Opinion: Increasing the minimum wage comes at too high a price for workers | CNN

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• ArcaneGadget@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  What a load of corporate cock sucking drivel…

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• Bongo_Stryker@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Rising wages are a great thing when they are the natural result of workers becoming more productive

  Oh yeah, I agree, a great thing, but then why

  From 1979 to 2020, net productivity rose 61.8%, while the hourly pay of typical workers grew far slower—increasing only 17.5% over four decades (after adjusting for inflation www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

  Well I guess because

  Starting in the late 1970s policymakers began dismantling all the policy bulwarks helping to ensure that typical workers’ wages grew with productivity. Excess unemployment was tolerated to keep any chance of inflation in check. Raises in the federal minimum wage became smaller and rarer. Labor law failed to keep pace with growing employer hostility toward unions. Tax rates on top incomes were lowered. And anti-worker deregulatory pushes—from the deregulation of the trucking and airline industries to the retreat of anti-trust policy to the dismantling of financial regulations and more—succeeded again and again. www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

  But, but, who could have pushed for these policies that deliberately devalued labor in America and reduced workers rights?

  The Heritage Foundation, sometimes referred to simply as “Heritage,”[1][2] is an activist American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies were taken from Heritage Foundation studies en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation

  So rising wages are a great thing when it’s the natural result of more productivity, but the heritage foundation has spent the last 40 years making sure that wages don’t naturally keep pace.

  Now the heritage foundation is trying to convince you that workers are better off with lower wages, happier when they can’t afford healthcare or pay rent, and more fulfilled when they work two jobs but are always on the brink of homelessness. Don’t be fooled.

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  • realcaseyrollins@noauthority.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    @Bongo_Stryker @wintermute_oregon Well this is interesting...that net productivity you cited is far below the rate of inflation over the same time period, which is 256.49%.

    https://www.calculator.net/inflation-calculator.html?cstartingamount1=100&cinmonth1=13&cinyear1=1979&coutmonth1=13&coutyear1=2020&calctype=1&x=Calculate#uscpi

    You'd think this would hurt companies, but naturally it hurts the people at the bottom most.

    Attachment: static.noauthority.social ↗

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    • realcaseyrollins@noauthority.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      @Bongo_Stryker @wintermute_oregon I also calculated the numbers, the companies are actually slightly disproportionately disadvantaged. Productivity over that time period for companies was 24.9% of the rate of inflation, while hourly pay rose by 28.3% of that productivity. Not even a massive difference TBH. It doesn't seem as unfair as it sounds at first glance.

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• dipshit@hilariouschaos.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The author is basically saying you should be a slave until you get a good job. Can’t say I agree with this opinion piece.

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  • jimbolauski@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    He’s saying artificially inflating wages has led to job cuts.

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    • dipshit@hilariouschaos.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Ok…and her solution is to exploit young and low skilled workers since they ‘don’t bring the value of a reasonable minimum wage’.

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• ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  the minimum wage can’t support a family. But minimum-wage jobs are important stepping-stones, allowing workers to gain experience and move up to higher-paying jobs.

  The article is suggesting to just stop being poor by getting a higher wage job. What if the person can’t? No family for you?

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  • wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Personally, I think the minimum wage should be abolished and a living wage implemented. The term minimum seems to cause a lot of debate about the idea of the wage or a bargaining system like many of the European states have.

    A living wage should be able to pay rent, own a basic car, have health insurance, etc. As such it would be regionally adjusted to guarantee a basic standard of living.

    The idea of a national minimum wage is just silly since the cost of living varies so much regionally. It ends up screwing people in areas where the cost is higher.

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    • BobaFuttbucker@reddthat.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      The minimum wage was intended to be a living wage.

      The fact that you just tried to make a distinction between the two shows how far we’ve fallen.

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    • ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Or stop trying to implement price controls and just give poor people welfare

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• HunterOfGunners@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Banning bobafuttbucker because he posts when you won’t is a coward’s move. He’s the only one who pretends this is a legitimate community.

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  • realcaseyrollins@noauthority.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    @HunterOfGunners @wintermute_oregon I am confused as to what this means. He's sort of a troll, but I'm a free speech stan and don't think he necessarily deserves to be banned.

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    • BobaFuttbucker@reddthat.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Thank you @realcaseyrollins, genuinely.

      We hardly ever get along but this is sweet.

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    • wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      He continuously posted articles in violation of r2. It’s a two day ban to discourage violating rule 2

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• Skyrmir@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Minimum wage is a crappy way to improve wages. The better option are well regulated trade and labor unions, and mandatory labor representation. But since this is America, we’ve got a minimum wage, and that’s about the best we’re going to get.

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  • jimbolauski@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Mandatory labor representation is a terrible idea, a union will have no motivation to work to better lives of the employees.

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    • Skyrmir@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      A union is only beholden to the employees rather than management.

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  • wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The better option are well regulated trade and labor unions, and mandatory labor representation

    Agreed. I’m not a fan of mandatory representation as then it becomes a self eating beast but unions are better than a minimum wage

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• realcaseyrollins@noauthority.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  @wintermute_oregon Well, who could have guessed that this would be the result?? Utterly shocking!! Nobody predicted this!!

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  • wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    One of the largest issues I see with minimum wage is its national rather than regional. That causes a very defective system.

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    • realcaseyrollins@noauthority.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      @wintermute_oregon Different states have different minimum wages. The point of a federal minimum wage is that it sets a minimum for the states.

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• autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] ⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This is the best summary I could come up with:

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  Editor’s Note: Rachel Greszler is a senior research fellow in workforce and public finance at the Roe Institute at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank in Washington, DC.

  She is also a visiting fellow in workforce at the Economic Policy Innovation Center, a pro-growth research group that advocates for less government intervention.

  Across the country, some of the hardest hit among the millions of people impacted by job losses or reduced hours following minimum wage increases are fast-food workers.

  Pay increases that result from government mandates can eliminate entry-level job opportunities and lead to a cascade of other unintended consequences.

  In short, high minimum-wage laws cut off the bottom rung of the career ladder, effectively pricing the least-advantaged workers out of employment.

  In South Carolina, researchers found that the most recent minimum wage hike reduced employment by 8.9% for teens, and by 15.5% for workers with less than a high school diploma.

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  The original article contains 1,123 words, the summary contains 150 words. Saved 87%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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