Originally posted by Bardock42
If the overall unemployment is similar however would that then not mean more mid and senior level positions?
hmmm, I suppose so, which could either be positive (once in the market there is lots of promotion beyond entry level) or negative (old people are holding onto positions that were once more likely to go to the youth), though, as an unemployed "youth", I might be biased in seeing youth employment as more important.
Interesting point though...
In all fairness, although having high welfare, universal healthcare and universal higher education, it's kept in check by our high taxes.
The U.S. has economically spiraled down quite significantly just in the last five years. I wonder how long it will take before U.S. realizes that the free market will ruin a society. The government cares about the people's right to an affordable heart surgery, a corporate CEO doesn't.
Originally posted by Astner
In all fairness, although having high welfare, universal healthcare and universal higher education, it's kept in check by our high taxes.The U.S. has economically spiraled down quite significantly just in the last five years. I wonder how long it will take before U.S. realizes that the free market will ruin a society. The government cares about the people's right to an affordable heart surgery, a corporate CEO doesn't.
wow. they got you
Originally posted by Astner
In all fairness, although having high welfare, universal healthcare and universal higher education, it's kept in check by our high taxes.The U.S. has economically spiraled down quite significantly just in the last five years. I wonder how long it will take before U.S. realizes that the free market will ruin a society. The government cares about the people's right to an affordable heart surgery, a corporate CEO doesn't.
Part of the country has already "realized" what you're talking about here, while another part of the country has "realized" that because historically governments are liable to be corrupt and overbearing if they expand too much, the answer is to slash government and trust to free enterprise and luck.
I can't say that I trust the US government absolutely (or even 75%) but I trust them to be more accountable than American corporations and, even given how out of touch Congress is, more in touch with what Americans want.
Originally posted by Astner
In all fairness, although having high welfare, universal healthcare and universal higher education, it's kept in check by our high taxes.
I don't disagree with any of this. I live in Canada, I've had ample opportunity to move to the States, but for the reasons you listed, I prefer it here.
and the whole gun thing...
Originally posted by Raisen
wow. they got you
by "they", you of course mean, empirical evidence, yes?
It's worth noting that the minimum wage varies from state to state. For instance, the minimum wage in California is higher than in most other states because the cost of living is much higher. There was recently an initiative passed that will increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour in California in a couple of years.
Originally posted by BackFire
It's worth noting that the minimum wage varies from state to state. For instance, the minimum wage in California is higher than in most other states because the cost of living is much higher. There was recently an initiative passed that will increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour in California in a couple of years.
Thats really interesting, minimum here is only 10.25, and might only go up a bit in the next couple of years. I thought minimums were really low across the country. Interesting indeed
Originally posted by Omega Vision
There's this Canadian girl in my pedagogy class who never wears panties or a bra.
ah, nothing better than a patriotism boner
Originally posted by Omega Vision
She your cousin?All Canadians are related, right?
I'll have to check when spring comes back around, this time of year the moose are too aggressive for me to get to the igloo of records.
Originally posted by Oliver North
Thats really interesting, minimum here is only 10.25, and might only go up a bit in the next couple of years. I thought minimums were really low across the country. Interesting indeed
It's still very low. Not enough to live on because the cost of living is significantly higher in places like California and New York than most other states. It's actually easier to live on $7.25 an hour in a place like Alabama than it is to live on $10.00 an hour in a place like California.
A good portion of the people who make minimum wage are also on welfare because it's simply not possible to live a reasonably decent life when minimum wage is your only source of income.
Originally posted by BackFire
It's still very low. Not enough to live on because the cost of living is significantly higher in places like California and New York than most other states. It's actually easier to live on $7.25 an hour in a place like Alabama than it is to live on $10.00 an hour in a place like California.A good portion of the people who make minimum wage are also on welfare because it's simply not possible to live a reasonably decent life when minimum wage is your only source of income.
oh, for sure, and frankly, even in smaller towns in Canada 10.25 is hardly a living wage (and taxed at 20% [at least]). I was under the assumption minimum wage was as low as 3.00 in some areas in America though. Probably my own misconception.
Here is a discussion on minimum wage that I ran across on reddit. It is a very interesting read. It does make me reconsider my position on minimum wages.
A question originally posted by some redditor:
OK. Do you want some real data on how the benefits of minimum wage increases are not cancelled out by increases in cost of living?
Reply from /u/desumanda
Take this OECD source that lists the comparative price level of each country (Measures PPP). Countries with high minimum wages, like Australia, Denmark, and Sweden dominate the upper end of the list. Countries with low minimum wages like the United States are much lower. Seems obvious no? Sure if you just "cherry pick this data".
Let's look at Australia as our first example. The minimum wage in Australia is $13.85 USD per hour ($16.87 AUD) (Source can be found here). The minimum wage for a casual worker in Australia (no sick or annual leave) is $18.08 USD per hour. All calculations will be performed with the $13.85 rate. The minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25 per hour. This means that the Australian wage is 1.91 times greater than the U.S wage. Similarly, according to this TIL the minimum wage (for McDonald's workers as example - Denmark doesn't have an 'official' minimum wage) in Denmark is 2.89 times greater than in the U.S.The OECD comparative price level for Australia is $136 USD. In the U.S the comparative price level is $100 (As it is the baseline comparison country for this measurement). This means that the cost of living, and prices for general goods, is only 1.36 times more in Australia than in the U.S. However to reiterate the minimum wage is 1.91 times greater.
The OECD comparative price level for Denmark, the fifth most expensive country world, is a staggering $140 USD. Hence this means the cost of living in Denmark is 1.40 times greater than in the U.S. But the minimum wage in Denmark, as demonstrated by this TIL, is a whopping 2.89 times greater than in the U.S. Additionally the same website demonstrates Denmark having a grocery price index of 88.59 and the U.S at 81.81; the Danish minimum wage McDonald's worker could afford almost 3 times as many groceries as a U.S minimum wage worker.
So in reality the McDonalds workers of Denmark possess far more purchasing power than their counterparts in the U.S. Combined with their free healthcare, and cheap education; they're leaps and bounds ahead.But then what's the other argument against minimum wage? "Minimum wage harms businesses and impairs growth". From the data of GDP growth between countries the GDP growth in high minimum wage countries like Australia is 2.50%. Whilst in the U.S GDP growth was only 1.60%. However Denmark's GDP growth in the same period was only 0.10%. So perhaps minimum wage is not considerably accountable for a countries growth or collapse.
So why are we in U.S still faced with a pauper's minimum wage? Well maybe it's because, as you said, the facts are hushed and all the data has been cherry picked.
Edit 1: Denmark has no 'official' minimum wage: After research it seems that Denmark does not have an official minimum wage. The higher wages are a result of union bargaining. Which occurs across the industries in Denmark. Thank you to /u/RunePoul[2] . Sorry for the mistake.
Edit 2 "You haven't accounted for Exhange Rates: Also in my laziness I forgot to adjust the dollar values for Australia according to the U.S exchange rate. I have done this now. Apologies again.
Edit 3: Thank you to all donors for the gold.
Edit 4: Please refrain from downvoting the parent comment. He has an opinion much like anyone else. What matters is what we can show to support our opinions.
Edit 5: "You haven't accounted for tax. The Americans would make much more if you did" This source shows that a minimum wage worker in the U.S would take home about $13,328 after tax. This source shows that a minimum wage worker in Australia would take home $27,760 USD after tax. And this source shows (thankyou to /u/torbeindallas[3] ) that the Danish McDonald's worker would take home $26,776 after tax. The Australian and Dane will take home 2.08 and 2.01 times more salary than the U.S minimum wage worker after tax. The increase is still greater than the increase in cost of living between these countries. However tax money in Australia and Denmark goes toward subsidised tertiary education, free healthcare, subsidised pharmaceuticals, and welfare (money for the unemployed/disabled/retired). So that should theoretically further increase the income of Australians and Danes, if isolated and factored out.
Edit 6: "CPI is not an appropriate measurement to compare cost of living": Regarding user complaints that I used the CPI index instead of a more appropriate PPP based comparison. I have changed the CPI comparisons with the OECD sourced "comparative price levels" data. This is naturally more reliable. After doing so the comparisons in cost of living between Australia and Denmark and the U.S changed only slightly; by about 0.1 times. So the comparisons still stand. Apologies.
Source:
I support the idea of a "guaranteed minimum income. I would set that at about $25,000. Meaning, if a person did not work, they were guaranteed at least $25,000 of income a year.
Since I do not think income taxes should exist (the tax system should be something similar to how Texas does their taxes except on a national level), income taxes would not be a concern. Strangely, according to the limited research done on guaranteed minimum incomes, having a guaranteed minimum income actually increases the amount of people working. That runs opposite of what you'd think: a classic "counter-intuitive" situation. I think it has something to do with purchasing power. The poor now have more purchasing power. Small businesses now have more business. They need more employees. This creates a job incentive: benefits, income, etc. These incentives make it possible for a person to enjoy a higher income level than just the $25k without destroying their personal life (such as the ability of a single mother to work part time). For me, this is one of the most fascinating economic ideas. I really want to see another small to medium sized study done on this, again.
Originally posted by Surtur
I'd of been happy with just $20 an hour. It's still better to get a job working for the city around here. Since you can actually clock in a lot of places around the city you could quite literally go clock in and then go out drinking or something. They are also making like $60 an hour.
$60 an hour? That's more than I make.
I chose the wrong career, apparently.
Originally posted by SurturDo you live in San Francisco?
I'd of been happy with just $20 an hour. It's still better to get a job working for the city around here. Since you can actually clock in a lot of places around the city you could quite literally go clock in and then go out drinking or something. They are also making like $60 an hour.