Do you think the minimum wage should be higher?

Raising the minimum wage drives inflation and eventually reduces the buying power of those at the bottom of the income scale. Also, in that time period between increasing the minimum wage and inflation catching up, jobs are lost. Employers have 3 choices in response to minimum wage increases, make less, charge more or reduce the workforce by consolidation and outsourcing. People don't go through the work and risk of getting a business started to make less money, so price increases and job loss are it.

But not like $10 an hour. That is a bit extreme. But $8.50 wouldn't be too bad. It would give everyone a needed boost and wouldn't break the bank.

But, everyone should get a bump the same percentage points.

I needs to be now.....

Minimum wage should be eliminated. It helps no one and hurts many.

Every time minimum wage goes up, prices do too.

rubbish.....prices go up anyway.....these companys (large ones) are making a fortune out of paying the absolute minmum to people right now. if you do away with the minimum wage people will be paid less and less and with no protection against unfair dismissal. here in uk they are talking about making it EASIER to sack someone.....so a worker earns a reasonable wage because they are long serving and work well, the company bosses want him/her out so they can hire "temp" staff on a pittance to do the same work but without any holiday pay, sick pay, maternity rights promotion prospects....cheap labour..is that what you want? you never know...YOU may be a victim one day......

Minimum wage is meant to be a starter wage, only teenagers and people who are just starting working should be getting minimum wage. There aren't jobs you are supposed to hold your entire life. I know, it's very difficult to live off of minimum wage but it isn't meant to be a living wage, it's meant to be a starter wage. If you go to college and get a good education, you will get paid a lot more money in your life. On average, college graduates make about $1 million more then high school graduates in their lifetime. I think minimum wage is fine with the way it is though. It's $8.80 here in Oregon, we have the 2nd highest minimum wage in the USA. Every time it goes up though, prices do too. The last time, it went up was on Jan. 1st, it was $8.50 but it increased to $8.80 and the prices went up a little bit also.

ahhh but you see it does not work like that...i know. i am retired now but when i was at work a lot of workers were made redundant as their jobs were supposed to be finished but what happened was they mad a very minor alteration in the task and called it another name to get around the law and employed "temps" on pittance wages. those expierenced loyal people who never had a day off sick and had the best interest of the company at heart wre just thrown out of work without a seconds thought on how it would destroy their and their family's lives. open your eyes man....the minmum wage is there to protect workers from unscroupolous bosses. it is not a starting wage....a young person will get that wage at 18 over here and still be on it at 25 even if they are brilliant at their job. give a boss a chance and he will shaft his workers, only in very rare cases will this not happen.

If an employer is forced to pay a high wage, they must charge a high price. Inflation. It really is that simple.

It's almost never one for one though. So minimum wage workers do see a rise in income. It's just somewhere in between zero and the full amount. However it does tend to contribute to unemployment and inflation.

really? so you are ok if a company pays somebody a pittiance then? and get them to work all the hours? no....it is protection for the worker who has little enough as it is.......

Minimum wage laws kill jobs and hurt opportunities for inexperienced and unskilled workers to develop basic work habits that will help them in the future and to even possibly learn on the job and move up from within.

raising min wage does what to help?

YES THEY SHOULD BE

tell us how how much min wage should be, and why you think that helps anyone

I think that the government should keep their noses out of business. Let the market decide wages.

Minimum wage is meant to be a starter wage, so you learn and go on to better things

agreed.....but it is used by greedy company's to keep wages down. as long as they pay the minimum or just above it for some then they are within the law, also, agencies usually only pay the minimum so large company's employ "temps" from these agencies and pay the agencey they domnt pay NHI, tax or redundancy or holiday pay in fact a "temp" has almost no rights and now they are talking about making iit EVEN easier for company's to sack people....a joke!

This question again? There should be NO minimum wage. There is a "natural" minimum wage for every job out there.

soooooo, you cousins have a minimum wage as well?
i cant speak in $ of course but the minmum wage here really is a minimum. i earnt £13 an hour some 22 years ago and there was no minimum wage then but a low wage then was around £4/5 an hour. today the minimum wage here is....just £7 an hour. i think a point is missed by goverments who use austerity as a way to pay off debts.
if people only have enough money to scrape by on and nothing left over to buy "luxury" goods or have a holiday or buy spontaneously then the manufacturers need to make less...need less workers....the shops take less money....fail or lose workers....more people on the dole.....more benefits paid out less tax collected more poverty more crime more dissafection more riots more illness due to cheap food and people dying from cold in the winter because they cant afford to heat their homes....more housing benifit paid to those who cant pay thier rent and on and on. only the well off prosper in these conditi0ns as things are cheaper and they can afford to buy...the gap between rich and poor gets ever bigger....i forsee trouble ahead......

It should be a living wage

There are more efficient ways to raise the standard of living of the poor without increasing the minimum wage(which generally has a negative impact on economic growth). So I would much rather expand the EITC or convert our tax code into a negative income tax(an idea that has been supported by many of the most renowned economists and all points of the political spectrum).

Yes, because its the consumer that moves the economy not corporations.

So what should the minimum wage be $30? $40 $300 and hour ?
Why did you pick that number as a limit?

First of all, I didn't pick a number. But, since you have, $300 an hour sounds good. That will get things moving again.

That merely creates $15,000 dollar loaves of bread. Nothing changes

No Subway $5 Footlongs In SF, 'Cost of Doing Business' Too High
Apparently, the city's new minimum wage, raised to $10.24 as of Jan. 1, make $5 footlongs an impossible business model.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/new...

You need to read the article more carefully. They still offer $5.00 subs as a monthly special. The only difference is choice in main ingredient. Good for the city to raise the minimum wage, now those people can go buy a regular sub or a $5 flavor of the month.

True,the more one makes the more they can spend.If the minumum wage is low the economy stagnates,as it is now doing.So increase the minumum wage and the flow of money ,as in spending,will happen.

Thank you, for your common sense. It's rare around here.

What you're stating makes no sense at all!!

Higher wages equal higher production costs equal higher prices equal less spending power equal people complaining the minimum wage should be raised, again. The only way to prevent the resulting inflation from completely consuming the increase in wages is for employers to reduce their workforce (move jobs overseas to cheaper labor sources or consolidate jobs in their current location) or to reduce their profit margin. Now, before you rant about greedy corporations only caring about profits, what are they supposed to do if there is no profit? Why risk money in a business when it would be more profitable to keep in in a money management account?

with every increase in base pay other prices go up in conjunction. Instead of trying to reach an elusive goal such as standard of living, why doesn't the standard of living come down to the base pay.

The standard of living reflects the base Pay . The ratio remains the same always .
As in if someone now works a 1/2 hour to earn a loaf of Bread .
Paying them twice as much simply results in bread that costs twice as much.

oh don't i know it. right after I received a well earned raise in my pay, from my employer, not the state, minimum wage went up. So now I only make about .15 cents more than a new hire and I have more responsibility and accountability than they do.
It's damned annoying.

Every time the minimum wage goes up those of us who put in years to attain a higher wage get squeezed out again. We don't get more money to make up for it. We end up paying higher prices for everything and then our experience and education mean nothing. Why did I bother taking all those job specific classes? Why do I bother continueing to work?

Instead, why doesn't our U. S. Department of Education make minimum Brains, LARGER!?

It should be $10 per hour and no less than that. Other western countries have minimum wages at least that high or higher and their economies are doing fine,even in these times.
In fact $15 per hour would be more resonable,then they could at least put money back into the system for they could now buy things they cannot buy because of rediculous low wages.Any intelligent economist knows that a higher minumum wage stimulates the economy.

Yeah, Europe is doing just great! #sarcasm

It is more to do with the world economy,not higher minimum wage.Do you really expect one could live on less than $15 per hour,I doubt it.