Monday, July 06, 2009

Minimum Wage to Increase

That should help “create or save” jobs!

The federal minimum wage is set to increase later this month as the job market shows signs of further decay.

The federal minimum wage will go to $7.25 an hour on July 24 from its current level of $6.55, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The impact will be felt in 29 states, and many of them plan to match the federal minimum when it goes through.

[...]

Unemployment has increased for nine months straight, achieving a 26-year high of 9.5% in June, according to the Labor Department.

Also in June, the U.S. job market shed 467,000 jobs, compared to a loss of 322,000 jobs the month before. Altogether, the U.S. economy has lost nearly 3.4 million jobs in the first half of 2009, which is more than the 3.1 million lost during all of 2008.

Many workers have taken jobs that pay far below what they’re used to. Other people have given up looking. The number of people who have been unemployed for more than six months has reached nearly 4.4 million, meaning that benefits for some of the unemployed have expired.

John Lonski, chief economist for Moody’s Investors Service, said the hike in the minimum wage is “going against the grain” of the economy, and that the job market might not be able to absorb the mandated increase.

Perhaps we can create a federal program to reimburse troubled employers who pay the minimum wage (or a derivative thereof).

(8) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1959 hrs
Economy + Politics + Politics - General

  1. Yawn. We’ve been hearing for years about how increases in the minimum wage are going to bring down the economy. It’s never happened.

    What would really save employers money is a single-payer health care plan—every dollar a business spends on a healthcare is a dollar that can’t be paid in salary.

    Posted by Michael Mathias on July 06, 2009 at 2056 hrs


  2. Who has been saying that raising the minimum wage would “bring down the economy”?  Voices in your head?

    Posted by Owen on July 06, 2009 at 2057 hrs


  3. Yawn.  More liberal, bumper-sticker gobbly-de-gook about single-payer health care.  Got any quips about “the last eight years” or the Department of Defense having a bake sale, or perhaps how we all need to “coexist”?  The floor is yours.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 2141 hrs


  4. Oh, and as to your definitive and down-right smug answer that raising the minimum wage has never brought down the economy, perhaps not on the aggreagate, but just spend a few minutes with the average small business owner who just had to fire a few more hard-working, young people…ask them about their economy.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 06, 2009 at 2144 hrs


  5. And how well is the economy doing now days, Michael?  With th unemployment rate nearing 10% and the number who are actually out of work and who are not counted as unemployed, you are talking about a 15-20% unemployment rate.  And how is the raising of the minimum going to help these people?

    Posted by Dan on July 07, 2009 at 0348 hrs


  6. Funny thing; the original institution of the minimum wage helped prolong the great depression by inflating the price of labor at a time when it was (more than) readily available.

    I’m sure that idiot Keynes had some way of explaining it away, though, MM, so run along and try to find a reference for us so we can laugh at you further.

    Posted by Mike Gallo on July 07, 2009 at 0559 hrs


  7. It’s obvious that Michael Mathias is not a businesses owner. 

    The wage increases, the owner pays it, the owner raises the cost of his/her product or service and Michael has to buy it.  Then complains that “the man” is stickin’ to him.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 07, 2009 at 0738 hrs


  8. And to think Mathias could have been on the MKE schoolboard!

    Posted by The Asian Badger on July 07, 2009 at 0859 hrs


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