Minimum Wage Increase in Chicago

[unshelledpilot]

Chicago to Increase Minimum Wage to $13 by 2019 - ABC News

This is sure to help workers and bring business back to the city...

 

[HoughMade]

"Supporters say the minimum wage hasn't kept up with other increasing costs and people can't survive on it."


You're not supposed to.

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

When did "minimum wage" begin being equated to "raise a family" money?

I remember it as high school flippin' burgers for gas and date money.

 

[KittySlayer]

When did "minimum wage" begin being equated to "raise a family" money?

I remember it as high school flippin' burgers for gas and date money.

Does anyone that even shows up to work on time and does what they are told make minimum wage? Most people that make any effort to do their job is paid more than minimum wage. I think in all the decades I worked I was paid minimum wage for the first three months that I worked when I was 16.

 

[HoughMade]

When did "minimum wage" begin being equated to "raise a family" money?

I remember it as high school flippin' burgers for gas and date money.

In my case, it was cleaning the meat department and cutting up carcasses for.....gas and date money.

The higher the minumum wage goes, the less starter jobs there are for kids and the more people there are who try to make a career in them.

 

[BigMatt]

Maybe some companies will move from Chicago to NW Indiana.

 

[HoughMade]

Maybe some companies will move from Chicago to NW Indiana.

Here's hopin'

...but the politicians believe that they have the businesses over a barrel because most minimum wage jobs are service industry that are tied to a specific place. Employers who can absorb it will....not, they will raise prices and we will all absorb it. Businesses who don't have that margin will go under.

Nice work.....5 years from now.

 

[unshelledpilot]

Part of the reason I moved to NWI. The only jobs that will be left there will be retail and no one will be able to afford the markup that comes from this.

 

[Birds Away]

Or the businesses will invest in automation and cut the number of humans by 75%.

 

[mrjarrell]

We have heard the same doom and gloom about minimum wages since 1938 (when the NRA first instituted them). If the value of the dollar didn't keep dropping you could possibly justify leaving the MW alone, but since it has continued to drop it would only be fair to raise it to match inflation and devaluation. In the early 60's you could live off the minimum wage as a single income earner. That's not even true today, and hasn't been for a lot of years. While a free market solution to employment would work best, that's something that hasn't existed in this country since prior to WW2 and the great depression. If businesses have to raise prices in order to meet the demand for higher MW then let them. The market will determine if it's acceptable. In a place like Chicago I would expect them to have a higher MW for lower paid/low skilled workers. It's pricy to live there.

This makes for some interesting reading on the issue:

http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42973.pdf

 

[HoughMade]

...and the market will not adjust wages....why?

 

[steveh_131]

If the value of the dollar didn't keep dropping you could possibly justify leaving the MW alone, but since it has continued to drop it would only be fair to raise it to match inflation and devaluation.

Fair? Fair to whom, exactly?

 

[mrjarrell]

Fair to the employees. Duh. The MW is adjusted by the government, they have been lax in supporting their program properly and with taking care of our monetary system. If the monetary system had been left alone, wages would have been maintained at acceptable levels that allowed for a single earner to support themselves. As government programs go, the MW has fallen far behind the times. Government workers wages have certainly not been left to wallow.

 

[unshelledpilot]

Fair to the employees. Duh. The MW is adjusted by the government, they have been lax in supporting their program properly and with taking care of our monetary system. If the monetary system had been left alone, wages would have been maintained at acceptable levels that allowed for a single earner to support themselves. As government programs go, the MW has fallen far behind the times. Government workers wages have certainly not been left to wallow.

I don't think the fix to this problem is to create another problem.

 

[spec4]

My guess is this will affect restaurants in Chicago. In turn, the cost of a meal out will go up. My daughter and son in law frequently do weekends in Chicago as getaways. Wonder if they will roll over to the inevitable higher prices they will see. We are in a sad state of affairs, IMO only the free market should determine the value of labor, not a group of social engineers.

 

[HoughMade]

The minimum wage is part of currency manipulation and Keynsian economics. You don't solve a lack of true market influence by removing more market influence and artificially fixing costs. If the minimum wage is acceptable, why not wage controls other than minimum? Why not price controls?

What is fair to pay a worker is what the worker agrees to work for.

 

[Leo]

"Supporters say the minimum wage hasn't kept up with other increasing costs and people can't survive on it."


You're not supposed to.

Between taxes being higher in Cook county, and the indirect costs driven crazy by the price of insurance makes the cost of living artifically high. Add to that the extra costs for security to be able to survive the high rates of crime in every sector. Of course then there is high overheads of required license or permit for every thing you do. $1000 per month rental money will barely get you an apartment with a private bath. Heaven help you if you need to own a car.

There is a huge difference in living costs after you leave the City boundry line, a big difference when you leave Cook County and more difference when you leave that state.

You CANNOT live in the City of Chicago for $13.00 an hour. I could not live there for $20.00 an hour 30 years ago.

 

[MisterChester]

Higher wages don't kill jobs. Lack of demand kills jobs.

 

[HoughMade]

Higher wages don't kill jobs. Lack of demand kills jobs.

Or lack of demand at a given price point....one of, if not the, largest component of which is usually wages. It is in my business. Remember that a host of government (state and federal) mandated employment costs are tide to wages. Those go up two. The true cost of employing someone is their wages PLUS 20-35%.

 

[mrjarrell]

My guess is this will affect restaurants in Chicago. In turn, the cost of a meal out will go up. My daughter and son in law frequently do weekends in Chicago as getaways. Wonder if they will roll over to the inevitable higher prices they will see. We are in a sad state of affairs, IMO only the free market should determine the value of labor, not a group of social engineers.

There has not been a "free market" in minimum wages since 1938. We've managed to get along just fine. Restaurants will raise their prices if they need to and those of us who eat out will hardly notice the difference. Prices at restaurants have already been going up, (due to inflation and rising costs) and it has had little to no affect on people eating out.