The Case For A $20/Hour Minimum Wage

New York made history with their push for a $15 minimum wage in 2016. But with the skyrocketing cost of living, workers say that wage is now unlivable. State Senator Jessica Ramos is leading a bill to raise the minimum wage to $20/hour and index it to inflation.
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[Shipwright]

Problem is, anytime you raise the minimum wage, the people with the big money raise the cost of living and inflation goes up. Guess what? You're right back where you were, perhaps less, as your net gain is zero.

[egeemaru]

Raised to $20.

Landlords & healthcare industry: "Oops, costs magically increased! You know... pandemic, disasters, and hydrogens deficiency, whatever give me money".

[alia]

Of all the videos yall should be placing up here on this channel, the limelight should go to states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Georgia who have chosen to continue keeping their state minimum wage AT or below the federal level. Explain in detail how their Congress and their companies in those states continue to create the disparity in employment, the infrastructure, the welfare, hell the cost of their universities and colleges in public sector that are reaping government funding.

[alia]

at 02:10 ....this is what is currently happening to all my friends in the disabled community, not just here in the US but more importantly my best friend in Norway who lives with Muscular Dystrophy. Norway has the most horrendeous policies that have placed disabled individuals in harm's way, both physically and mentally. I have had to calm my friend down out of suicide twice in the last year because her municipality wouldn't send her home carers to her apartment for days. If I wasn't disabled myself, struggling to keep myself afloat in my own situation in the US, I would be on the first flight to Drammen to help her and help ourselves. The UN doesn't care for neither of us because both countries produce enough monies to buy excuses for our existence.

[CreativeMindsAudio]

what i hated about the fight for 15 was that it was just a number and it was never tied to inflation. min wage NEEDS to be tied to inflation. anything less is slave labor. also not sure how bad NYC is, but in los angeles I need 30/hr just to afford a room for rent, pay medical bills, afford to have a car to drive to work, etc. not my own apartment, a decent room for rent! While i know i'm not the average person because i have medical expenses, there are many others who do as well. I am currently living with family because my last place forced me out because "I changed roommates too much" and they wouldn't approve any more. this was back in 2019 right before the pandemic and i was between jobs. I am working now, but not enough to afford to live outside of where I am now. I am hoping to save up enough money and stablize my health enough to have less doctor visits there so i can leave for a less expensive place to live, but not everyone has that luxury. I feel like small businesses get it more, but have less to give, while big businesses want to pay the least so they can continue to exist and take over the competition (or at least outlast them during downturns). How about we create a world where everyone can get paid for a job they enjoy.

[onjikun]

Definitely support this effort, but honestly, even $20/hour is far too low to survive in a high-cost-of-living state (and especially city) like New York, where an average studio apartment is now $3175 a month, which requires an annual salary of $127K (or $61/hour for a 40 hour/week job) just to get accepted.

[julioperez]

It's perplexing that a country that touts capitalism as the best system forgets that money has to be passing hands to generate wealth! The working class generates that wealth by purchasing goods and instead, the powers that be, work to undermine that purchasing power required in a capitalistic society by having a selected few, i.e. billionaires, hoard all the money!! The minimum wage needs to be tied to inflation so it can keep up with the rising cost of living! Also, we need billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes!!

[Other.]

What's missing in some thinking around minimum wage is its impact on other businesses. Retail, restaurants, services - all benefit from increased wages.

If Walmart (the small business and local job destroying company) paid its workers a decent wage - we'd all benefit. Walmart pays its workers so little, that tax payers pay $6.2 billion a year (yes, that's billions) to Walmart full time workers for food stamps, medicaid, and housing assistance).

So think of raising the minimum wage as weening huge corporations off their free ride on tax payers backs (why do you think they spend millions trying to convince the public to object to higher wages).

[BruceWaynesaysLandBack]

Isn’t the minimum wage adjusted for productivity and inflation $24-25/hr? The popular chart of productivity and worker pay makes it clear: around Reagan+the computer revolution, our oligarchs stop raising wages as our productivity rose. They stole more than half from us, and that’s JUST in wage rates

[PBL]

Anyone notice that inflation skyrocketed right around the time $15/hour laws went into effect?

The problem isn't the wage, it's the purchasing power. Purchasing power of unskilled workers was low, but it went down faster when $15 min wage hit. And guess what, it will sink even faster at $20.

The solution is income tax credits, not shock wage increases.

[psikeyhackr]

Accounting/finance should have been mandatory in high schools since Sputnik. How many high school graduates can explain what Net Worth? Notice that economists, Leftists or Conservatives don't advocate that.

Economists do not say much about planned obsolescence and the depreciation of durable consumer goods either. Read a book:

The Screwing of the Average Man by David Hapgood

[oldreprobate]

I predict a few negative comments saying it can't be done. I'll pass on this saying to them. " Those who say that it can't be done, need to get out of the way of those attempting"; and I'll add; or join in the attempt.

[williamhuang]

How about get a better job than minimum wage?

[canadianroots]

Any fixed amount minimum wage is a bad concept. $20 an hour is different in NYC versus Buffalo.

Nationally, we need minimum wage pegged to local cost of living and automatically adjusted annually for inflation.

[davidjensen]

You shouldn’t have kids if you can only earn the minimum wage.

[Dennis-ncvw]

"46% of the companies that hire home care workers can't find the staff"
Sooo they can't even hire the number they need at $15 an hour, and that's a case for raising minimum wage to $20 an hour?

[ramblinginsanemind]

Or... we look at why cost of living is high and reduce that. I know its not as vote grabbing as "free money" or "number go up", and it likely would require a less expensive bureaucracy.. but that would help everyone middle class and lower.

[povertyiscreated]

According to MIT, a living wage should be $25 in New York- jersey tri-state area. This would cover just basic needs. Anything below that is financial instability, and poverty.

[lescobrandon]

Ridiculous! Minimum should be at least $100 per hour. The advantages would be enormous - people would be parking their Ferraris behind hamburger shops where they are employed!

[DoomPigeon]

I was going to type something but forget it. Let's just raise minimum wage to 50 an hour and lets all be rich.