Among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in 2013 New Zealand, the United States and Denmark are ranked 1, 2, and 3 when it comes to the "ease of doing business" by the World Bank. When it comes to hourly minimum wages New Zealand pays $11.27 per hour (NZ$13.75), the U.S. pays 7.25, while Denmark pays about $19 (the OECD numbers differ slightly here).
The point of bringing up these numbers is to make it clear that the U.S. can begin thinking about raising the minimum wage without having to deal with the absurdly ridiculous claims that the economy will go into a tailspin if we do. Perhaps more importantly the U.S. can begin putting a dent into the millions of working poor Americans who must apply for public assistance just to make ends meet (McDonald's employees receive about $1.2 billion in public benefits every year).
There's much more to the minimum wage story. In fact, raising the minimum wage is just one part of a larger economic problem we have in the U.S.
As I've pointed out before ...
* Hostility towards unions and labor, favorable legislation for industry, and policies that encourage and even rewards companies to take higher paying jobs overseas (outsourcing) do little to help Main Street.
* Then we have cutbacks in programs for job training and worker education that needs to be addressed.
* Perhaps even more depressing is how we encourage a form of parish serfdom by allowing big firms like Wal-Mart to game a system that subsidizes their profits by making public assistance available to full-time workers who don't earn enough to make ends meet.
In all, minimum wage is just one part of a larger national problem that encourages an economic race to the bottom that hurts not only American workers, but America itself. If you're interested in reading more on the topic the links below are helpful.
* The number of renters paying more than 30 percent of their income reached another high in 2012, with more than half saying their budgets are stressed by high rents (Harvard University).
* Fast-food wages come with a $7 billion side of public assistance (Bloomberg).
* One third of all bank tellers rely on government assistance (Bloomberg).
* What a higher minimum wage does for workers and the economy (Bloomberg).
- Mark
1 comment:
A) Young people making low wages need to stop having children they can't afford. This is not to encourage abortion, this is to discourage irresponsible child-bearing. B) Young people are reaching puberty too early in life, probably as a result of the hormones in meat and dairy. C) There are too many laws preventing young people from getting an early start in the workforce. D) There is far too much emphasis on college, and too little on trade school and apprenticeships. E) A lower MW would actually allow more of the young to get on the ladder early, and perhaps circumvent college by moving on to management or even ownership of businesses. F) The decreased prevalence of family farms seems to have made it much harder for young people to learn skills early in life. G) Those idled by MW and poor schooling and poor parenting sometimes turn to crime. H) Why is the standard of living so high? Why can't 9 people share a kitchen? I) When I was a baker in Maryland, the government took perhaps one-fourth of each paycheck...why don't we ever hear about this when MW comes up? Why is it always about making employers pay more and never about asking government to take less? Why?
Minimum wage is all symbolism, no substance.
Eric Norwood, U of Md lab worker, activist.
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