Yeah, but if it kept up with productivity, it'd be north of $20. That's the bitch of being a wage worker these days--none of the financial gains that have come with productivity has trickled down to you. I don't know what a good minimum wage is, but currently, it's a joke.If the minimum wage would have kept up with inflation, from what I've read, it should be somewhere between $10/$11 an hour.
But the productivity is due to technology and automation increases. If we were to raise the minimum wage to match that, I've read it as $23.72/hour (That's 40k+/year), that would pretty much ensure companies automate even more and faster. Not to mention that new high wage would only help those with a job, and only further hurt those without, as there is no doubt that after a minimum wage like that housing/services/goods would all slowly rise in cost. I refuse to believe that a place like Wal-Mart or McDonalds would keep the same number of employees, or not have to raise prices. I would guess that they would hire less people and raise prices. I know Wal-Mart makes a shit ton of money a year, and I know Redditors and others love to focus on the Waltons Billions, but at the store level their margins aren't all that great. They make their money in sheer volume. Same with McDonalds. I think there is a massive conversation that needs to happen sooner than later about this, at a world level. Because as we've talked about on Hubski numerous times, the "post work era" is coming. Driverless cars, robotics, touchscreen ordering, etc, are all things that are going to put a lot of people at the bottom of the labor pool out of work. Minimum wages won't help them if there are no jobs to pay those wages. We need to look into standard living wages regardless of employed or not employed, and it seems that at least that conversation has started in some countries and gotten some attention. Jobs are going away, more will being going away over the next 20-30 years, and those jobs will never be coming back. I realize that's kind of a side tangent, but to me it's very much related. We raise the minimum wage too much, we're going to have less jobs to go around, because you better believe McDonalds will have tablet ordering in stores across the nation within a year, and keep on only half the store level staff they have now. It's already going that way, yes, but I think that would only expedite the process. Then you'll have a bunch of people who were earning minimum wage, earning nothing. Not arguing or stating this as fact or anything, this is just always kind of the discussion I've had with myself and friends when it's come up. I don't claim to have a educated handle on the situation, but I do know for a fact it's a lot more complicated than just doubling the minimum wage.Yeah, but if it kept up with productivity, it'd be north of $20.
You're probably correct that a significant raise in the minimum would make it more price competitive to further automate low skill jobs. But maybe the real issue is talking about why prices are so low, and not just wages. Prices for many goods are artificially low, and should be a lot higher. Look at the obesity problem here, and the pollution problem in China to get a handle on what low prices actually cost us. A great wage shock might be a bad thing in the short run, but I think it would be a good thing in the long run. It might help us to reevaluate what is important, what real prices are, and why we tolerate such social and environmental abuses all in the name of Black Friday sales.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying, but similar to my comment, both of what we think needs to be addressed will take a global conversation and cooperation at this point in our global economy.