Will minimum wage ever be a "living" wage?

Question

Here where I live in Texas, it's $7.25 an hour. I heard a lot about raising it to $10.00 an hour. I was told that they are trying to make it a living wage.

In my own opinion, I thing raising minimum wage is a bad idea because it raises the cost of almost everything, especially since gas is expensive ($3.45 a gallon here). Also I think it should not change because these low wages should encourage more young people like me (I'm 18) to he get a good education or trade for a better job.

What do you think?
Will minimum wage ever be a "living" wage?
I know right now you can't live off it without scraping by.

Answer 1

The minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage. Minimum wages jobs should be jobs that require little, if any, skill and education, and therefore are jobs that are intended as second jobs or jobs for inexperienced people. Once a peson gains some experience (and presumably improves their skills), they are expected to move up to better-paying jobs. Apparently, that doesn't happen often enough and adults are trying to support themselves (and sometimes families) on these very low-skill, low-paying jobs.



I don't think raising the minimum wae is the asnwer to the problem of people trying to live off of minimum age. As you point out, that will only create a cycle of raising wages/raising prices so that people at the bottom of the wage scale are always behind. The answer is to have a better skilled, better educated work force so that minimum wage jobs are really only secondary jobs and entry-to-the-labor force jobs, and not long-term life-supporting jobs. This, of course, presumes that those mid-level jobs exist, where they often don't now.

Answer 2

You are a very smart person! I certainly agree with you, raising the minimum wage would raise the cost of everything. So even if the minimum wage was raised to the level of "a living wage" by the time the prices were adjusted to make it possible for employers to pay that higher wage ... the minimum wage would be below the living wage once again!



There could be a solution to this dilemma, but it would take a group of legislators with backbones to vote for the right legislation ... fat chance of that happening in Washington any time soon!



One of the biggest expenses for a family right now in this country is medical care. A "single payer" type health care system, like most of the industrialized world has, would move that expense out of the budget for most families. Basic, necessary medical care available to all families through government supported clinics, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and long term care facilities would certainly make that minimum wage paycheck go farther.



How could such a plan be implemented? Start with government paid medical training using the same system military doctors, nurses and medics are trained with. These individuals would "work off" their education by working in a government owned and operated medical facility, just as countless doctors and nurses do in today's military.



Not only would this program bring quality medical care to low income (or no-income) families, it would provide low income and economically disadvantaged people a chance at becoming doctors or nurses!



Yes, the program would require a tax increase ... but the long term effects of such a program would be well worth the increase.

Answer 3

the whole concept of a "minimum wage" was never meant to be a living wage. It was mostly advocated by unions who use it as a multiplier for their wages in contract negotiations.

I found out early it was nothing to live on, and made choices that allowed me to leave it behind at 17 and did not look back.

There was no way I was going to count on other people to "give" me a raise, I went out and got them myself.

If you are imapred, injured, ill, I am there for you, but I cannot get all that worked up about able bodied people who set their sights so low as to never obtain the skill set that allows them to rise above the minimum amount the government mandates employers pay.

Answer 4

When the minimum wage is raised, so are the prices are everything else unfortunately. So with a minimum wage job you'll always be scraping by.

Answer 5

If it was then why would anyone want to go higher than a janitor~! You could keep demanding raises until you got to a 6 figure salary... I'll bet there are some who sweep the floor who know more then Shelia Jackson Lee.

Answer 6

Only if you think people should never have anything more than entry level skills. Those are the people who make minimum wage.

Answer 7

I dont think it ever will. No matter how much you make, the costs of everything else will always be expensive.