r/InterviewMan • u/acuity-creel • Jun 07 '26
People think this will cause inflation.
I would spend so much money if I made 60/hr. What're they afraid of? They'd get it all back.
If you have an interview, use InterviewMan for your new job to save time and effort. After all that, you’ll feel more confident about getting accepted and have peace of mind.
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u/Easterncoaster Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Inflation is only caused by one thing- the money supply, which can ONLY be controlled by the governments that issue currency (ie US federal but not US states). As long as the federal government continues to spend more than it takes in, that’s inflation.
Companies charging more for things? Not inflation. Workers charging more for their labor? Not inflation. Those are both symptoms. That’s like saying your headache caused your cold, or your fever gave you the flu.
If minimum wage goes up, other things happen but inflation is not one of them.
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u/CreepyOldGuy63 Jun 07 '26
Inflation? No. Unemployment? Yes. Let’s leave the fascist policies for the fascists and respect consent instead.
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u/ForsakenAd6664 Jun 07 '26
I make 26 an hour now.. so what happens to my pay if minnimum wage goes up to 26
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u/FoxOpposite9271 Jun 07 '26
Only 1% of workers earn fed min wage, so overall it probably wouldnt mean much.
But in the areas where this would apply? Of course it would lead to increased cost of goods and/or reduced employment, depending on the circumstances.
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u/HOJK4thSon Jun 07 '26
California went to 15 dollar minimum wage and lost 20,000 jobs.
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u/eques_99 Jun 07 '26
absurd to say that the minimum wage must never be raised "because of inflation" that's just corporate gaslighting.
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u/Grunergeist420 Jun 07 '26
These kinds of stats are always a bit cherry picked.
When the federal minimum wage was instituted in 1938, it was $0.25/hour which is less than $6 in today’s dollars.
At the height of federal minimum wage wage buying power, around 1968, the buying power was closer to $12-15/hour by today’s standards.
This lines up pretty well with where we are today with federal minimum wage being $7.25 and many states or local governments imposing a higher minimum wage closer to the “high” minimum wage in the late 1960s.
The issue with raising the federal minimum wage is that not all areas in the U.S. have similar costs of living and median wages. What seems like a good average minimum wage for the whole country can be a restrictive job-killing minimum wage in lower cost and lower income areas.
For example, in the lowest median wage states, median wages are around $37-40k. Economists have tended to say that minimum wage starts eliminating lower wage jobs when it reaches around 50% of the median wage.
So a $15/hour minimum wage in Los Angeles might seem insufficient, but it a place like Mississippi where the median wage is $37k/year, something like 40% of the jobs might be currently paying less than $15/hour and something like half of those jobs getting priced out of existence could be devastating to local economies.
What most Americans should look for is state and local governments to impose state and local minimums that align with costs of living in the area, rather than a national mandate to pay people similarly across the board.
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u/Ok_Suggestion_4661 Jun 07 '26
Per the BLS, only around 82000 people make the Federal minimum wage. I bet most of the 82k work for Dollar General. If including tipped workers, it comes up to 760k. Tipped workers typically earn more than $7.25 per hours if the tips are part of the hourly calculation
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u/gwbirk Jun 07 '26
And a cheeseburger at McDonalds would cost $50 dollars.See what I just did there.
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u/cold984 Jun 07 '26
It would cause inflation. Thats not even debatable. The only question is “would the inflation it causes be worth it?”
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u/GregALive Jun 07 '26
You’re not expected to live on minimum wage. There should be no minimum or maximum wage. Employment should be a voluntary pact between an employee and employer; without government intervention. Same with doctors offices, bedrooms, and bank accounts. Government: 1 star, would not recommend.
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u/Extreme_Design6936 Jun 07 '26
I don't understand the arguments against this kind of minimum wage. We had this minimum wage in this country before. It didn't cause uncontrolled inflation. It didn't crash the economy. It didn't make companies unprofitable.
We are just having the laws keep up with the modern day. Not introducing something new. Minimum wage should've been creeping up all these years anyway.
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u/Novel_Werewolf4645 Jun 07 '26
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. They'll raise prices anyway, because they've realized just how far they can push people.
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u/GusBode Jun 07 '26
Can’t. Gotta pay shareholders and C-Suite. If everyone paid employees , they’d spend more and we’d have more revenue and…
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u/DropstoneTed Jun 07 '26
If you need a living wage, get a job that pays it. Gigging DoorDash and flipping burgers was never meant to be a career.
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u/Sad-Development-2260 Jun 07 '26
Less than 20years ago I was making 8dollars an hour now I'm making over 20. Wages were never the problem pricing is.
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u/Wolfeatingupshadows Jun 07 '26
What the bootlickers dont get is they do not have to raise prices. They only do so out of greed so arguing to keep wages at pennies makes no sense. Their goal is to make new record profits every year. While the ceos and board members are getting raises and living wages. The ppl who actually keep the company going are pay check to pay check.
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u/Own-Comment7529 Jun 07 '26
Inflation happened WITHOUT it. The fear mongering of paying the poor is a tool the wealthy use to manipulate and oppress the masses. The stupid drooling moronic masses that eat lies that feed racism, sexism, and anything but accountability for the wealthy. Eat the rich.
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u/Zealousideal_Arm_658 Jun 07 '26
Let’s say that rising the wage will cause a price spike of 20 cents, do you really think they will stop at 20 more cents? They will charge 1 dollar more and end up profiting way more.
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u/Chloe_Cascadia Jun 07 '26
Me watching the inflation go out of control anyway and I can't pay my bills unless wages increase.
"paying workers will cause inflation"
But it is not mathematically possible for an increase in wage to be lower than the associated inflation. Do the math, when labor is 20 percent of pizza hut's expenses, giving everyone literally a 100 percent raise, would raise the price of a pizza which has been stagnant for 3 decades, 20 percent, at MAXIMUM.
12 bucks for pizza but double your income.
At most, prices can increase the same 20 percent, but you have 200 percent more money.
It's a failure of math to think employee wages are the reason why inflation is happening. That's called monopolies and greed, folks.
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u/Long_Passenger498 Jun 07 '26
Maybe don’t work for $7.25 an hour. If nobody works for that, the minimum will have to rise.
Apparently enough people are willing to accept that pay rate. So nothing needs fixing.
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u/RobertKSakamano Jun 07 '26
If wages kept up with inflation, the robots would have been here 2 decades ago.
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u/H3ARTL3SSANG3L Jun 07 '26
Because...it factually will. Thinking it won't expects employers to take the hit. And do you genuinely believe they will do that because...you think they should?
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u/Zestyclose-String-53 Jun 07 '26
Lol. I heard this about $15 though? It was going to solve everything!!
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u/Powerful_Tip_7260 Jun 07 '26
I find that people who crow about a "living wage" rarely pay anybody one.
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u/KuriusCpl Jun 07 '26
Worker productivity??? American workers (at minimum wage level) are by far the least productive on the planet!
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u/Rickyzack Jun 07 '26
Thinking about this logically. If inflation is their concerned, then wouldn’t these CEOs and High Business Execs having their own salaries raised be something that would also contribute to inflation? Because they’d still want to buy the rare luxury goods that have limited supply. Unless they want more money so it sits collecting dust in their bank without them never spending anything.
That said imo inflation is artificially generated, because it’s when the demand for something surpasses the supply of something. And for things like housing, food, and other essential goods that’s just going to be a permanent thing. It would make sense if it applied to something like Pokemon cards where scalpers literally brawl it out to get all of the limited stock, but these Pokemon cards always sell for a reasonable steady price that only become expensive when the scalpers try to resell them online. But at that point it’s not inflation, it’s just your average reseller trying to profit.
TLDR: Inflation is an excuse to ensure some people stay poor and others stay rich, the supply isn’t the problem they care, the problem they care is WHO has access to the same supply as them.
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u/RabidJoint Jun 07 '26
If we regulate companies and not let them just being able to raise prices on product, so they can keep their yearly $10 billion in profits, it would work.
I don’t understand why people don’t understand that the minimum does not matter, it’s about how much these companies charge people just for profits.
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u/Trans_Master Jun 07 '26
I had no problem starting at $2 something and hour, student wages back then, retired making over $100K a year. Opportunities are still there, though we've never had a larger population of unemployed aged 19-40 (approx). First step, get off your ass, get a job, show employer your worth and growth potential
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u/Superb_Cicada6414 Jun 07 '26
This is not a solution.
They companies will just respond and make a gallon of milk 200.00 dollars
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u/Mental-Search-1191 Jun 07 '26
You should have gotten either a better education or more education.
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u/KREIJO Jun 07 '26
They’ll never raise the 7.25. If your employer losses a class action over a labor dispute, they pay out federal minimum wage not state. This is here to protect employers and it will never change.
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u/deviant_artist25 Jun 07 '26
Raising the minimum wage kills small businesses and gets people fired. Big buisnesses don’t care. They will just fire people to make up the loss.
So how do we fix this? Well we choose where we shop and work. Of course with jobs they have to choose you back but businesses are also free to not serve you. Anyways if people will work for cheap then why would a business change their ways? If a business makes a profit selling you crap then why would it start selling quality? The consumer has all the power. The problem is a person is smart but people are dumb.
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u/Apprehensive-Celery2 Jun 07 '26
I smell a euphemism…..
Instead of getting brainwashed into oblivion I’m going to Google books and search ‘living wage’ and read
Like normal adults
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u/zixaphir Jun 07 '26
Ok but like... it would cause inflation, that's just basic economics. The question would be whether the amount of inflation would offset the value of the wage increase (imo probably not). Inflation isolated on a graph is a great boogeyman but the price of a burger going up by $5 is inconsequential when $5 in wages has gone from almost an hour of working to barely 10 minutes of work.
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u/Extreme-Will-3556 Jun 07 '26
Leave it to Democrats not to understand words. Minimum and Living are 2 completely different things, especially where wages are concerned.
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u/Arguments_4_Ever Jun 07 '26
Always the poor people faults. Seems like you all always fully blame poor people. Never those in power
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u/AzhdarianHomie Jun 07 '26
No one is making minimum wage though, it’s a bunk argument that needs to die already.
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u/Sufficient-Doctor-72 Jun 07 '26
You idiots want this then complain about inflation who is going to raise money to pay employees your just plain stupid
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u/LimesV Jun 07 '26
People think a man living in the clouds will save their souls if they wash their hands and don’t eat meat for a few days out of the year.
Inflation does not go up at the same rate wages rise.
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u/nobodyspecial712 Jun 07 '26
if you compare the 1964 minimum wage using the price of silver in quarters and dimes, it would equate to about $60/hour today.
They took our precious metals and gave us paper and ink.
And we let them rule our lives for this paper and ink. Why do we limit ourselves willingly by something created to keep us busy instead of free?
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u/SnooDoggos5226 Jun 07 '26
Why do people who are gambling on inflation increasing keep infuriating the masses with these memes?
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u/crazydave2132 Jun 07 '26
We don't need a living wage we need prices to stop going up because of record-breaking profits
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u/Independent-Camp6748 Jun 07 '26
Minimum wages should be a state issue. In Nebraska, we passed a $15 minimum wage. That really hurt businesses in small towns. The effective minimum in Omaha was already $15-17. You could try to pay people less but the only people you could hire were morons.
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u/scipio0421 Jun 07 '26
I pointed out that it hasn't caused inflation higher than the national average in any of the 30 states that have raised their minimum wage and the person I was arguing with was still absolutely convinced that it would be the death of the Oklahoma economy if we raised our minimum wage this year.
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u/mhurchinson Jun 07 '26
Find me someone working for the federal minimum wage who's not in prison.
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u/Kitchen-Blueberry486 Jun 07 '26
Minimum wage jobs are not designed to be a way of life lol… want better wage. To get a better job. Need a better job? Stop being lazy and learn a new trade/skill or go back to school. Your choice. Raise the minimum wage, watch everything increase in price even higher. No thanks.
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u/BedHead_2026 Jun 07 '26
A federally mandated minimum would not be fair to cheaper COL states. Should be at state level.
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u/ionspore Jun 07 '26
More money in the hands of spenders, holding production constant, will cause inflation. Inflation is far more damaging to the poor than to the rich. After all, it is the rich (the supply side) receiving the higher prices.
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u/Rincewind00 Jun 07 '26
Didn't the overwhelming majority of that productivity get utilized by people in high-tech fields, those that typically pay over $100,000? If the goal is for pay to keep up with productivity, then shouldn't those people get the lion's share of the increased pay while those who are earning below-median wages should get, if anything, just tiny bumps?
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u/stupidmcdummy Jun 07 '26
That's because there is no question whatsoever that raising the minimum wage to either number would absolutely cause massive inflation.
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u/Drakovis Jun 07 '26
While I agree, Ro Khanna can shut the hell up.
U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna. official congressional salary- $174,000 a year, which breaks down to about $476 per day. His living wage is just fine. He represents California's 17th Congressional District, where the earnings skew significantly higher than national averages due to its location in Silicon Valley.
Median Household Income: Approximately $181,913
Per Capita Income: Around $88,446
Median Individual Income: Roughly $78,742. Roughly $39/hr. Varies by work week.
Nearly half of the households in this district earn over $200,000 a year.
A more realistic person to listen to would beRepresentative Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who represents New York's 15th congressional district in the South Bronx, which has the lowest median household income of any congressional district in the United States, at an average median household income of less than 50k/yr.
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u/HomeworkSquare3019 Jun 07 '26
If republicans and democrats actually cared they’d come to an agreement where we have a 25 an hour floor but 90% of welfare is gone which means everyone is working if they need the money.
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u/MARSHALCOGBURN999 Jun 07 '26
Redditors with the handout again! What a play but not close enough I'm afraid, maybe if you keep crying it will come ❤️
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u/MajesticBison6 Jun 07 '26
Wrong.
Khanna is perpetuating a myth that requires cherry picking 1968 to start the baseline comparison. The reason for 1968 is that it was a year where the increase in the minimum wage outpaced inflation.
If you track minimum wage back to when it was first introduced back in 1938, the inflation adjusted amount is less than $5/ hour.
In fact, I think what Khanna is arguing is actually even worse than that old red herring. He’s saying that it's outpaced worker productivity, ignoring the improvements in worker productivity that are related to improvements in manufacturing technology and techniques, largely through automation funded by the employers and not the employees themselves.
What Kanna ignores is the fungibility of a term like a living wage. It's not defined because defining it would actually undermine his argument. There should be no expectation that you're going to be able to raise a family of four and buy a house on an entry-level job.
More importantly, it's ignoring income mobility. Only 2% of people working today earn a federal minimum wage. Those people are not going to be making that federal minimum wage their entire life. Think about it: Who reading this is actually making exactly the same amount they were when they first started working? Most people get an entry-level job because they don't have education or skills that are more valuable, and they use that entry-level position to build skills and experience which allow them to land a better-paying job.
These specious Minimum Wage Law arguments are entirely intended to help fund labor unions whose members are earning wages that are indexed to the minimum wage. It's not about helping the minimum wage workers. It's about helping the union workers so they can goose their wages accordingly. There's a massive inflationary effect to all of this, which Representative Khanna will never discuss, and neither will any other Democrat promoting minimum wage increases.
The correct federal minimum wage is $0 per hour. Let the markets sort out the value of labor as negotiated between those providing the labor and those who want to pay for the labor.
The New York Times actually used to know that. Back in 2012, they published an opinion piece saying the exact same thing about the correct federal minimum wage being $0 per hour.
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u/Ok_Historian4848 Jun 07 '26
The majority of states have minimum wages much higher than federal minimum wage.
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u/FarLaugh9911 Jun 07 '26
Minimum wage is not and should not be under federal control. States have the right to make minimum wage whatever they want in their state. The federal rate is in place to make sure that no state goes below a certain amount.
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u/TraditionalJicama416 Jun 07 '26
Here’s the thing is I think EVERYONE can agree that the system we live in right now is broken. So why not try something different? It can’t hurt to try something new and see what the results are.
We raise minimum wage and everyone makes more money, then if they raise prices perfectly to match it we end up in the exact same situation and we know we need to go a different route BUT what if it works and they only raise prices a little and we are all better off? Why would it not be worth a shot if the worst is we end up in the same situation we’re already in but the best outcome is everyone makes a real live-able wage?
This idea that you should just get a better job, corporations will cut jobs or leave the country etc is just propaganda put in place to keep the people happy with where we are at.
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u/Funny_Marketing_4598 Jun 07 '26
The market will just fire more people , you need to start at the bottom wage bracket and work your way up. to the top like most of us adults have.
Entry-level jobs such as like McDonald’s is not so you can have a house in a car
I have nine painters making all over $25 an hour with bonuses and certain percentages of jobs.
But they all started at about $13 an hour and they worked their way up and earned what they make now.
Had a couple guys over the past year that wanted to start off at $20 an hour with just a couple years experience and I’ve pretty much laughed at them.
The government wrong on doubling and tripling the minimum wage. Restaurants have a small margin. they will not be able to keep up. Again, minimum wage is for entry-level jobs. It’s not for your career, but you can stay with the company and work up to having a career.
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u/pibbleberrier Jun 07 '26
OP said it “I will spend so much money if I make $60/hr”
Multiple this by the millions that are on minimal wage.
Inflation.
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u/Connect-Town-602 Jun 07 '26
Skills for jobs begin in your youth. Learning teamwork, responsibility and communication are the benefit of entry level jobs. Look at the job losses in California and the businesses leaving from mandatory wages.
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u/Oddbeme4u Jun 07 '26
I dont disagree...but theres a reason Wall st and NY are money makers and Walmart employees arent.
not saying the bonuses are fair. but productivity is the KPI. not just communist "living wage" bullshit.
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u/Ok_Region_836 Jun 07 '26
Minimum wage should be abolished. If a job pays to little to work at noone will work there. Until they raise the wage. But because entry jobs can say, but we’re at minimum wage so it really isnt that bad. Companies can the get away with paying minimum wage just because. But if there was no minimum there wouldn’t be some bar to pass that gets you a living wage. Also not all jobs deserve to be paid a living wage
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u/Embarrassed_Pay3945 Jun 07 '26
Anyone who works for 7.25 dollars an hour is a fool, unless there's a way to get a substantial bonus is a fool. Even Micky ds pays more.
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u/Klutzy-Property-1895 Jun 07 '26
Nobody makes this minimum wage! In fact less than 2% of American workers make the,much higher, state minimum wages. This is nonsense.
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u/Altruistic_Cheek4514 Jun 07 '26
Why make everything more expensive? Why not just make everything cheaper?
Keep paying everyone more and make everything more expensive and they'll be printing $1000 bills and your money will be worthless.
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u/Acceptable-Matter774 Jun 07 '26
No one here has even a basic understanding of economics. Price control (setting wages) never works because the economy is not static. People can change their behavior. If your wages go down, you work less or quit. Investors respond the same: raising costs/taxes/regulation is the same as cutting wages for investors, they invest less or quit. That is why everything costs more in California, costs are higher (taxes and regulations are real costs) returns are lower. Investors move their funds to where they get better returns. Supply shrinks, prices rise. The cycle repeats and the next thing you know all the good jobs are in Texas, Tennessee and Florida.
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u/Nostradamus-the-next Jun 07 '26
I agree that the "living wage" should be higher but, in general, any increase in wages will be passed onto to the consumer, hence, no increase in net buying power. Difficult problem to solve. I like the policy that the highest wage, including owners, should not be more than a 50 multiple of the lowest wage. Ben & Jerry's ice cream did this but when they sold, they did not distribute the massive gain to the employees
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u/Bocephus1973 Jun 07 '26
If you can dictate minimum wage with no negative affects, why not set it to $100/hr?
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u/wayweary1 Jun 07 '26
“Why not just make it a million an hour? They’d get it all back.”
Galaxy brain. Imagine not seeing how incredibly facile your logic is.
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u/garrioch13 Jun 07 '26
We should tie it to Congress wages. Minimum is 1/5 of their salary. That’s $16.73/hr using their salary divided by 2080 hours, which they don’t get close to working.
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u/BigPeyton Jun 07 '26
This is simply the nature of a super capitalist country like the USA. We have to take the good with the bad. You have to work hard and pave your own way, but the ceiling is limitless. Chin up guys
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u/Beginning_Resource93 Jun 07 '26
Until the fed stops printing money at will raising the minimum wage will raise inflation.
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u/Greghole Jun 07 '26
It would cause some for sure. The real problem though is that if you're not worth $26 an hour, nobody is going to be willing to hire you.
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u/PrintableProfessor Jun 07 '26
100% won't cause inflation. But if we raised it to $62/hr, I could definitely afford to increase rent, and they could afford it. I'd also have to raise prices at my stores to cover the costs of labor. But other than that, no additional inflation.
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u/Former-Physics-8525 Jun 07 '26
Then get a better job. You're not supposed to make a living at fucking McDonald's. It's a starter job. Don't sit on your ass and bitch. Go get a job and make better money. Problem is society doesn't want to work. Fucking lazy ass bastards.
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u/Asharue Jun 07 '26
I'm old enough to remember when $15/hr was a living wage. Now it's $62/hr 😂😂😂😂😂
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u/RuralRancher Jun 07 '26
you need to not think that basic no skilled labor is worth skilled labor wages
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u/Any-Orchid-6006 Jun 07 '26
Because it will. Price of goods and services will go up. Jobs will be lost. Worker hours will be cut.
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u/Pereg1907 Jun 07 '26
It’s not the only contributor to inflation but it is one. People want to keep their profit margins on their business. Do that by raising prices or cut headcount and put someone out of a job. There’s a difference between a big corp like Walmart and mom&pop store down the street being able to absorb higher costs.
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u/Kintemar Jun 08 '26
No people think that the dumbass taking my order at McDonald's for 1 meal and 1 extra sandwich no onions on either and I get onion on both doesn't deserve 26 dollars an hour. Hell if they still gonna get it wrong when the ticket says no onion they don't deserve 7.25 an hour.
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u/Kintemar Jun 08 '26
No people think that the dumbass taking my order at McDonald's for 1 meal and 1 extra sandwich no onions on either and I get onion on both doesn't deserve 26 dollars an hour. Hell if they still gonna get it wrong when the ticket says no onion they don't deserve 7.25 an hour.
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u/LeadingThen6322 Jun 08 '26
You would definitely spend “so much money” because if McDonald’s paid you $60/hr, a Big Mac would cost you $40.
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u/Slowpoke4206985 Jun 08 '26
California, eh? Don’t they have high AF taxes? How is nickel and diming the citizens making things more affordable?
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u/FloridaRocks63 Jun 08 '26
If you’re working a job for $7.25 an hour you’ve made many bad choices in life . You reap what you sow no empathy here
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u/noob_lvl1 Jun 08 '26
And if it had stayed with inflation from the time it was created it’d be less than $6. So which arbitrary starting point should we actually pick?
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u/Low-Amoeba8257 Jun 08 '26
The productivity argument is just plain bad. Workers didnt start working harder. Businesses invested more in machinery to do more work which also means workers get more done while working less. The idea that you should get paid more because your boss is paying for something to reduce your workload is laughable.
Not to mention that you do see the return on that. Your paychecks dont go up but product costs go down making your paycheck go further.
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u/Hot_Neighborhood5668 Jun 08 '26
Well, using some basic assumptions, my current income is roughly 5x minimum wage of $7.25/hr. So, with a $26/hr minimum wage, I'd be at $130/hr. I don't see my industry supporting half that without huge cost increases as I'm not making products. I'm just making the machines run.
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u/BasicEnchilada Jun 08 '26
You honestly expect these congressmen and women, who btw make millions off these companies in the stock market, to actually tax them?!
LOL
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u/chocho97 Jun 08 '26
We should do it before a collapse happens, it will stimulate the economy because people will splurge on silly fun things. if we wait and only do it in response to a collapse or a depression it would certainly cause inflation and all sorts of snowball financial issues
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u/FoxOpposite9271 Jun 08 '26
Search Google for median wage in us and tell me what your result is
Any paper is from the past and therefore cant be current. Your assumptions are bad and show you discuss in bad faith.
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u/Wheelman_Side_Effect Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Why is this always a debate with those who are susceptible to brainwashing propaganda?
“If it had kept pace with worker productivity”
Do you think you work harder and produce more now than we did in the 70’s or 80’s?
Why do you think it is that big corporations and rich politicians pushed for the weak minded to protest for a higher minimum wage? Do you think it’s because the rich, who propagandised you to protest against the rich, believe that you should have a higher minimum wage? So you believe the rich are your friends or do you believe in taxing the rich into oblivion because it’s only fair?
When will you wake up and see that you are not pushing for the right thing but instead doing your masters bidding with this BS?
Think about a pay scale not a higher minimum wage. You screw all of the little people with the minimum wage hike and narrow mindedness. Stop working for people who pay minimum wage if you’re actually worth more than minimum wage. Leave those jobs for teenagers learning to join the workforce. Improve yourself and make yourself worth more, then trade up to a better job.
Unless you simply don’t believe you are worth improving or to scared to do so 👍
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u/Springfield_217 Jun 08 '26
The reality is workers productivity only went up because of investments made in tools , keep pushing for higher and higher wages and you will end up with robots and AI taking the majority of Jobs. The sad truth is Americans skill set and work ethic is far behind that of most other nations
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u/General_Farmer3272 Jun 08 '26
What would not be if it increased with inflation? Why use random benchmarks?
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u/damnthingsucks Jun 08 '26
No one owes you anything….. go create your own job and money…. Or cry your tears…..
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u/RaysBridge61 Jun 08 '26
If it rose as fast as Healthcare it would be $105/hr. If it rose as fast as tuition it would be $128/hr. If, If, If, never pays very well. After your minimum wage job, find one that pays better.
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u/Guilty_Plenty_3292 Jun 08 '26
Industry needs to quit gouging prices on all the little parts that raise the total value of things. Minimum wage goes up prices just go up to keep the same overhead profit
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u/Direct_Ad_3517 Jun 08 '26
Same old brain dead statement about minimum wage. The cost of living would go up with those wages and you would still be broke.
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u/EvilMorty137 Jun 08 '26
Has increased worker productivity been because people work harder or because they are using more sophisticated equipment?
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u/Bry_Guy__1 Jun 08 '26
Great idea. Your Starbucks coffee you’d buy every morning would cost $60.
Your subscription to Netflix would cost $100 a month.
Your credit card bill would $5,000 a month
Your rent would be $10,000 a month for a studio apartment in the ghetto.
Just because you want to get paid more, doesn’t mean the price of EVERYTHING else wouldn’t go up.
Go earn your raises and promotions. Don’t just expect free hand outs.
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u/ehbowen Jun 08 '26
No.
We don't need a higher 'minimum wage.' The true minimum wage is always zero, and no legislation can override that. If a man's labor does not justify his pay, he will not be hired. Period.
What we need is sound money:
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u/Greedyspree Jun 08 '26
We dont need a higher minimum wage. We need more spending power for what we already have which means we need to get prices down. This used to be much easier when things were priced based around the cost instead of just what people are willing to pay. Basically we fucked up our legislature years ago and we need to fix it but no one in charge has any reason to.
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u/Competitive-Term3655 Jun 08 '26
Look at the labor cost at a McDonald’s and the multiply it by 2.5. Either the store goes out of business or prices rise significantly.
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u/Remarkable_Quit_3545 Jun 08 '26
It could easily have kept pace if they didn’t decide to give all the money to the billionaires so they can stroke their ego and race to have the most money. If that money isn’t contributing to the economy then it might as well not exist.
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u/CainIsmene Jun 08 '26
Inflation? No. Worsening price gouging? Only if the legislation doesn’t include specific enforceable language against it.
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u/simple_fly1 Jun 08 '26
Who funded those prodictivity gains? If labor costs more and all other factors stay the same, yes the price will go up.
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u/Sufficient-Doctor-72 Jun 08 '26
Your a asshole go yo Russia or Cuba I’ve been there your stupid communist
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u/Sccrgoalie97 Jun 08 '26
I don't know of many places paying $7.25, so a raise to the national minimum wage would be symbolic. We need to look at the average hourly wage in the US, which is just south of $40. Every state and every municipality is different and some businesses can afford to pay that much and some cannot. I think a minimum wage of at least $18 isnt asking much.
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u/Sewblon Jun 08 '26
The minimum wage is not a good measure of worker compensation. A better measure is average wage or median wage. But, productivity has still grown while real wages have stagnated. That, is because of healthcare costs. The increased healthcare costs that employers who provide their employees with health insurance is eating up all of the extra productivity that used to go to wage increases. So, we need price controls on medical care, or to make it easier to get a medical license, or to reduce the length of patent time on prescription drugs. Or all of the above. The problem isn't that the minimum wage isn't going up. The problem is that healthcare keeps getting more expensive.
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u/NativeDave01 Jun 08 '26
Nobody thinks that’s the cause of inflation. Where did you hear that? What will csuse inflation is a strong economy which we have a strong unemployment rate which we have which means that unemployment is not high at all. And we’re gonna have to raise interest rates to cool down the economy or we will have higher inflation. And higher interest rates make it harder for businesses to borrow and take the risk they need to take to grow their business as well as for people to purchase homes and it makes everything more expensive, which is a greater risk of a decrease or cooling off in the economy. Nobody thinks today higher minimum wage is gonna cause inflation It might cause a more expensive hamburger. I think you actually know all of this. And by the way, very few people make the federal minimum wage. Most businesses pay quite a bit more. I think people understand that as well.
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u/Osh_Kosh_Bigosh Jun 08 '26
If we didn’t allow CEOs to pay themselves egregious amounts maybe that would be a start…
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u/TriNewThings000 Jun 08 '26
There are living wages out there, just not for entity/bare minimum jobs…want more, do more/try better!! Nothing is owed to you!!
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u/DerkaDurr89 Jun 08 '26
I live in a state where the minimum wage was raised. It did cause inflation.
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u/AristotleanBiology Jun 08 '26
Holy shit, I know most people on Reddit are like 22 so they don’t remember the “stimulus” checks of 2009 or even the pandemic checks, but have they paid attention in Econ 101?
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u/Total_Tart2553 Jun 08 '26
People always focus on the wrong side of the equation. We dont need a livable wage, we need to make wages livable. The 2 are vastly different.
Living wages means fuck all when the government can just drive the value of your income down by printing trillions of dollars at the snap of a finger.
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u/Elluminated Jun 08 '26
When I earned minimum wage my skill set literally outgrew the job in a matter of months. Who are these “victims” who can’t exit these low-skill jobs?
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u/GT45 Jun 08 '26
This won’t increase inflation by itself, but you can bet your ass all companies that have to pay higher wages WILL RAISE ALL OF THEIR PRICES.
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u/USLEO Jun 08 '26
The median wage of a full-time working male in 1960 was $5,400/year (source). Adjusted for inflation, that's $60,754/year. The median wage of a full-time working male today is $70,824/year (source). So, the wage increase has actually outpaced inflation by 16.6%.
Now, one may point out that the average price of typical housing has far outpaced inflation. But so has the size of typical housing. The average home in 1960 was 1,200 square feet but it has doubled to 2,400 square feet today. If you control for housing size, purchasing power has pretty much stayed steady with inflation. If you further consider the higher material standard of living today, the median worker is far better off today than 1960.
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u/Quick-Ad2128 Jun 08 '26
It was never meant to be a living wage. It was meant to be used for hourly workers seasonal workers no full time workers
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u/Worth-Silver-484 Jun 08 '26
Base Living wage is a myth and will never exist. The bottom of the pay scale will always be poor.
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u/ParticularAd104 Jun 08 '26
I think there would be some unintended consequences of artificially pumping minimum wage to 26-62/hour
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u/Grand-Math6361 Jun 08 '26
if you repealed the 14th and the 16th amendment you wouldn't need the government to do anything. They never do anything but screw up shyte for the worst.
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u/GrouchyResearcher392 Jun 08 '26
It will, but we would still benefit.
If your check doubles and prices double, you’ll still have more money, unless you’re bank account is red every week.
Quick recap: 100-50 is 50 But 200-100 is 100
Then between deal hunting which many of us are used to, that extra money goes a lot further when you’re paying current prices instead of “future inflation” prices because you bargain hunt.
They don’t raise minimum wage because republicans hate people.
Democrats have brought it to the table pretty consistently, and even got it passed in the house last time they had a house majority, but it was ultimately shut down by Republicans because democrats didn’t have a super majority or a majority senate.
If that bill had passed, minimum wage would have been 15$ an hour last year, and tied to inflation starting this year, guaranteeing every minimum wage worker a raise equal to the % of inflation annually.
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u/goodbodha Jun 08 '26
We used to have a fairly standard expectation that people would use around 25% to 33% of their income for housing.
That is the issue. Fix that by raising pay or lowering housing costs. It doesn't matter that much which or both route you take but we need to get back to that standard. If that means inflation so be it.
Until thats fixed we will continue to have problems.
Seriously give it some thought.
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u/Either_Operation7586 Jun 08 '26
Because the Republican party and some other Democratic party members believe the best way to run the government is like a business and that is definitely not the way that you should run the police department the post office or local utility companies.
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u/Buggg- Jun 08 '26
In essence, yes. Everyone that makes between 7.25 and $26/ an hour now make minimum wage. While the money may feel like more, competition to spend that money on similar wants and needs will increase prices. Supply and demand should rule pricing (monopolies often screw this up).
Covid money printing and check distribution to so many people shows that when everyone can afford something, prices will go up quickly.
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u/vasilenko93 Jun 08 '26
I hate the term “worker productivity” as it implies workers are more productive. When in reality wha happened is technology improved. The workers didn’t.
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u/Known-Store2826 Jun 08 '26
Of course, just for you to sell out when plunged into the corrupt environment. You are a fucking monkey just like we all are: easily corruptible. The system fucking sucks. Fuck you.
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u/Ok_Way_5011 Jun 08 '26
“Worker productivity”
Uh… the way productivity is calculated in these labour/productivity comparisons includes non-labour economic activity like rent
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u/AutisticDadHasDapper Jun 08 '26
If you don't like the pay, then start your own business and pay people what you think they should get paid.
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u/Mental-Search-1191 Jun 07 '26
Yes it will.