Monday, July 19, 2004
Minimum Wage Can Stand Some Maximizing
The Economic Policy Institute has a really good opinion piece by Amy Chasanov called Minimum Wage Can Stand Some Maximizing. She talks about the need to raise the minimum wage and does a fair job of cutting thru the "he said, she said" charges coming from both sides about whether and why to do that. I particularly like the way she handles this one,
What she doesn't point out there is that it is absolutely fundamental to any capitalist free market economy that an employer will pay an employee the least amount of money that it takes to get the employee to do the job productively. In entry level low skill jobs there is zero incentive for employers to pay any more than they absolutely have to. That's an inherant attribute of a capitalist economy! So, right there the "classist" argument is revealed for the psycho-babble that it is. Which once again reminds me of Ed Schultz's third rule about righties - "they think you're stupid."
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Opponents have recently argued that it's "classist" to believe that entry-level and low-wage workers cannot get a raise without a minimum wage increase.
Unfortunately, recent research shows that for some low-wage workers-particularly women, minorities, and the least-educated-the minimum wage affects not just their current earnings, but also their lifetime earnings potential. A nontrivial fraction of workers spend significant portions of their first 10 post-school, working years in jobs paying at or near minimum wage, so their current and future wages are intricately linked to the minimum wage.
What she doesn't point out there is that it is absolutely fundamental to any capitalist free market economy that an employer will pay an employee the least amount of money that it takes to get the employee to do the job productively. In entry level low skill jobs there is zero incentive for employers to pay any more than they absolutely have to. That's an inherant attribute of a capitalist economy! So, right there the "classist" argument is revealed for the psycho-babble that it is. Which once again reminds me of Ed Schultz's third rule about righties - "they think you're stupid."
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