Something that is rarely mentioned, that people on both sides hardly ever take a minute to think about is this... If you set a minimum wage that is a living wage as opposed to an entry level, low-skill wage, what youre doing is creating a permanent underclass of people who can never break into the work force. If you are forced to pay people $20 an hour, you arent going to hire some kid out of high school, youre going to hire the 20something who graduated college. Youre going to hire the people who have experience. At $20 an hour, you dont want to train someone to flip burgers or to build their skill set with on-the-job training. At least, until inflation catches up with the new minimum wage, and $20 is worth what $7 is worth today, and then we do this whole dance over again and ask for $50 an hour as the new minimum. Reality is people need entry level jobs, and employers need to be able to afford offering entry level positions. You cant get experience and gain skills if you cant get a job.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 07:51:53 +0000