Watch, there will be a loss of jobs and higher prices. Can you say Self Service Kiosk?
New York state approves $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers
NEW YORK – New York state will gradually raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour — the first time any state has set the minimum that high.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/...cmp=hplnws
I look forward to the thread next year of a terrible restaurant closing that blames it on this
Quote:I look forward to the thread next year of a terrible restaurant closing that blames it on this
Or the move to automation that was already in progress yet somehow this is responsible for.
Or the artificial inflation that paying entry-level fast food workers $15/hour creates?
Oh, wait, that's actually going to happen.
Quote:Or the artificial inflation that paying entry-level fast food workers $15/hour creates?
Oh, wait, that's actually going to happen.
Better to keep em all on welfare.
Yes.. Lets continue to give employees who have to use very little skill, more money..
"I wanna grow up to flip hamburgers"..
We're one step closer to voting in Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho as President.. Congratulations America!!
Quote:Better to keep em all on welfare.
If there is any market in the country where one could justify paying fast food workers a living wage, NYC is it (although $15/hr is about 1/5th of a living wage in Manhattan). Speaking from experience, fast food restaurants up there aren't typically staffed by kids. One could also argue that working in an airport location should pay a premium, because, again, typically no kids.
Where my problem exists is the idea that 16-year-olds should be making $30,000 a year to flip burgers and gain the most basic entry-level experience available in the professional world. If someone is 30 years old and making $8/hr. at a fast food joint, they're doing it wrong. Instead of artificially increasing wages, why not give them access to government career counselors who can help them make use of the skills they have? Surely a 30-year-old who doesn't have a history littered in unemployment and imprisonment has
some marketable skill that will net them $15/hour (at least...I was making $18/hr right out of college) by placing them a step or two up the food chain rather than boosting wages for minimum-wage, minimum-skill jobs and artificially deflating the worth of a dollar for everyone else.
As someone currently looking for a new job, I'll say that it's not so easy to just go out there and find a job you have the skills for. It's easy to say "If you're 30 and flipping hamburgers you're doing it wrong", but the fact is that people have bills to pay, and they can't just pass up a job to wait for the next one. Food has to be put on the table and rent has to be paid.
Honestly 16 year olds shouldn't be working 40 hours a week in the first place. And any money they make can be put toward college. I wish I was able to afford finishing college. Instead I ended up with an associates degree that's pretty much worthless because I chose to stay at my current job for as long as I have (the pay was better than what others offered, so I stayed).
Quote:If there is any market in the country where one could justify paying fast food workers a living wage, NYC is it (although $15/hr is about 1/5th of a living wage in Manhattan). Speaking from experience, fast food restaurants up there aren't typically staffed by kids. One could also argue that working in an airport location should pay a premium, because, again, typically no kids.
Where my problem exists is the idea that 16-year-olds should be making $30,000 a year to flip burgers and gain the most basic entry-level experience available in the professional world. If someone is 30 years old and making $8/hr. at a fast food joint, they're doing it wrong. Instead of artificially increasing wages, why not give them access to government career counselors who can help them make use of the skills they have? Surely a 30-year-old who doesn't have a history littered in unemployment and imprisonment has some marketable skill that will net them $15/hour (at least...I was making $18/hr right out of college) by placing them a step or two up the food chain rather than boosting wages for minimum-wage, minimum-skill jobs and artificially deflating the worth of a dollar for everyone else.
I'm all for any real discussion about how to fix the problem. And the problem is obvious. There are not enough good jobs for people that want them leaving people with families to scrounge for work at these types of places. Maybe it's higher wages maybe its subsidized training but neither fixes the problem of the number of people wanting good jobs far outweighing the availability of these jobs.
When you have people spewing demagoguery as if these people are parasites (you all know who you are) it does not help the conversation. Nor do I think making it about kids making 30 grand adds much to it either. Finding a way for adults with the desire to work to support families is what I am concerned with and what I would like to see addressed.
I do think a national MW hike is a poor idea given the COL of various places as you alluded to in your comment about NYC being able to afford the $15. It's one of the few liberal stances I don't agree with.
The trickle down effect of this massive wage increase is huge. If you think Manhattan rents are expensive now, just wait until MCD in Times Sq is paying 15/hr........*
Quote:If there is any market in the country where one could justify paying fast food workers a living wage, NYC is it (although $15/hr is about 1/5th of a living wage in Manhattan).
This.
If this has an effect that causes other businesses to pay people a living wage I'm all for it. I don't really care how people make there money I do believe you should make more money with skills than without them. As far as saying flipping burgers in NYC is an easy job i'm not sure that is the case anytime I have ever been to any of those stores in the cities it was absolutely slammed at all hours.
This country needs more options on how to develop skills and do meaningful work. College is not getting the job done in that aspect. Trade schools probably need to be more regulated to keep the high cost down
We need to get back to having a large skilled work force instead of a bunch of scheming worker bees looking for a handout.
Quote:This.
If this has an effect that causes other businesses to pay people a living wage I'm all for it. I don't really care how people make there money I do believe you should make more money with skills than without them. As far as saying flipping burgers in NYC is an easy job i'm not sure that is the case anytime I have ever been to any of those stores in the cities it was absolutely slammed at all hours.
This country needs more options on how to develop skills and do meaningful work. College is not getting the job done in that aspect. Trade schools probably need to be more regulated to keep the high cost down
We need to get back to having a large skilled work force instead of a bunch of scheming worker bees looking for a handout.
It's not that flipping burgers isn't hard work, it's that there's no shortage of people capable of doing it because the skills required are minimal.
And having a large skilled workforce is pointless when there's no skilled workers needed.
Quote:
And having a large skilled workforce is pointless when there's no skilled workers needed.
Which goes to the other problem of so many manufacturing jobs going oversees. There is always a place for skilled workers in my opinion
Quote:Which goes to the other problem of so many manufacturing jobs going oversees. There is always a place for skilled workers in my opinion
Maybe, but the place for them ends up being the unemployment office.
Quote:Which goes to the other problem of so many manufacturing jobs going oversees. There is always a place for skilled workers in my opinion
Hmmm... If only there were ways to stimulate and encourage business growth domestically.
Quote:It's not that flipping burgers isn't hard work, it's that there's no shortage of people capable of doing it because the skills required are minimal.
I agree with you in every single market outside of NYC. If you've ever been to Manhattan, particularly lower Manhattan, you know that there just aren't any kids around to man the McD's counters. I'm not sure how to say this next part without sounding like I'm stereotyping, so I'll tread lightly: in a lot of places, you can tell that the adults flipping burgers are there for a reason. That assertion has nothing to do with skin color or perceived economic status. It has everything to do with adult males looking like they haven't shaved in days (but are not in the process of growing a beard), members of both sexes wearing wrinkled, stained clothes, not showing any sense of urgency, etc., and just generally being outclassed and outperformed by the high school kids who are clean, clean-shaven, wearing ironed shirts and hustling between stations to get stuff done. That's not always the case, and there are certainly high-school slobs and adults on a mission behind the counter, but I see it more often than you might think.
That's not been my experience in Manhattan at all, particularly lower Manhattan, where stores are staffed almost exclusively by adults, and those adults are on top of their game 100% of the time. $15/hr. is hardly a living wage in Manhattan (or any NYC borough), but if there's any market in the country where the staff is composed of demographics that should be making considerably more--and not just in fast food--NYC is it.
Quote:Maybe, but the place for them ends up being the unemployment office.
Maybe instead of minimum wage increases, we should be talking about expanding corporate development and training programs, bringing trade school tuitions down to funnel more people through them and introducing tax penalties for companies that ship more than a certain percentage of their jobs out of the country. Honest question: would you support a program like that?
Quote:I agree with you in every single market outside of NYC. If you've ever been to Manhattan, particularly lower Manhattan, you know that there just aren't any kids around to man the McD's counters. I'm not sure how to say this next part without sounding like I'm stereotyping, so I'll tread lightly: in a lot of places, you can tell that the adults flipping burgers are there for a reason. That assertion has nothing to do with skin color or perceived economic status. It has everything to do with adult males looking like they haven't shaved in days (but are not in the process of growing a beard), members of both sexes wearing wrinkled, stained clothes, not showing any sense of urgency, etc., and just generally being outclassed and outperformed by the high school kids who are clean, clean-shaven, wearing ironed shirts and hustling between stations to get stuff done. That's not always the case, and there are certainly high-school slobs and adults on a mission behind the counter, but I see it more often than you might think.
That's not been my experience in Manhattan at all, particularly lower Manhattan, where stores are staffed almost exclusively by adults, and those adults are on top of their game 100% of the time. $15/hr. is hardly a living wage in Manhattan (or any NYC borough), but if there's any market in the country where the staff is composed of demographics that should be making considerably more--and not just in fast food--NYC is it.
Maybe instead of minimum wage increases, we should be talking about expanding corporate development and training programs, bringing trade school tuitions down to funnel more people through them and introducing tax penalties for companies that ship more than a certain percentage of their jobs out of the country. Honest question: would you support a program like that?
I agree with everything that you said. Some people in life are just born to man the counter at a McDonald's or fast-food joint. That has nothing to do with politics, but a lot to do with how they are raised.
Quote:Hmmm... If only there were ways to stimulate and encourage business growth domestically.
Why in the world would they want to do that?