Are minimum wage laws working?

[Seahawk]

My daughter has always worked in the summer, even in HS. The past three summers she has been a waitresses at a crab house in Maryland during the evening while she interned during the day.

She is smart, funny and quick...the minimum wage means zippy to her. She makes serious coin.

[Rick Lee]

The only job I ever had that paid min. wage was my very first one at a local restaurant, which was the only place in town that hired 15 yr. olds. I forget what the legal exemption was, but I was able to get working papers at that time. The previous summer I made the same money, but it was under the table for a contractor who was doing an all-summer project on a neighbor's house. After that first resjob, I never made less than double min. wage at a summer job.

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

It's ironic that every single congressman's and senator's office in DC and probably most of their district offices have unpaid interns working them. I did it and it was close to 40 hrs. per week of answering phones, sorting mail and some writing. That was the official job description of a staff assistant and they made around $20k plus benefits at the time. It could be almost as hard to get an internship as a paid position there, especially if it was in a big name office.

I never really understood internships. Work for free.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

I never really understood internships. Work for free.

C'mon. You know how it works in DC. You get a little bit of Cap. Hill experience and a lot of networking. I still keep in touch with a few of the folks I knew then and it did help me land my first real salaried job.

[island911]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

It's ironic that every single congressman's and senator's office in DC and probably most of their district offices have unpaid interns working them. I did it and it was close to 40 hrs. per week of answering phones, sorting mail and some writing. That was the official job description of a staff assistant and they made around $20k plus benefits at the time. It could be almost as hard to get an internship as a paid position there, especially if it was in a big name office.

But isn't that the same? ...I mean if the politicians are adding no productive work....

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

C'mon. You know how it works in DC. You get a little bit of Cap. Hill experience and a lot of networking. I still keep in touch with a few of the folks I knew then and it did help me land my first real salaried job.

Sure I know, but it's a crazy process, even worse than medical internships/residencies.

[Hugh R]

The day workers at HD here start at $15/hour.

[sammyg2]

Are minimum wage laws working?

No, welfare is not working.

[fintstone]

They are working if your goal is to reduce overall employment.

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

No, welfare is not working.

Originally Posted by fintstone

They are working if your goal is to reduce overall employment.

Please expand, a more thorough expansion on your position may help

[jyl]

Suppose all the $7.25/hour jobs out there suddenly paid $3.62/hour. What would happen? Would employers suddenly employ 2X as many people? If one guy was effectively busing 30 tables, why would you hire a second? Even if they wanted to, would 2X as many qualified people suddenly decide to work for 1/2X the pay? The small employers I know (friend's restaurant, etc) complain that they can't find reliable, capable people at $10 and $15.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by jyl

Suppose all the $7.25/hour jobs out there suddenly paid $3.62/hour.

How or why could that happen? If min. wage laws were abolished (will never happen), there might be some temporary adjustment. But when people quit and businesses feel the sting, wages would go right back up. The reason I made $7 per hour at Wendy's in 1988 was because they forgot to staff up at the beginning of August when all the kids' families went on vacation, pulling the kids out of work and then sending them back to school after Labor Day. They had a sudden exodus and had to fix it immediately by offering double the min. wage. That, of course, pulled workers away from other min. wage jobs to Wendy's (which I'm told was the busiest one in the country then) and forced the other places to also raise their wages to keep workers. Seemed to work pretty well.

[jyl]

So does the minimum wage have essentially no effect then?

[Rick Lee]

It's kind of hard to measure, since we don't have any alternative or way to know what wages would be without a min. wage. I'm guessing they'd end up about the same after some fluctuation. I'm sure it has a short-term very bad effect when it gets hiked up, but things settle back down after a while. Either way, I have a problem with gov't. price controls and that's what the min. wage is. If they can tell you how much labor has to cost, they can do the same with other commodities.

[Brando]

Originally Posted by jyl

So does the minimum wage have essentially no effect then?

I would then think it only affects the cost of living.

[jyl]

If these jobs would pay $7.25 with or without a minimum wage law, why does the minimum wage affect the cost of living?

Quote de jyl

So does the minimum wage have essentially no effect then?

I would then think it only affects the cost of living.

[rrental]

The minimum wage here has been raised to $10.25/hr. ($9 when serving alcohol).

Not good. It used to be $ 6 for the first 500 hours and $8 thereafter. Now I have to pay a 16 yr old yard worker $10.25......Not going to happen. I can get a more experienced worker for the same or maybe a bit more. Going to be though for the young workers.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by jyl

So does the minimum wage have essentially no effect then?

if it low enough then no effect - it only gets raised (outside or OR, WA) episodically so in most years it will be much lower than the market rate

BTW - in Oregon servers get the full min. wage (indexed for inflation & ~~ $9 now) + their tips, unlike most places

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by RWebb

BTW - in Oregon servers get the full min. wage (indexed for inflation & ~~ $9 now) + their tips, unlike most places

I think most states that allow paying tip employees below min. wage still require "subpay" if their tips don't bring the total up to what the min. wage is.

I think it's kind of a weird federalism issue that federal law says the higher wage always prevails where state and federal min. wages differ.

[markivtruck]

home depot,lowes,walmart,office depot not much better and no benifets hard to buy things with no money. most middel class jobs do not pay much people are just the working poor.