How minimum wage works.

[Plane]

   What percent are paid the minimum wage now?

    If there were no minimum why would there ba a higher percentage paid that much?

     Supposing there were about half of the unemployed given jobs that paid less, that would be something like 3% , and it would all be new money , money that no one is making now.

     Money that no one is making now , no one is spending now.

      There is a fraction of us that can be called "working poor"  this would not change , but having no minimum wage would only make this fraction grow by taking from the fraction of us that is unemployed.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I really doubt that it would result in more money in the economy. People with crappy, ill paid jobs tend to not stay in them. As they left their minimum wage jobs, many would end up with sub minimum wage jobs. The total cash in circulation would be unaffected.

No one is going to abolish the minimum wage, This is a stupid argument. We might as well discuss how the Air Force would change if they managed to get airmen to grow functional wings.

[Plane]

    We have never had any success recruiting angels into the Air Force.

      But we lived without a minimum wage for a long time , even now some quite advanced nations do not bother with them.

    It has been my experience that it is easier to get a new job , when you already have a job. Once I had three jobs in a month , each one a raise.

      Isn't the point of leaving a crappy job , landing a better one?

       Busy businesses , that are competing with each other for labor are a good situation for workers, when it is like that nobody needs to worry about minimum wage.

[sirs]

       Busy businesses , that are competing with each other for labor are a good situation for workers, when it is like that nobody needs to worry about minimum wage.

BINGO!!  Arbitrarily hiking wages doesn't defacto spur purchasing power, since more businesses hire less, contributing to higher unemployment, and less people abble to purchase things.  The key has always been to increase employment.  THAT's what will seriously stimulate spending.  Hiking minimum wages is like throwing a wet blanket over any ptential increase in employment #'s

[Xavier_Onassis]

There is no evidence that this is the case. The minimum wage has been raised many, many times. Always the same lame arguments, always the absence of proof.

[Plane]

And the predicted unemployment and inflation have not occurred?

[Xavier_Onassis]

No, I do not think that anyone has demonstrated that.
A few people lose their jobs, of course, but a few find the higher wages to be an incentive to get a job or to seek another job.
Inflation does not seem to be affected. There is certainly no direct link.

[Plane]

  You have not read much of the experience Israel had with indexing savings and earnings to inflation.

    Oh yes , it has been demonstrated. Inflation can be had if you want some.

   If we did not have pretty severe resistance which prevents frequent raises in the minimum wage , we too could have 400% inflation.

     Money is like sands in your hand, if you are holding a double handful of sand I can hand you any amount more sand but you will not be holding any more, unless you can grow your hands bigger.

      People get paid what they are worth, it is automatic. If you pay them too little they are seeking another job , if you pay more than a few of them more than they are worth, the money you are paying them with shrinks in value.

       The minimum wage causes churn and unemployment and is inflationary , the only controversy is the uncertainty of whether it is ever any good.

[sirs]

Bingo!!

[Xavier_Onassis]

Australia has a minimum wage of $16 per hour.

Australia has little inflation.

Israel is a very puny nation and depends heavily on money tit begs from the US, Canada, the UK and Jews everywhere. It has the least typical economy of any country you might mention.

[Plane]

Australia has a minimum wage of $16 per hour.

A good point.

1 Australian Dollar equals
0.90 US Dollar
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=australian+dollar+to+us
So their equivalent minimum wage today is 16 x 90% =$ 14.40
Not too bad yet , but they do have greater inflation than we do , so check in a month or two to see how this holds up.
Looks as though there is a lot of push for the Aussies to make their Dollar even cheaper for American Dollars to buy. This is an advantage to exporters , but is practically a pay cut for Australian citizens who would like to buy some American stuff.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/in-the-black/charmed-run-of-aussie-dollar-likely-to-end/story-fni0d787-1227058214395?nk=fe08fde2f4722d7dbab7744fb507d9e7

    So one way to view a national minimum wage is as a part of a race to the bottom.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Australians do not buy much American stuff.
One can support oneself on the Australian minimum wage.
Australia has zero Republican'ts.

[Plane]

  Australians buy American aircraft .

    The main thing I care about.

      There are Australian aircraft makers , but none are making large aircraft nor modern military aircraft.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Airplanes, especially large ones are not a major import of Australia, even if you care about them. The average Australian making $16 a year does not purchase aircraft, certainly not military or commercial aircraft.

Australians believe in fair dinkum for everyone as a national goal. Equality is valued in Australia. Everyone should get paid enough to live a decent life, and there are far less poor people as a percentage of the Aussie population than there are in the US.

[Plane]

  How many Quantas employees make minimum wage?

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/home/us/en/?rgn_cam=us:qf:sem:Qantas+Only+%7C+Misspellings+E-_GOOGLE_quantas

And their real choice is Airbus.


Airbus A330  -26
Airbus A380  -12

Boeing 717    -18
Boeing 737    -70
Boeing 747    -13
Boeing  767   -9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qantas#Current


That is actually a respectable number of aircraft.



https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2129.html

Unemployment  - Australia   5.7% (2013 est.)
5.2% (2012 est.)


Hmmm... not bad.

 By 2012, Australia had experienced more than 20 years of continued economic growth, averaging 3.5% a year.

Hmmmmm.....


GDP - per capita (PPP):

$43,000 (2013 est.)
country comparison to the world: 21
$42,500 (2012 est.)
$41,700 (2011 est.)
note: data are in 2013 US dollars


Hey!


Population below poverty line:

NA%


What? poverty Not Applicable?
This requires further exploration.

But clearly the CIA agrees with XO , whoda thunkit?