What do low wages cost us?

Question

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-high-public-cost-of-low-wages/

Google: public cost of low wages.

Saw this article and am really curious to hear what others think. I keep hearing arguments against raising minimum wage, but from this data it would appear the public is just supplementing the current low wage while large businesses pocket the difference.

Thoughts?

Answer

Does anyone else find it problematic that we are squabbling over whether or not someone deserves to make $15 an hour vs $20 an hour, but no one is asking if CEOs deserve to make what they make?

In 2008, Ellison, the ceo of oracle, made $277,000 per hour. In 2008 the average salary was $32,000. Do you honestly believe that he deserves to make almost 9 times what the average worker makes in an entire year in only one hour? Honestly?

Some of you are directing your anger and frustration over your "average" salary at the wrong class of people. It isn't the middle class paying lobbyists and talking heads to advocate for laws, it's those that have the money to do so.  Who's message are you buying into?

Answer

Very interesting article! Disturbing, too. So, basically you and I are subsidizing corporations for the income that they are paying to keep the number of employees they have.

It's like saying, I'll own a business and pay my workers $7/hour but you'll pay them another $3/hour through your taxes, since the wages I've set will qualify them for public assistance. Meanwhile, I'll profit from this $3/hour cost savings, so you're essentially giving me your tax money.

Nope, that doesn't seem right and that's not what taxes are intended to be used for.

Just an idea, but maybe we should mandate a higher minimum wage for businesses that have revenue levels that exceed a certain threshold...? Notice that I said "revenue" and not "profit" because the latter can be more easily disguised.

Answer

I'm amazed no one wants to discuss this. Aren't most of us middle and lower middle class??

Answer

Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices is a good documentary that discusses this issue (and a few of the ways Walmart really sucks).

Answer

Nickled and Dimed is also a good resource on this.

Answer

I agree completely.

"The majority of American families on public assistance or Medicaid are headed by at least one full-time worker, according to a report released Monday by U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education.

Researchers who analyzed annual state and federal spending on public assistance programs — including food stamps, Medicaid, Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) — found that more than 56 percent of that funding goes to working families.

In other words, employers, such fast-food restaurants, are paying their employees so little that they must rely on government assistance to make ends meet. In total, these employees seek an estimated $153 billion in public assistance each year, according to the report (PDF)."

Answer

I live in Ontario, Canada and the minimum wage here is $11 an hour. Ontario and Nunavut have the highest minimum wage in the country.

Of course prices for things have increased, and the cost of living has increased a bit.

Most companies and businesses just increase their prices to accommodate the higher cost in paying employees.

And Toronto is still a cheaper city to live in than San Fransico.

I honesty don't know how they survive on $9 an hour. I couldn't.

Answer

Thanks for the article. Agreed. What I don't get is my husband pays 24% and I 14% in taxes as middle class. That's just federal. I also have state tax of 10%. Where in the h*** is my tax contribution going to? It's stuff like this. But no, we need to be proud of our BS PREDATORY "capitalistic" country and hate socialism completely. WTH?!

Answer

Cost of living goes up constantly. So, if minimum wage doesn't go up, it affects a lot of people negatively (only those who get minimum wage, If you get more than minimum wage, you aren't positively affected, you are negatively affected because your wage may not go up with cost of living increases). If minimum wage goes up with the cost of living, you aren't affected either negatively or positively, if you get minimum wage.

What do low wages cost us?

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