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

I won't quote a dollar numbers. What I will say, is that it needs to be a single living wage.

Defined as enough for a teen out of high school to reasonably afford Rent of a 1 bedroom apartment, transportation, food, healthcare, education.

INDEPENDENT of mom and dad at the rate of 40 hours a week. 160 hours a month or less.

That's supposed to be the minimum. Not the top tier of the skilled pay scale. More skilled trades should be paying FAMILY LIVING WAGES. Which of Defined as a wage that is MODESTLY capable of SELF SUFFICIENTLY supporting a family of 4 at the rate of 160 work hours a month 40 hours a week.

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LeopoldBloom · M

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.

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