This is not an uncommon opinion. Unfortunately, the predicted results don't tend to work out: raising the minimum wage doesn't affect unemployment. Instead, businesses either become more efficient or pass the cost along to customers. On the other hand, a higher minimum wage allows people to spend more money, thereby sustaining other jobs and pushing growth. In a depressed or weak economy, this can be useful.
I tend to oppose the idea of a living wage because I don't think people should be making a living off of unskilled labor; instead, unskilled work should be a stepping stone to skilled work. A means to an end rather than an end itself. A minimum wage restricts the ability of the employer to pay for what the work is actually worth, and it holds people back from advancing beyond unskilled labor. Unfortunately, the US isn't in a position to handle the alternative. Poverty is systemic and self-perpetuating. Staggering wealth inequality has decreased opportunities for those closer to the bottom of the ladder. And an incredibly polarized and special-interest-influenced government is ineffective at dealing with these issues.
Nobody should have to think about supporting themselves, let alone their families, on minimum wage unskilled labor. We should be able to let the market decide what the real value of this work is, and the jobs should be held on a temporary basis while workers gain the skills they need to advance. But these are all things that "should" happen. I am not confident that they can.
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Bearbeitet von M37h3w3: 1/16/2014 9:23:32 PM[quote]I tend to oppose the idea of a living wage because I don't think people should be making a living off of unskilled labor; instead, unskilled work should be a stepping stone to skilled work. A means to an end rather than an end itself.[/quote] I'm fine with that philosophy. The problem is that any decent sort of skilled labor pretty much requires a college education. There are certainly individuals out there who have made success with no college education, being college drop outs or even high school drop outs but they are not the majority of people or of the success stories. And at this moment, college is getting more and more prohibitively expensive. Textbooks alone cost hundreds of dollars, not to mention classes, or even paying for the privilege of paying for said classes. And that's if the college even accepts you. If a person can't afford to provide their basic necessities and educate themselves with a low skilled labor job, then something is broken and needs to be fixed.
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I agree that the necessary education is becoming more difficult to attain and how that puts opportunities for advancement out of reach for unskilled workers. While a 4-year degree is great, I think there is a lot to be said for 2-year degrees and job training programs. There are fast-growing fields that can be reached, like engineering and medical technicians, and hundreds of thousands of jobs have gone unfilled because of a lack of associate's degree holders. Helping people get into and through a community college degree would be a big step in the right direction. And programs like that do exist, but they're ineffective and wasteful. The same goes for vocational schools. Job training programs would also help unskilled workers move away from minimum wage labor. Unfortunately, we do a pretty bad job of this as well. Government assistance in the form of subsidies, financial support, and/or specific services would give people the stability they need to get through more organized training programs. I guess it's ironic that the libertarian idea of abolishing the minimum wage would require government assistance, but I don't see a way around it.