Should minimum wage be raised? Absolutely to what? $?$?$

The whole concept of minimum wage has fallen over on its side. The original idea behind minimum wage was to incentivize to business owners to hire young people (teenagers) so they could get some work experience. A win-win situation. It's been bastardized into a living wage so adults can set the bar low, and make a living flipping burgers. We should incentivize people to strive to do better, not pay more so they can settle for less.

Its15.00 in my state, and it's hurting small businesses with entry level positions and even 15.00 is not enough according to experts
Some people think a little sandwich shop can survive paying 21.35 or 45.57 per hour for a guy making sandwiches , they can't..McDonald's can figure it and some have, by eliminating jobs and going automated..

When I graduated High School I had roommates and two jobs, it's tough but not in my wildest dreams did I expect either one of those jobs to pay what is expected now, I was a high school graduate with entry level non skilled jobs.

The average cost of a home in the US in 1930 was $6,000. Should we still be paying that? In 1955, a new car cost $3,000. Is that price still justified? Fast food workers in 1976 made $2.30 an hour. And you think that's okay.

The average monthly rental for an apartment in the US is $1,702. Using the 30% rule for household expenses, a person has to make $60K before taxes to reach an apartment of $1,500 monthly. Right now, the average wage is $12 hr. $24.9K annually. If you believe data from Data USA, the median wage for fast food workers in 2022 was $3,299, $5 above the national poverty line.

Now, you assume incorrectly, despite knowing better, the demographics for fast food workers. Yes, counter service was intended to manned by kids who needed a little extra money. It wasn't a career wage for them. It could pay for a semester at a state school, though.

Now, 12 % of workers are 30-40 years. 51% are 20-30 years old. That represents 3,174,216 workers who are career-aged but can only find work at fast food restaurants. And 2/3 of those people are female.

Wages are on the rise, as regulated by the federal government. If you don't think slining food demands enough work to be paid fairly, you're free to make your own meals.

Years ago - in the olden days - $10 an hour gave you basement suite, a junker but functional car, food, the ability to pay for a date out at least once a week, and still save a little money to buy a house. Minimum wage at the time was $4.50. So if we use the same ratio at todays prices the “living wage” would need to be about $30 / hr in order to potentially sustain society. Rental costs shouldn’t be 50-70 percent of a persons wage. Vehicles shouldn’t be 25-40% of a persons monthly wage. This is not sustainable. Either there needs to be a “living wage” or the economy needs to be blown up and a redo or concede that the 60-80 hour work week has returned. Or maybe just live with one’s folks until they retire.

My mom and another elder family member were commenting on a sign at a nearby fast food place how much they were paying per hour. Both of them remarked at the wage they earned at their first job, implying that the fast food place is paying too much, making their hamburgers too expensive. My mom and the other family member failed to recognize that the cost of living increase since then has far, far outpaced the wage increase.

My feeling is that any person working a 40 hour per week job with a few years' experience should be able to afford a cheap apartment, health care, and a reasonably priced used car. College education is not for everyone, nor is trade school. Our economy workers, and they need to know that working will allow them autonomy, otherwise they lose incentive. The problem is, in many parts of the USA, that is not happening now, and is only getting worse.

I don't know what the solution is. But raising minimum wage hasn't really solved the problem so far.

Nobody should work a minimum wage job for more than a year . No one over age 25 should work a minimum wage job.
It’s like publicly admitting you ruined your life .

I think this is a very reasonable idea!
to link wages to need, is very civil
to pay workers enough ton not have to worry is a proven value
if your work forces is not distracted, by trying to deal with enough to eat? enough to transport
or care for a family.
a fully compensated worker out performs a badly paid one

I would propose that all industries be unionized. That would allow workers to collectively bargain for the wages and benefits appropriate to their industry and geographic location. $20 an hour isn't a living wage in San Francisco, but you can live pretty well on that in rural Georgia. This is why the prevailing wages for government contract work are based on what the going rate is in each area. Without that, contractors in expensive areas like New York City would be outbid by contractors from elsewhere whose workers were willing to work for what they would earn back home.

Unionization would extend this benefit to everyone. The highest rate of unionization was in the 1940s, and has fallen since then, with a corresponding drop in real wages.

Do you know who pays for the minimum wage increases? The end consumer, all of us.

To a real living wage. I heard in Toronto it needs to be $24. 00 per hour. Course that is a large city. Still I would not work for less than $21 per hour. The price of gas is astronomical. Living costs!

It should roughly keep up with inflation, but I don't agree with what is commonly called a "living wage."

Raising wages just raises the price of everything because they have to recoup cost

Yes. I do not work for less than a certain amount. The cost of gas is insane. If people made a basic wage, they could live better. And give more money to seniors. Seems all the women pumping out babies get the big bucks. Over $2000 per kid. A month. More for others depending on their ages. I live in Ontario. Canada. I work full time til age 65. Or until my knees give out.

The minimum wage should be eliminated. Private transaction should not be artificially controlled. It harms the very people it seeks to help. No one should be able to afford all that you state on a minimum wage alone.

Just introduce base income instead.

The cost of living varies by state/region.

Evidently you have been sleeping the last few years. Business is never going to let you keep your raise. You could raise minimum wage to $1000 an hour and business would just raise the cost of everything. They are never going to let you keep your raise. The best thing to do is get a promotion or a better job making more money. No one should strive to stay at minimum wage.

No.

Every time they raise wages the costs of goods and services go up with them, along with lost jobs.