Lets assume 15 dollars an hour happens

[Tjaeden]

How come no one ever talks about inflation?

Moving the minimum wage to AND PAST $15/hour would be our economy CATCHING up to proper pay.

$7.25 TODAY, would be the same as:

0.90 in 1960 (in 1965, entry level steel worker, $2.32/hour)
1.18 in 1970 (in 1975, $249/week for Ford Auto Worker, which is $6.225/hour)
2.51 in 1980
3.98 in 1990
5.24 in 2000
6.64 in 2010

So, let's look at what $15/hour really means:
$1.86 in 1960 - 50 CENTS less per hour
$2.44 in 1970 - less than 1/2 of an entry level unionized worker
$5.19 in 1980
$8.23 in 1990
$10.85 in 2000
$13.74 in 2010 - this is just 6 years ago!

The increase may seem high, but Healthcare costs have risen so much in the past 50 years, that even if you made $15/hour, NOW, TODAY, in 2016,

YOU WILL STILL BE POOR.

Entry Level Work Out of High School (Like those oh so wonderful factory jobs) should start at a federal level, and be pegged to inflation.

Because (as an aside, if one didn't know), every YEAR you work without a raise, is a year your employer is making more money at further worker expense.

[Saucexorzski]

The size of the hamburger would be reduced and the price would stay the same.

[wheresmywoft]

Your math fails to account for the ripple effect of raising all minimum wage jobs. Like the delivery drivers that bring the supplies to each restaurant, the bakers who make the buns, etc.

Then it trickles down to the farmers, because gas prices will go up. Even a 5 cent increase per gallon is a lot when you purchase thousands of gallons of fuel a year.

Uh that's an increase of $50 a year per thousand gallons. Did you think through your example?

[alexkeren]

It wouldn't increase the cost of the products you would buy, we are nowhere near 100% productive capacity of goods and services.

If I own a delivery company that delivers the supplies to McDonalds and my profit margin is 15% on the year what do you think happens when:

The minimum wage causes gas to go up 5 cents a gallon and I use 100,000 gallons in a year making deliveries

The minimum wage causes me to double the payroll for half of my staff

etc

etc

etc

[wheresmywoft]

No, that was right after the Great Depression, very few women worked outside the household, no fast food restaurants, and teens who worked were mostly mowing lawns, babysitting, or delivering papers --for which minimum wage still doesn't apply. It was an entirely different world back then.

We don't live in that world anymore. Technology has replaced a great deal many jobs that used to require nothing more than a strong back, and a lot of those jobs carried significant health hazards, and still do.

Gee, until recently my husband worked in construction on govt. contracts that paid from $45-$90hour, depending on the job, location, and hazards involved. Rather dangerous work, often hundreds of feet up in the air....

If he could have made a living wage flipping burgers at McDonald's, why would he have taken those types of risks?

BTW, those hazardous construction jobs that pay fairly well are still available.

He could have made the $15/hr proposed minimum wage at other positions that don't involve those risks. Your question is meaningless. He didn't take those jobs and chose to take the risks for $45-$90.

[Chetnik]

You seem to automatically think you wouldn't receive an increase as well? Put yourself in an employee's shoes. Someone with little training and no education went from making half of what they paid you to a quarter. You really believe you wouldn't see a wage increase over the next 7 years probably even more substantially than someone working minimum wage?

I can't believe nobody addressed this, but doesn't this make a case for a steep rise in inflation? If everyone everywhere will see a raise to make up for lower level workers being bumped up to $15, wouldn't that mean all labor costs for all businesses go up? Wouldn't that also mean that the old $15/hr job that you had that could've easily sustained you is now putting you below the poverty line? In a place like California, this is especially a huge problem because $15/hr easily puts you in a very high state income tax bracket, which means your extra money earned is worth even less.

[Fugus]

Those high paying, dangerous construction jobs are still available. In my western Chicago suburb, they're also having difficulty filling vacancies for police officers -- even though the starting pay is $85,000/year. Only requirements are passing a civil servant test and the physical.

Back when minimum wage was instituted, computers hadn't been invented, most people didn't even own a phone, vehicle, much less a TV, washing machine or the many other luxuries people now not only consider a necessity, but actually regard as an "entitlement".

There was an old campaign slogan that basically defined a living wage as being able to have "a chicken in every pot". That's all.

$85,000 for a POLICE officer? The national average for a police officer is $52,000, even the top 10% hit near $70,500.

$85,000 for a police officer would put him in the top 3% of police payscales and certainly not entry level.

[Cricket22]

Because this paid more?

You'd think so, right? Except the construction company had such a hard time hiring workers, that I actually used to go to hardware stores like Home Depot and Menards, and look for young, strong individuals who looked like they could handle the work, and try to recruit them.

I did manage to recruit a few, but only a few. The majority I approached weren't interested in doing that type of work.

[Chrysia]

If I own a delivery company that delivers the supplies to McDonalds and my profit margin is 15% on the year what do you think happens when:

The minimum wage causes gas to go up 5 cents a gallon and I use 100,000 gallons in a year making deliveries

The minimum wage causes me to double the payroll for half of my staff

etc

etc

etc

Once again, historical data suggests that even with all ancillary cost increases, an increase in the minimum wage would result in a net increase in purchasing power for the lower class. We've done this over and over and over and over since the inception of the minimum wage. You're also ignoring that these cost increases already happen, even without increases in the minimum wage.

- - - Updated - - -

I can't believe nobody addressed this, but doesn't this make a case for a steep rise in inflation? If everyone everywhere will see a raise to make up for lower level workers being bumped up to $15, wouldn't that mean all labor costs for all businesses go up? Wouldn't that also mean that the old $15/hr job that you had that could've easily sustained you is now putting you below the poverty line? In a place like California, this is especially a huge problem because $15/hr easily puts you in a very high state income tax bracket, which means your extra money earned is worth even less.

Increases in the minimum wage have not historically driven inflation to statistically significant degrees.

[zenkai]

Because the server is the person who makes your experience good or bad, unless you're at a Teppanyaki House. It's much easier to work in the back of the house than the front.

Pretty sure id be more pissed over bad food than over someone who doesn't refill my drink

[Sinyc]

Exactly how much would the price of a McDonald's hamburger cost?

You do know that these proposals are to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 over the course of multiple years right?

So I believe in NYC or whoever just passed the legislation it won't be $15/hr until 2022. That is 6 years from now.

Please cry more.

[Cricket22]

$85,000 for a POLICE officer? The national average for a police officer is $52,000, even the top 10% hit near $70,500.

$85,000 for a police officer would put him in the top 3% of police payscales and certainly not entry level.

Where I live, that's entry level for a police officer in my western Chicago Suburb. The key word being "Chicago". I know what every single govt. employee in my township earns. it's kind of my thing.

Several of my relatives are police officers in New York City. They all earn over $100,000, and their pensions after 20 years are almost unbelievable.

You may wish to consider switching fields.

[alexkeren]

Your math is wrong here. That would actually be $363/week. Compared with a $7.25/hr wage with 33 hrs/week at 15%, which would be $203/week. But please, tell me again how that tax rate negates the better wages.

Actually that person in the US making $7.25/hr, 33 hr/wk grosses 12,441. They only owe taxes on money above 10,300 for Tax Year 2015 and thus would owe about $321 in taxes for the year.

So that would be $230 a week. But the sales tax is much lower across the board in the US, with many places either not having one or none/lower rates for groceries.

[gr4vitas]

You seem to automatically think you wouldn't receive an increase as well? Put yourself in an employee's shoes. Someone with little training and no education went from making half of what they paid you to a quarter. You really believe you wouldn't see a wage increase over the next 7 years probably even more substantially than someone working minimum wage?

No, I'm just saying that I sure as hell better get a raise.

Caught you!! Know you are engineer making $19/hr. You seem to be in the wrong job then. Average starting salary is $55k plus. Anymore bs you need to make up to support your narrative?

I'm an engineer and I make more than $19 an hour but not a lot more than that. Am I underpaid? Probably, but that's something I'm working towards.

[Deleted]

right now, as a certified 6G welder starting out in my weld shop you can expect to be started at 17.50, so if someone with no education can flip a burger for 15.00 that says 17.50 should go up by quite a bit. so in the long run you are catering to the laziness of McDonald's workers that choose not to pursue a real job but you are injuring those that do and have at the same time.

This is one of the many reasons why socialism always fails. It removes all incentive for people to educate themselves. Even though many professions are based on personal preferences, how many would be willing to study for years if the economical benefit compared to an uneducated fast food worker is nonexistent and doesn't reflect the time, effort, skill and knowledge required to do the job properly?

[alexkeren]

No, the prices would not be able to go up because McDonalds does not hold a monopoly on burgers.

Sorry, you're right. McDonalds is the ONLY place that pays minimum wage. And corporate owns all the McDonalds locations.

Oh wait ... no, you're wrong.

[oxymoronic]

$85,000 for a POLICE officer? The national average for a police officer is $52,000, even the top 10% hit near $70,500.

$85,000 for a police officer would put him in the top 3% of police payscales and certainly not entry level.

people just hear millions made by ceo's and think huge numbers of people are being paid millions. they have no grasp of the numbers.

[Jotaux]

This is one of the many reasons why socialism always fails. It removes all incentive for people to educate themselves. Even though many professions are based on personal preferences, how many would be willing to study for years if the economical benefit is nonexistent and doesn't reflect the time, effort, skill and knowledge required to do the job properly?

I spent 5 years in university for my degree, then an additional 2 years of taking courses for my accounting designation. I would not give that all up to make $15 an hour at McDonalds.

[Jotaux]

Sorry, you're right. McDonalds is the ONLY place that pays minimum wage. And corporate owns all the McDonalds locations.

Oh wait ... no, you're wrong.

Competition would drive down the prices. McDonalds in interested in volume, not the price. As long as it covers cost there won't be an issue.

[alexkeren]

Uh that's an increase of $50 a year per thousand gallons. Did you think through your example?

Yes, did you?

Every increase, starting at the level of farmers/ranchers, means by the time you get to McDonalds you don't see no to 20 cent increase. That's my point, each increase builds on the previous and too many people in this thread think the minimum wage would only go up at McDonalds, which it wouldn't.