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I Believe The Minimum Wage Should Be Increased

Y'all will be glad to know that the dire predictions of massive job loss after enacting the $15 minimum wage, are diametrically wrong:

http://ritholtz.com/2016/12/seattle-min-wage-update/

Instead, a new low in unemployment in Seattle (data courtesy Ritholtz Wealth Management)

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ChefBrian · 41-45, M

I think 15/hr is a LOT for a minimum Wage Job. I think it should be raised.. But 15/hr is overkill.

Here in NJ, it's currently 8.44. So you are almost doubling it.
The real problem I see with raising to 15.. Is the people who started making 8.. And nearly doubled their salary through hard work, increases, and promotions, now are making the same money as people just waking off the street for an entry level job.

Would you then have to Jack up the rates of those seasoned employees? Of the management team?
How quickly will small companies bankrupt if forced to do this?
I would imagine very quickly.

I don't think it makes sense, to pay entry level workers 15/hr.
I do believe the cost of goods will rise as a result.. Groceries, gas tax... Anything else they can figure out to raise.
What's wrong with paying 10/hr.. ND having them work hard to move up.

Minimum wage jobs aren't supposed to be forever jobs. I had one all throughout high school. By the time I was out of College, I held a small management position.. The goals are to work hard.. And get ahead.
Not to stay stagnant, and get paid more to do less.

firefall · 61-69, M

1. $10/hour still isn't a livable wage in most of the US population centers.
2. Your assumptions on cost of goods etc, are refuted by actual hard evidence if you read my link.
3. Not everyone can go to college, or should, and for a big chunk of the population, minimum wage jobs DO last forever - or rather, a long succession of minimum wage jobs is all they can ever look forward to. Not everyone can succeed, by definition.

ChefBrian · 41-45, M

Ok.. So again, what do you do with ALL of the people who worked hard to get to 15?
Are those people now supposed to suck it up.. That newbies off the street get paid the same?

ChefBrian · 41-45, M

And your link is based off ONE area of the entire US..
I guarantee milk.. Bread.. Eggs.. Gas.. Etc will all go up if that went to effect nationally.

ChefBrian · 41-45, M

So the middle class would further continue to pay more and more for goods.
Not sure about you..
I make a decent living. But we have Student Loan debt.. A mortgage and all the costs that come with a house.. A need for reliable cars to get me and my wife to work.

Incurring more costs on the heels of upping minimum wage by 80% doesn't seem practical to me.

firefall · 61-69, M

@ChefBrian: if you're that committed to not reading the data, and just airing your prejudices, I see no further point in discussion with you.

ChefBrian · 41-45, M

I'm saying I read the Data..
But you can't take a small sample size and think the same will happen OK n a Large scale.
These are predictions based on a very small percentage.