Wages Rising Sharply for Young and Lower-Income Workers

[Frodo]

Thanks, Obama!

Pay is rising sharply for young, low-wage workers

Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
12:56 p.m. EST November 16, 2014

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[AggregateDemand]

Great. Now we just need to add another 10M wage jobs so people can work themselves into the middle class, rather than borrowing.

[DC Al Fine]

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So maybe, the problem isn't that we're creating too many low wage jobs, it's just that we need to create so many low-wage jobs that unemployment is eventually lowered significantly enough to create wage competition in the low-wage sector, and thus raise their wages using this free-market competition and negating the need for minimum wage increases! It's so insane it may just actually work!

My Aunt & Uncle just started providing health insurance at their janitorial company because they had trouble keeping decent employees. Granted its Canada, so the health insurance is basically for prescriptions and dental, but its nice to see the poor getting a bump.

[TDAS04]

Excellent news. 

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Typical liberal to thank Obama rather than the organizing efforts of a private sector labor movement which is showing signs of life it hasn't shown in years.

[Flake]

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

It's the Obama BOOM! in full effect. 



Bless you, you handsome devil.

[Citizen Hats]

Typical liberal to thank Obama rather than the organizing efforts of a private sector labor movement which is showing signs of life it hasn't shown in years.

oo what did they do? bump unionization rates from 7% to 7.1%?

[Replicator]

Nothing like being dependent on socialist liberal democrats for higher pay. Do you know what I do when I feel I deserve more money? I go to my supervisor and explain to them my qualities brought to the company and how a income actually benefits production. Why can't democrats ever do anything for themselves. Well guess what...

Now we get to raise prices so we'll be right back where we started. All that will happen in the long run is a decline in the value of a dollar which is un-American. Are you going to thank Obama for being able to eat next? Where does the dependence stop? So un-American. Join the oil industry and you'll see how higher wages are supposed to come about.

[Ebowed]

Nothing like being dependent on socialist liberal democrats for higher pay. Do you know what I do when I feel I deserve more money? I go to my supervisor and explain to them my qualities brought to the company and how a income actually benefits production. Why can't democrats ever do anything for themselves. Well guess what...

Now we get to raise prices so we'll be right back where we started. All that will happen in the long run is a decline in the value of a dollar which is un-American. Are you going to thank Obama for being able to eat next? Where does the dependence stop? So un-American. Join the oil industry and you'll see how higher wages are supposed to come about.

Some people risk getting fired for demanding more pay, and others won't face that but still will never see an increase, so when laws get changed regarding matters of income and provisions of employment, it stands to benefit a great number of people who are otherwise helpless, especially those working for small businesses.

When did you start working in the oil industry?

[Vosem]

Typical liberal to thank Obama rather than the organizing efforts of a private sector labor movement which is showing signs of life it hasn't shown in years.

I didn't notice any signs of rigor mortis, though to be fair it's easy to miss if you're trying to look away from the corpse and not smell it.

[Badger]

This is good news for the recovery.

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The minimum wage does not impact that many workers. The shrinking labor pool (young workers being shunted into low paying jobs and filling them up) may be more the reason why this might be happening. The minimum wage does not impact that many people - the Labor Department consistently estimates the number impacted as 5%, half of them young earners. (That might have changed in recent years, but I don't think so).

I would be interested to see if the over $50,000 start receiving better raises. Their raises were considered average, according to the article. So I'd like to see economic data over the next year and see if the labor market is shrinking there too, thus leading to higher wage growth. (The $50,000+ are also the swing voters).

First off, 5% of the workforce is a huge number to impact with higher wages to pump into the economy, even if it is the lowest paid sector of the workforce.

Second, an increase in the minimum wage creates some trickle effect for increased wages above the minimum wage. E.G. the business owner paying a buck an hour more than minimum wage to lure slightly more skilled or reliable workers away from Wal-Mart willneed to catch up somewhat when the minimum wage is raised.