Living on minimum wage, 50s to present

[Quantum Windbag]

Minimum Wage and What It Buys You: 1950s to Now

Interesting to see what minimum wage bought/buys now.

Do you understand that the purpose of this forum is to take a position that you are going to defend? Are you arguing that inflation is higher than the government says it is? What am I supposed to be able to take from this post to either agree with or argue with?

 

[alan1]

You all do know minimum wage was never meant to support a family right? It is basically for high school kids or people right out of high school just starting out in the workforce.

no, I disagree.
You can find the same information almost anywhere in a internet search but this comes from here;
History of the United States Minimum Wage | Minimum-Wage.org
snippet;
"After winning the historical 1936 election by a landslide, President Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) into law in early 1938. The FLSA introduced sweeping regulations to protect American workers from being exploited, and created a mandatory federal minimum wage of 25 cents an hour in order to maintain a "minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being, without substantially curtailing employment". This new law was welcomed as a godsend by the thousands of workers who were previously forced to work for a fraction of that amount, but was violently opposed by many employers and fiscal conservatives who argued that a minimum wage could hurt employers. In addition to establishing a mandatory nation-wide minimum wage the Fair Labor Standards Act introduced many other worker's protection laws still in effect today, including banning child labor and establishing workplace safety statutes."


It seems it wasnt just for kids...

I'm thinking a 25 cent minimum wage might be a good idea. Do you still support it?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

$7.25 an hour is something a teenager in school should be earning, not an adult!

Unemployment among the 18 to 29 age group is over 80%, why on Earth should we increase minimum wage and put more of them out of work?

 

[slackjawed]

You all do know minimum wage was never meant to support a family right? It is basically for high school kids or people right out of high school just starting out in the workforce.

no, I disagree.
You can find the same information almost anywhere in a internet search but this comes from here;
History of the United States Minimum Wage | Minimum-Wage.org
snippet;
"After winning the historical 1936 election by a landslide, President Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) into law in early 1938. The FLSA introduced sweeping regulations to protect American workers from being exploited, and created a mandatory federal minimum wage of 25 cents an hour in order to maintain a "minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being, without substantially curtailing employment". This new law was welcomed as a godsend by the thousands of workers who were previously forced to work for a fraction of that amount, but was violently opposed by many employers and fiscal conservatives who argued that a minimum wage could hurt employers. In addition to establishing a mandatory nation-wide minimum wage the Fair Labor Standards Act introduced many other worker's protection laws still in effect today, including banning child labor and establishing workplace safety statutes."


It seems it wasnt just for kids...

I'm thinking a 25 cent minimum wage might be a good idea. Do you still support it?

lol, it would certainly not do any harm would it, probably not much good either.

I think we can all agree that banning child labor and workplace safety can be supported.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

How about a minimum wage adjusted for type of work and cost of living for that area?

Since congress passed a law in 2007 that allows states to set their own min wage, that is exactly what we have.

FYI Wyoming has the lowest min wage at 5.15 and Oregon the highest at 9.19

The FLSA requires employers to pay the higher of the two minimum wages that are available, not the lower. That $5.15 wage applies only to people not covered by federal minimum wage laws, which means their wages are actually higher under state law than federal law.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

$7.25 an hour is something a teenager in school should be earning, not an adult!

And that is exactly who most minimum wage workers are, teenagers, not adults, not people supporting a family, but teenagers.

Some would like to claim (pretend) that there is some large class of people trying to support a family on minimum wage, but that just isn't reality.

Most minimum-wage workers are not teenagers | Economic Policy Institute

Actually that's not true. Only about 20% of min wage earners are teenagers.

How man of those people are under 30 and still in college?

 

[slackjawed]

How about a minimum wage adjusted for type of work and cost of living for that area?

Since congress passed a law in 2007 that allows states to set their own min wage, that is exactly what we have.

FYI Wyoming has the lowest min wage at 5.15 and Oregon the highest at 9.19

Are you high? The FLSA requires employers to pay the higher of the two minimum wages that are available, not the lower. That $5.15 wage applies only to people not covered by federal minimum wage laws, which means their wages are actually higher under state law than federal law.

been to wyoming? know anyone there?
Wyoming has laws foriegn to the rest of the country, and allows an employer not engaged in interstate commerce to be exempt from the federal min wage law. thus far the feds have not intervened.

 

[AmyNation]

And that is exactly who most minimum wage workers are, teenagers, not adults, not people supporting a family, but teenagers.

Some would like to claim (pretend) that there is some large class of people trying to support a family on minimum wage, but that just isn't reality.

Most minimum-wage workers are not teenagers | Economic Policy Institute

Actually that's not true. Only about 20% of min wage earners are teenagers.

How man of those people are under 30 and still in college?

Adding the extra 11 years will bump the number up significantly, roughly 60%

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Most minimum-wage workers are not teenagers | Economic Policy Institute

Actually that's not true. Only about 20% of min wage earners are teenagers.

How man of those people are under 30 and still in college?

Adding the extra 11 years will bump the number up significantly, roughly 60%

Taking 18 as an arbitrary number for a cutoff for minimum wage when most 20 year olds are in school is a red herring.

 

[AmyNation]

Please remember this is the clean debate zone. No negging for posts in the CDZ and no insults.

 

[AmyNation]

How man of those people are under 30 and still in college?

Adding the extra 11 years will bump the number up significantly, roughly 60%

Taking 18 as an arbitrary number for a cutoff for minimum wage when most 20 year olds are in school is a red herring.

It's not arbitrary, he said "teenagers", a teenager is someone between 13-19. If he said most 20 year olds, would it also be arbitrary of me to make the cutoff 20-29?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Adding the extra 11 years will bump the number up significantly, roughly 60%

Taking 18 as an arbitrary number for a cutoff for minimum wage when most 20 year olds are in school is a red herring.

It's not arbitrary, he said "teenagers", a teenager is someone between 13-19. If he said most 20 year olds, would it also be arbitrary of me to make the cutoff 20-29?

It used to be true, Obamanomics has actually forced teenagers to live with their parents, which is why Obamacare suddenly declared that anyone under 26 is covered by their parent's insurance.

By the way, I didn't say you created the red herring, I was just pointing out it exists.

 

[AmyNation]

CDZ (Civil Debate Zone): Civil Discourse is the Focus here, regardless of Topic Matter. No Negative Repping. No Insulting, Name Calling, Putting Down Other Posters. Consider it a lesson in Civics.
http://www.usmessageboard.com/announcements-and-feedback/47455-usmb-rules-and-regulations.html

 

[The Rabbi]

Most minimum-wage workers are not teenagers | Economic Policy Institute

Actually that's not true. Only about 20% of min wage earners are teenagers.

How man of those people are under 30 and still in college?

Adding the extra 11 years will bump the number up significantly, roughly 60%

Yeah, so the notion of someone supporting his family on min wage is erroneous. The people earning it are people trying to get a leg up in the workforce. Even more interesting is that few people make min wage for very long. They get raises as soon as they've proven themselves.
So it would make sense to lower--eliminate even, the min wage to allow more people to start up the job ladder.

 

[blackhawk]

You all do know minimum wage was never meant to support a family right? It is basically for high school kids or people right out of high school just starting out in the workforce.

no, I disagree.
You can find the same information almost anywhere in a internet search but this comes from here;
History of the United States Minimum Wage | Minimum-Wage.org
snippet;
"After winning the historical 1936 election by a landslide, President Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) into law in early 1938. The FLSA introduced sweeping regulations to protect American workers from being exploited, and created a mandatory federal minimum wage of 25 cents an hour in order to maintain a "minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being, without substantially curtailing employment". This new law was welcomed as a godsend by the thousands of workers who were previously forced to work for a fraction of that amount, but was violently opposed by many employers and fiscal conservatives who argued that a minimum wage could hurt employers. In addition to establishing a mandatory nation-wide minimum wage the Fair Labor Standards Act introduced many other worker's protection laws still in effect today, including banning child labor and establishing workplace safety statutes."


It seems it wasnt just for kids...

The key words there are minimum standard of living that's why it's called minimum wage to expect it to do any more than what it does is not realistic.

 

[Katzndogz]

Supporting a family on minimum wage wasn't an issue until we became awash in unskilled immigrants. Before that, minimum wage jobs were temporarily held by teens and those entering the work force. They quickly moved up and out of minimum wage into higher paying positions. Once we got unskilled workers who were content to remain unskilled, they started demanding higher minimum wages so they never had to advance. Now minimum wage is supposed to be enough to support a family on.

 

[AmyNation]

How man of those people are under 30 and still in college?

Adding the extra 11 years will bump the number up significantly, roughly 60%

Yeah, so the notion of someone supporting his family on min wage is erroneous. The people earning it are people trying to get a leg up in the workforce. Even more interesting is that few people make min wage for very long. They get raises as soon as they've proven themselves.
So it would make sense to lower--eliminate even, the min wage to allow more people to start up the job ladder.

I don't subscribe to the notion that lowering/elminating the min. wage would be good for the economy. It would cause too much panic in the public. However, I'm not in favor of any raises to the min wage. Ever.

 

[emptystep]

How man of those people are under 30 and still in college?

Adding the extra 11 years will bump the number up significantly, roughly 60%

Yeah, so the notion of someone supporting his family on min wage is erroneous. The people earning it are people trying to get a leg up in the workforce. Even more interesting is that few people make min wage for very long. They get raises as soon as they've proven themselves.
So it would make sense to lower--eliminate even, the min wage to allow more people to start up the job ladder.

You ever had a minimum wage job?

 

[asterism]

If the 50s were so great why the need for all the Great Society programs in the 60s?

 

[alan1]

You ever had a minimum wage job?

I know you were not asking me, but I feel compelled to answer.

I've never held a minimum wage job, ever. I've always managed to negotiate a better salary.
My first job was when I was 13 as an independent contractor working for a then Fortune 500 company (they have since fallen on harder times).
Let me list the crappy jobs I held prior to 18, all of which paid more than minimum wage.
Stock boy at KMart.
Hamburger assembler at Burger King.
Gas station attendant.