The minimum w.age has not been lowered in any region, so the minimum wage no matter where someone lives is at least $12. Explain how this bill would kill jobs.I think the continuous wage increase will be disproportionately unfair to the kinds of businesses that normally hire minimum wage workers. We've never had a rolling wage before. Small businesses that have a hard enough time catching up with inflation when it comes to existing operating costs will now have to deal with
more costs. Sure, maybe the solution is to raise their prices for consumers, but that might negatively impact how well the business is able to compete with multinational corporations. Plus, if these small businesses
do raise their prices to consumers, it'll see inflation rise, which, in turn, will require a wage hike.
What you saw in Oregon, which has had its minimum wage tied to the cost of living since 2002, speaks to some of the problems. Restaurant employees particularly suffered: Where in 1996 the average establishment employed 16.4 workers, the average establishment only employed 13.8 workers in 2011. The figures have stayed flat for the rest of the country. Maybe the drop only happened in new restaurants—I don't know. It still hurt the jobs
potential, which isn't something I think we should take lightly.
How is that the case?[/quote]
In comparison to the system that would create a positive feedback loop of inflation, giving people more hours (without forcing employers to pay them for time and a half) would put more money in individuals' pockets. People would be laid off, but the extra money that the remaining folks earned would give them additional purchasing power that those dollars couldn't have unlocked when they were split between two workers. That purchasing power would create the demand for additional jobs elsewhere, and the hours for those jobs would be more sufficient than the hours for jobs under the current system. Tying the minimum wage to inflation might give individuals more money, but only because it will cost more to buy things. Plus, the possibility of lay-offs (or at least reduced growth potential) is still there, and here the employer would have to pay more out of pocket than he or she would if the work week was extended. Paying more out of pocket may be a problem for small businesses if the competitive framework of their industry prevents them from raising their prices in a viable way.
32 hours is not half a job. I don't know anyone who works 64 hours a week.[/quote]
I guess you missed the hyperbole.
Some people aren't making a good enough living for the amount of work they do regardless of hours. They just happen to be paid hourly.[/quote]
Fair enough, but if they're making minimum wage, they're still doing better than the people who are earning minimum wage but only get to work 32 hours a week.
Because I don't support the sort of anti-family wage slave policy that keeps parents working all week while their kids sit mostly unattended in day care centers. People can and do work more than 32 hours, and they get compensated fairly with over time pay. I'm concerned about those who are at risk of having their lifestyle subject to the whims of a regional government. The poor are not pawns to be used in a political power play at the benefit of the corporations.[/quote]
I'm sorry, but the eight-hour work day is not "wage slave policy." It's a job. If so many people work it already, it can't exactly be too out of the mainstream. Except maybe the employers could hire more people if they weren't forced to pay overtime to these folks who are working what would be considered a normal day anywhere else. In Ontario, overtime pay only kicks in after 44 hours.
Atlasia hasn't been in a recession. The Atlasian economy has been steadily growing since President Polnut's second term and all throughout my presidency. [/quote]
Yeah, so we're one year out of it. I said we're coming out of a recession. I wasn't a member of Atlasia during the worst of it, but it's my understanding that we did have one. One year out with moderate growth isn't exactly the best of circumstances.
I agree that a healthy middle class is necessary. Much like the thriving middle class we saw under the Fordist
40-hour work week.
