inflation has occurred a hundred times over, but wages have stagnated.

Why is this?

Greed!

~Tenth

a reply to: tothetenthpower

I agree.

So paying mcdonalds workers 15$ an hour benefits everyone and not just the McDonald's employee.

originally posted by: onequestion
Hi I'm postulating here and making an assertion so please feel free to educate me.

Companies who pay low wages devalue the entire job market.

If low wage jobs had the bar raised such as mcdonalds it would force the entire labor market to adjust to their income level. The reason this would happen is because in order for companies to compete and find better emoyees they would need to raise the bar or risk not attracting better employees.

Anyway I think that I got the general premise out.

An unarguable point.

If minimum wage is 5 and you earn 7 then thats fine.

If minimum wage rises to 7 then you need to earn 9.

Everything raises in value yet taxation remains the same therefore everyone at the bottom is worse off.

Meanwhile those earning 100-1000 is unaffected.

It is the cost of basic living that needs to be addressed not the amount of money earned.

Just my opinion.

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: tothetenthpower

I agree.

So paying mcdonalds workers 15$ an hour benefits everyone and not just the McDonald's employee.

Correct Sir/Maim

The only people that hurts is the share holder of whatever company decides to pay the wage.

~Tenth

No matter how much you make minimum wage, you are still making minimum wage. Prices adjust and you are still in the same place. A business will just pass the expense onto the customers.

a reply to: onequestion

When people have money...people buy things with cash. They aren't beholden to a bank which plays Russian roulette with the debt in the financial markets, trying to make money off of other people's money without having to work a minimum wage job...or as tenth said...

GREED.

The purpose of minimum wage is still unclear to me. Regardless of what you are making you should seek a better job if it doesn't meet your current financial needs. I would rather we offer free higher education than establish minimum wages. When someone betters themselves we win as a society.

originally posted by: tothetenthpower

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: tothetenthpower

I agree.

So paying mcdonalds workers 15$ an hour benefits everyone and not just the McDonald's employee.

Correct Sir/Maim

The only people that hurts is the share holder of whatever company decides to pay the wage.

~Tenth

I have to disagree with that logic if I may, please see my previous post.

Shareholders continue to profit regardless as prices increase to accomodate any cost increase.

The answer is dont work in fast food places they pay rubbish wages, everyone should know that, yet they still work there so its by choice that they do it, problem solved.

a reply to: nonspecific
Can you show a direct link with statistics maybe over a time period? An example

I fully agree in principle but ther are still many menial jobs that need to be done.

Would you like to be a highly educated fast food worker or would you prefer not to know how pointless your job is.
Just question?

a reply to: Metallicus

I can usually buy the small business argument for keeping wages low (they don't make as much profits). But I never buy a corporations excuse for it. I see their right to do it, but I know they are speaking through lies when they say they have to keep wages low to be competitive.

Sure and when milk hits 7-8 bucks and bread is 5 bucks a loaf how will that improve the situation at all. It is not the wages that need correcting it is the value of the money itself.

While an increase in min wages would be great for a small period it has never once fixed the inequality or improved the QoL of the people working those particular jobs.

I wouldn't dare assume that I could educate anyone. I can share my opinion though.

To over simplify, companies have two major areas to focus, customer satisfaction and ROI (return on investment).

Higher wages don't always increase customer satisfaction. In fact often times when the company feels the need to raise prices and lower the quality of materials because of high wages customer satisfaction drops. Fewer customers lower ROI.

Often to increase ROI companies look for global answers to higher wages and outsource. Now we have higher unemployment here.

Let's use the Fast Food industry as an example and ask three questions "Who makes a better Big Mac a $7.50 hour employee or a $10 employee? What does the increased wages do to the price of a Big Mac? As a consumer will I find the price to be above my threshold of pain for what I am getting?"

Just for the record, I no longer waste my money on over priced items. I find ways to cut into the supply chain to cut the price of goods while maintaining quality. There are many out there doing the same. Many retailers are feeling the impact with lower ROI's. So what do you think will be the outcome of raising the minimum wage?

a reply to: nonspecific

But you said:

Everything raises in value yet taxation remains the same therefore everyone at the bottom is worse off.

If you make more and your tax bracket remains the same, then you are better off regardless.

It is the cost of basic living that needs to be addressed not the amount of money earned.

Yes that's true, but cost of living is directly proportionate to wages earned by the middle class. Prices aren't set for the rich or poor in mind.

~Tenth

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: nonspecific
Can you show a direct link with statistics maybe over a time period? An example

If you give me a little time then most possibly although I do not have it to hand.

The point I wished to make was that an increase in minimum wage can be justified by large corperations as an increase in the cost of a product. This is justified.

If minimum wage increases then that will obviously create an increase in costs to a company, any sensible business will then increase the cost of there product accordingly.

If taxation remains constant but the price of goods and services increase then any any benifit of an increased minimum wage would be nullifed.

If there is an obvious flaw in my logic then please let me know as I am as you may have guessed not fully understanding of this.

a reply to: onequestion

Minimum wage jobs are bad.

They are primarily service-related.
They require much physical labor.
They don't have corner offices with beautiful receptionists.
They usually don't come with benefits.

They stink on ice.

Now we can waste valuable bandwidth talking about the greedy-greed-heads-who-greedily-greed-the-greediness-from-those-with-no-greed

or

Maybe focus on employment opportunities that don't require a paper hat.

Personally, I get tired of people whining about how much others have.

Life sometimes sucks.
Life can't be fixed with a few posts on a conspiracy site.

Success takes initiative, drive, innovation, education, action.

Someone once said, "Success is 10% insperation and 90% perspiration."

Meaning that it takes work.

Hard work.

Sometimes it pays off.

Sometimes it doesn't.

Those times that it doesn't? Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try it again.

a reply to: nonspecific

I see what you mean now.

The cost of providing higher wages will translate to more expensive products.

That is also correct.

~Tenth

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: onequestion

Minimum wage jobs are bad.

They are primarily service-related.
They require much physical labor.
They don't have corner offices with beautiful receptionists.
They usually don't come with benefits.

They stink on ice.

Now we can waste valuable bandwidth talking about the greedy-greed-heads-who-greedily-greed-the-greediness-from-those-with-no-greed

or

Maybe focus on employment opportunities that don't require a paper hat.

Personally, I get tired of people whining about how much others have.

Life sometimes sucks.
Life can't be fixed with a few posts on a conspiracy site.

Success takes initiative, drive, innovation, education, action.

Someone once said, "Success is 10% insperation and 90% perspiration."

Meaning that it takes work.

Hard work.

Sometimes it pays off.

Sometimes it doesn't.

Those times that it doesn't? Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try it again.

I fully agree with your statement but as harsh as it sound would you not agree that some people have to do menial jobs that pay terrible money in order for society to continue?

Toilets need cleaning and burgurs need flipping. someone apparently needs to stand in the street with a sign pointing to a subway 40 feet away.

It would be wonderfull to think that everybody could be anything they want to be but it is just not feasable.