Minimum wage isn't enough annual income required to cover an individuals cost of living.
That is NOT the purpose of a minimum wage. What part of that do you refuse to believe or accept? It just makes you look foolish.
Please answer these same questions you have ignored in the past.
What is the average income of a household where one of the workers earns minimum wage?
How many households are there in the United States existing on only one worker earning minimum wage?
I know what the purpose of minimum wage. Doesn't matter what the purpose is. If it was $3 an hour no matter how much a company is making they would love the chance to pay their workers only $3 an hour.
MY point is that, Any American citizen working a full time position in the United States of America should make enough to cover their annual cost of living wages. I don't care what the purpose of minimum wage is. There still are people who work full time living off minimum wage, and that shouldn't be the case.
Minimum wage workers represent between 3% and 4% of the US workforce. Even if one third of them were trying to support themselves (or others) on that wage, we are talking about 1% of the workforce.
I can't see making a national effort for this 1% of people who are in charge of their own destiny. No measure comes without ramifications. Some startup businesses may be forced to close. Some may reconsider opening up a business in the first place. An employer may reduce or eliminate benefits for their workforce in exchange for paying more in wages. It's just not as clean-cut as you might think.
When an employer gives a worker a one dollar an hour increase, it costs the employer more than that one dollar an hour. It increases the employers matching contribution to Social Security and Medicare. It costs more to pay that worker while they are not working such as holidays and vacation just to name a few. It increases the cost of their Workman's compensation and Unemployment insurance.
So you take a small family owned company like the one I work for. They have ten employees. A measure passes that increases minimum wage by $2.50 an hour. That's $25.00 an hour more an employer has to pay his or her employees. At the end of the day, that's a $200.00 additional per day expense. At the end of the week, that's a $1,000 expense. At the end of the month, $5,000 expense, and again, that's just the wage alone.
If the company is working more than 40 hours per week, add even more expense because now that one dollar per hour is a dollar fifty an hour past 40.
I understand where you are coming from. There were 701,000 people who earned minimum wage in 2016 and another 1.5 million who earned less then minimum wage. Total percentage of the 2 is 2.7%. That is a very low percentage, but the 2.2 million people who earned minimum wage or less is an exact number of people who made $7.25 or less. 2.7% looks like a small number but it is actually 2.2 million people.
My whole issue is not only focused on the people who make minimum wage or less cant afford their required annual income to cover their cost of living expenses every year, m issue is also focused on those how make less then the wage the need to make to be able to cover cost of living.
Some companies, instead of paying $7.25 per hour, they pay $7.30 per hour so they can say the pay more than minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage to a rate so everyone can cover their cost of living wouldn't just benefit the people who are making minimum wage but those how make a little more than minimum but not enough.
In Allegheny county Pa, the average cost of living for 1 person is $20,606 a year. $9.91 an hour will get you that amount.
So on top of the 2.2 million people how make exactly $7.25 or less, add the people who make $7.26-$9.90 who also don't make enough to cover cost of living. So now that 2.7%, 2.2 million people that number will now increase to a larger percentage.
In 2017 federal Poverty level for 1 person is $12,060 or less annually. $15,080 is the amount before taxes a minimum wage worker will make a year. So there take home is roughly $13,926, only $1,866 more than the poverty level. To me that is not much of a difference and I consider that poverty. Any annual income that cannot cover cost of living expenses is still poverty to me.
Now add the 40.5 million people suffering from poverty, there are a lot of people that can make it.
So not only would increasing the minimum wage benefit the people who exactly make the minimum or less but those that make a little more but not enough.
So what makes you think that a company will increase their wages for employees that make slightly better than minimum wage? That's just a guess on your part. More than likely they won't make adjustments to all their employees wages except minimum because it's the new law. Then the employees who were making just above minimum will be at minimum. I don't know how that helps matters any.
And again, not many people are trying to support themselves on minimum wage. Many are homemakers just getting some extra money while the kids are in school; college kids that work when the opportunity presents itself; retired people who feel worthless just sitting at home and need something to do. Kids out of high school still living at home with mom and dad.
I worked my share of minimum wage jobs in a younger day. It was low income that inspired me to try harder; to figure out a way to learn more things and find some kind of career. If somebody back then made minimum wage $12.00 an hour, I may have spent much of my life at my first job at the car wash.
I used to rent to a younger couple who both worked fast food joints. They never had any money, but always came up with rent and able to pay their utilities. They were pretty good tenants. Anyway, the reason they didn't pursue better opportunities is because they loved their pot, and better paying jobs usually drug test employees.
She moved here with her girlfriend when she was 19. The girlfriend left and a boyfriend moved in. They left in their mid 20's. It was always my hope that they would get sick of living check to check, give up the pot, and start to make something of themselves. I'm sure it will happen at some point, but the longer they wait, the tougher it will be to accomplish anything in life. Now if our state set a $15.00 minimum wage, that would likely prolong their failed path, and they may end up working fast food joints into their 30's or 40's. By then, it would be too late to make any serious life changes.
There is no guessing. I know if the company had the choice to pay minimum wage or more, of course they are going to pay minimum. Majority of companies if not all who pay minimum wage does not provide any basic health care coverage. And everyone keeps using $15 an hour minimum wage in their examples when I never once said it needed to be that high. $10 an hour should be enough to cover most of American citizens annual cost of living expenses.
Your missing the point, reality is there are people who make minimum wage which is just a little more than the federal poverty level in 2017. Reality is there are people who do work full time earning minimum wage. Get a better job, but reality is a college degree or a trade skill isn't cheap and a lot of americans cant afford extra education. Lack of education is a major contributor of Americas Poverty issue, simply because people cant afford it
Slightly better then minimum wage isn't better. It still wont cover annual cost of living expenses. My point is that the minimum wage should be a wage to where you can cover annual cost of living expenses, the bare minimum. Slightly more still doesn't cover it. The issue isn't just the people that exactly make $7.25, the issue is someone who works full-time in America not being able to cover annual cost of living.
I never once said that minimum wage should be $15 an hour. I'm saying $9.91-$10 per hour would be enough to cover 1 persons annual cost of living expenses, totaling $20,606.
Annual minimum wage is $15,080 a year before taxes. Roughly $13,926 after. If some one living in Allegheny Co. PA has an annual cost of living of $20,606, how can they cover their cost of living with only $13,926? They still are short $6,680.
You need to make $9.91 an hour working full time to be able to cover the cost of living of $20,606 a year.
The average annual cost of living for 1 person that lives In Cuyahoga Co. Ohio(Cleveland) is $20,635 a year. You need to make $9.92 working 40 hours a week to be able to cover your cost of living.
So answer me this. Do you think it is right/fair for someone to work full time and barely make ends meet and still need several thousand more a year to cover their cost of living? To be able to pay rent for shelter, food on the table, heat and light, water and sewage. To not have to worry about only being able to pay this and that but this has to wait? Can buy food but gas will be shut off? Minimum wage jobs don't provide any type of benefits. So you injure you leg outside of work and have to miss 1, 2, maybe 3 months of work and you don't have any type of long term or short term medical insurance?
You don't think that every American Citizen working full time shouldn't have to be paid a rate to cover their cost of living?
You think that its ok for a company like Mcdonalds who made a gross profit of $10.2 billion last year and most of their employees make only minimum wage and they provide no type of health insurance which is required by law now to have?
Put the companies and corporation views to the side, and look at it from a workers point of view.
Shouldn't every citizen that works full time be able to cover their annual cost of living?
Considering the 67.9 million citizens on welfare and that number does not include the 70.5 million who are enrolled in Medicaid, the 65.1 people who receive benefits from SSA. So there is 203.5 million people that do not have to work and live better then the people who decide to work?
To me Any American Citizen working full time in America should make an annual income that covers their annual cost of living expenses.
I bet if the minimum wage was enough to cover every citizens annual cost of living expenses the percent of people on welfare will decrease. If I was making minimum wage making $15,080 a year before taxes and bringing home $13,926, only 1,866 more then the poverty level in which one could receive benefits, I would just manipulate the government like most people on welfare and get free housing, all utilities paid, $700+ a month in food stamps, and Free healthcare instead of busting my ass for 40 hours a week, company taking advantage and expecting more and more from you, no paid vacation, no paid personal days, and no healthcare.
