For states that already have $12.50 minimum wages, waiting out four years to reach a $15 federal minimum wage won't soften job impact – because not much to soften. A 20% pay raise for a firm with typical 10%-15% labor costs could add about 2.5% to products prices (20% X 12.5%).
For $7.25 minimum wage states, doubling pay to $15 could force firms with 25% labor costs (e.g., fast food), to jump prices 25%. But even if that incurred 25% jobs losses, employees as a group would be only too happy to be 50% ahead in pay overall (200% X .75).
If lower 40 percentile wage earners (all who below $15 an hour) sell less stuff to the upper 60%, but for more money overall, their accordingly greater spending will in effect employ more jobholders than before – while the 60% will in effect employ fewer jobholders.
http://fortune.com/2015/04/13/who-makes-15-per-hour/ (2015, pay wall)
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We have to go back seven decades to find a federal minimum wage that is albeit a dollar higher than today’s minimum: $8.35 in 1950 (inflation adjusted)!
https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=.75&year1=195001&year2=202101
We would have to go almost as far back – to the 50s and 60s -- to find a level of labor union density that could wring (as in extract) fair share for employees out of the labor (consumer) market.
Meanwhile blue collar workers are running for the Democratic Party exits at a pace threatening to remake Republican demographics look more like Democratic demographics of the 50s and 60s. Blue collar voters switching to Republican, last ten years: White 45% to 57%, Hispanic 23% to 30%, Black 5% to 9%.
(Meet the Press, Data Download – 2/21/21, 39:07 to 41:14)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKm7Iry5brA
A healthy rich country labor market being so far in their (our) rear view mirrors that nobody even guesses (remembers) what’s critically missing anymore -- unions! Build back every bit as much labor union density as we “feel like" as quick as “we like":
https://onlabor.org/why-not-hold-union-representation-elections-on-a-regular-schedule/
A union is a business. You should be able to open any union business you “feel like" as easily as any other business: just apply for a license for most businesses; just vote in regularly scheduled cert/recert/decert elections in all private workplaces for union businesses.
Better act in a hurry to restore these folks' sense of their own power over their own existences -- before the next would be American Mussolini turns out to be less of a buffoonish fool (who nevertheless got 74 million votes).
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Higher min wage makes more (low wage) jobs? -- Cert/recert/decert as "you like"
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