Why minimum wage jobs are bad

a reply to: beezzer

Well beezzer you know my answer and I know you don't agree with it so we will just leave it at that.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: beezzer

Well beezzer you know my answer and I know you don't agree with it so we will just leave it at that.

Sounds fair enough.

minimum wage jobs should be a right of passage. Like your first job out of high school or in college, or a part time job at first to help supliment your income for a very short while. a minimum wage jobs should be a stepping stone, where you have something to put on a resume, and where you can learn to be in management if you want and start climbing that way.

If thought of that way, there would be no end to Minimum wage job applicants...when you mature enough or learn enough to move on those jobs are passed on to the next generation graduating high school. That's the way it's supposed to be, but isn't.

In this economy, we aren't doing enough to make sure that those people can move on. We aren't giving them the opportunity and showing them how.

originally posted by: amazing
minimum wage jobs should be a right of passage. Like your first job out of high school or in college, or a part time job at first to help supliment your income for a very short while. a minimum wage jobs should be a stepping stone, where you have something to put on a resume, and where you can learn to be in management if you want and start climbing that way.

If thought of that way, there would be no end to Minimum wage job applicants...when you mature enough or learn enough to move on those jobs are passed on to the next generation graduating high school. That's the way it's supposed to be, but isn't.

In this economy, we aren't doing enough to make sure that those people can move on. We aren't giving them the opportunity and showing them how.

So what about if you can never rise above that just got out of school frame of mind?

Many people can never get out of that trap. A lot of folks are there for life.

a reply to: nonspecific


I don't even think it's a cost of living issue; it's a wage disparity issue.

Raise the minimum wage $5? How about the CEOs making millions a month...

A Salary Cap would be more beneficial than raising min wage.
Force the excess back into the company & wages will automatically rise.

originally posted by: nonspecific

originally posted by: amazing
minimum wage jobs should be a right of passage. Like your first job out of high school or in college, or a part time job at first to help supliment your income for a very short while. a minimum wage jobs should be a stepping stone, where you have something to put on a resume, and where you can learn to be in management if you want and start climbing that way.

If thought of that way, there would be no end to Minimum wage job applicants...when you mature enough or learn enough to move on those jobs are passed on to the next generation graduating high school. That's the way it's supposed to be, but isn't.

In this economy, we aren't doing enough to make sure that those people can move on. We aren't giving them the opportunity and showing them how.

So what about if you can never rise above that just got out of school frame of mind?

Many people can never get out of that trap. A lot of folks are there for life.

I know that's the problem. We don't need the welfare state, we need programs that train them or show them how to get out of that state.

originally posted by: Eunuchorn
a reply to: nonspecific


I don't even think it's a cost of living issue; it's a wage disparity issue.

Raise the minimum wage $5? How about the CEOs making millions a month...

A Salary Cap would be more beneficial than raising min wage.
Force the excess back into the company & wages will automatically rise.

Or we could accept that some of us need to be poor even if that includes our own children. life needs poor workers and if that's you and your children then thats the way it is.

originally posted by: Eunuchorn
a reply to: nonspecific


I don't even think it's a cost of living issue; it's a wage disparity issue.

Raise the minimum wage $5? How about the CEOs making millions a month...

A Salary Cap would be more beneficial than raising min wage.
Force the excess back into the company & wages will automatically rise.

What would you dictate a person could make, then?

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.

If low wage companies raised the bar, wouldn't they still be low wage companies, and thereby devaluing the entire job market?

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
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.

Yep.

But then I'll need a raise because now I can't afford everything I used to so now I'll just stop buying McDonalds....

Work hard people, get an education, set goals for yourself... you can only rely on yourself!

a reply to: nonspecific
Yes they are better for it. Like I said, they are working on goals that were already important to them. Those are goals shared by the corporation who helped further their education. They work in an area that balances the needs of management, hourly personnel, and customer satisfaction. BTW, their hourly personnel are not minimum wage employees. They are working from within a corporation to change the culture. As those above them see productivity along with personnel contentment rising at the same time they understand it will impact the care their customers will receive.

As far as them being no longer needed, they are very marketable to other corporations. At any time they do not find a respectful relationship between themselves and upper management they will leave with job experience and additional education. They never sold their soul.

The answer is simple, really. Work hard for your money. I started part time at minimum wage. Went to college to get a business degree that, although not doing me any good at the moment, looked good on a resume. After school I went full time after 2 years at my part time job. I was doing a good job and was asked to be a manager trainee. This allowed me to be trained to take my own store. I moved into a house with friends and quickly got overwhelmed by bills. I decided to go to the gas field so I could make more cash while losing free time. The influx of cash allowed me to pay off my car and my back debts. I had a child on a way so I quit that job and found another full time job paying me a decent wage to live on.
--Don't accrue debt you can't handle.
--Pay off debts slowly, but know that when you do you'll have extra cash.
--Plan ahead. Don't spend money on a whim and make sure you have it when you need it.
--Keep a small amount every week into savings. It adds up.
--KEEP LOOKING FOR JOBS. If you find a job you wouldn't enjoy working but PAYS MORE, take it! You're working for money after all, aren't you?
--The increase of time spent working adds to a resume. As a manager I looked for dedication to a workplace and experience working.

There ARE jobs everywhere, making sacrifices helps supplement the loss of pay. When you gain in pay don't splurge but plan.
Our schools need to teach our kids money management and how to expect and plan for future expenses. This is the knowledge I use everyday to help me with meeting my financial goals.

Yes, but everything doesn't raise on a fixed ratio. Australia has twice the minimum wage and they only pay 30% more than we do on average. The only way wages increase prices is by increased disposable income creating increased demand, but these increased prices will also stimulate production which should act to increase the rate of deflationary forces as well.

a reply to: beezzer

What's your beef with the poorest of workers being able to exist by non-starvation and exposure? You seem happy to allow some people to be given millions upon millions of dollars - why can't the poorest workers have a basic minimum standard so they can afford shelter and food?

originally posted by: SomePeople
a reply to: beezzer

What's your beef with the poorest of workers being able to exist by non-starvation and exposure? You seem happy to allow some people to be given millions upon millions of dollars - why can't the poorest workers have a basic minimum standard so they can afford shelter and food?

You're making some mighty big assumptions.

Minimum wage jobs are, by definition, "Minimum Wage". They are entry level positions not meant to be careers.

As for those who have money? Good for them. I don't care about them. I don't concern myself with what is in someone else's bank account.

I'd prefer it to be their business.

It certainly is none of mine.

And you bring up shelter and food.

Why should it be MY responsibility to take care of them?
Why isn't it their OWN RESPONIBILITY?

Unless you want the government to dictate;
What people make
Where people live
What people eat

Because if that's what you want, then that's an entirely different topic.

a reply to: beezzer

Oh, well there are obviously a huge amount of jobs which pay more than minimu...ohhhh wait a minute.

No, there isn't. I guess we just leave the system as it is and people can just keep working their three jobs that don't pay minimum wage but are obviously enough for them to survi.....ohhhhh wait a minute.

No, it isn't!

Gosh - where to from here?

Edit: how is giving people a minimum wage to exist from any of your responsibility unless you're working one of those jobs? I could understand if you were an employer, but if you need staff and can't pay them enough to live on then you are a slave driver and I'm pretty sure that was outlawed some time back.

I agree completely, beezzer. Well-put. My only qualm is, everyone who has worked in the service industry knows that it can be thankless work that often leads one to feel disillusioned with society. I remember working at Starbucks--the system itself wasn't bad, neither was the pay. What was bad was how the customers treated you like a trained circus monkey. The only minimum wage job that I have worked at and never felt degraded in the slightest was when I was a page at my local library during high school. Although I was paid the least amount of money that I've ever made at a job, oddly enough I got the most respect I've ever gotten at a job. I guess I need to grow a thicker skin but, I for one cannot stand being looked down upon. It really demotivates me to the point where I start hating on myself because I start thinking that maybe I deserve it. Not saying that the defeatist mindset is excusable or justified in any way but I think that if companies were able to make their employees feel valued and necessary, then the customers would follow suit. If I felt like I was doing something other than wasting valuable time that I could have been spending studying and bettering myself, I think that I would be far more inclined to not quit my next job due to feeling depressed and hopeless. I am a hard worker, by the way. And I always do the job exceedingly well. So why, at the end of the day am I left feeling bereft, fearing stagnation? I am not normally a hopeless person. I don't really know what it is about some of those jobs that instills that feeling but I think that that is what needs to change in order for people's attitudes to change.

originally posted by: SomePeople
a reply to: beezzer

Oh, well there are obviously a huge amount of jobs which pay more than minimu...ohhhh wait a minute.

No, there isn't. I guess we just leave the system as it is and people can just keep working their three jobs that don't pay minimum wage but are obviously enough for them to survi.....ohhhhh wait a minute.

No, it isn't!

Gosh - where to from here?

Edit: how is giving people a minimum wage to exist from any of your responsibility unless you're working one of those jobs? I could understand if you were an employer, but if you need staff and can't pay them enough to live on then you are a slave driver and I'm pretty sure that was outlawed some time back.

(beezzer checks his job description)

Nope. I'm not responsible for the economy. I'm just a guy on a conspiracy website.

I'm responsible for me.
For my wife.
For my children.

Work?
I'm responsible for my employees. When they are at work]
How they spend their money, what they spend it on, is none of my business.

Your solution is to rant about the wealthy, redistribute wealth.

Sound ideas.

Any other grand solutions?

a reply to: tothetenthpower

It's not greed. It's the federal reserve devaluating the dollar - the net result is inflation.

When u say "greed", u r in fact generalizing a class of people, thus, social control divide and conquer. Be more specific and people will take you more seriously.

If minimum wage went up, wouldn't all prices go up? You aren't supposed to continue working minimum wage jobs and raise 11 kids and pay alimony to 8 ex wives off of it. It's called MINIMUM wage because that is the "bottom of the barrel" so to speak. What makes me mad is I am a college graduate and currently on my second degree finishing up here next year, my friends didn't even go to college and they are making more than me lol. But that is another story. A majority of them went and took certifications or classes and managed to get hired by the fracking people making really good money.