I'm intrigued. Obviously minimum incomes are the best way to go, but it will be an interesting experiment, especially on a statewide level where it will be harder to avoid the minimum wage like it would be in Seattle.
Min wage is the worst way to go, and the Left's obsession with economic suicide can seemingly be explained by Freudian death wish. Raising minimum wages makes your labor force uncompetitive with other low-cost labor forces (in the US or outside of the US). Furthermore, governments that raise minimum wage abdicate their social responsibility and place it on private sector business. Private businesses are simplified mono-dimensional organizations that exist to maximize profit. They are not equipped or optimized to handle macro-socioeconomic problems.
If the government works to reduce the cost of labor to the private sector, employment and labor force will increase. Full employment will put upward pressure on wages to mitigate the cost of labor subsidization.
Let's take a moment to discuss who actually makes the minimum wage.
By far, the largest group of folks in the U.S. making the minimum wage,
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012), are in "Food Prep and serving related occupations." McDonalds workers, basically. None of these jobs can be lost to China, and automation has only made a marginal impact here. Fast food isn't fast anymore if you need to wait for the guy in front of you to figure out how to use some touchscreen to order for his 4 kids. This grouping contains
1,550,000 million workers.
Next largest group: "Sales and related occupations." This would be your Walmart employee. Unless you think people are going to be driving to China to go to the supermarket, these jobs aren't going anywhere either. Higher costs at big box retail may push jobs to Amazon and the Internet, but that's just going to shift jobs between sectors, increasing demand for local warehouse workers, transportation services, and delivery. This grouping contains
546,0000 workers.The third largest group: "Personal care and related occupations." These are non-skilled jobs like maids and (non-medical) elder care. These service jobs need to be where the work is, and cannot be outsourced overseas or to robots,
as robots eat old peoples' medicine for fuel. This grouping contains
268,000 workers.The fourth largest group: "Transportation and material moving occupations." As said, outsourcing would likely grow this group, which contains
240,000 workers.The fifth largest group: "Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance workers." This is the dude who wipes down machines at gyms and the guy who makes sure the bathroom has toilet paper. Many businesses hire outside services to do these jobs, rather than have their own employees do them since the work is often distasteful. This grouping contains another
231,000 workers.There seems to be some bizarre outdated fantasy that these minimum wage jobs are in manufacturing. They're not. And in any case, the costs of outsourcing to China -- and transporting goods back from overseas -- have been on the rise for some time. Quality control, meanwhile, is a major problem -- I know plenty of people who actively avoid products that are "made in China" due to past stories about lead and other poisons being used on child toys, in dog treats, and dishware. Besides, labor is an increasingly small component of the things we buy and use, and some companies (like Google) believe that spending a few extra cents for
the "made in the USA" label is a competitive advantage.
