Walmart Giving All Employees a Raise to $10/Hour

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I like the self checkout machines. The lines are usually shorter and I'm spared the awkward small talk. It doesn't work well with a whole cart full of groceries though.

Exactly.  If I have only a few items, they're good, but if I have many they're not.

[Holmes]

Ew, why are you engaging in small talk with the cashier? Or anyone ever, for that matter? Don't talk to people.

[King]

You all have to excuse AggregateDemand, guys. He was abandoned as a child and raised by a self-checkout machine. The subject of their uselessness leaves him slightly more defensive and less unemotional than usual. Luckily, an associate has been notified to assist us.

[memphis]

Ew, why are you engaging in small talk with the cashier? Or anyone ever, for that matter? Don't talk to people.

Yeah, next time the cashier asks me how I'm doing, or remarks about the weather or whatever, I'll just ignore her and stare at my shoes. That won't be awkward at all.

[Modernity has failed us]

Ew, why are you engaging in small talk with the cashier? Or anyone ever, for that matter? Don't talk to people.

Yeah, next time the cashier asks me how I'm doing, or remarks about the weather or whatever, I'll just ignore her and stare at my shoes. That won't be awkward at all.

Seriously, I work as a cashier in a grocery store and the #1 thing that makes my job unbearable is the people who want to have conversations with me while I'm scanning their groceries. It's weird and unnecessary. I ask "how are you doing?" and that's about it until the end of the transaction when I need to ask "credit or debit?" when applicable.

[AggregateDemand]

You all have to excuse AggregateDemand, guys. He was abandoned as a child and raised by a self-checkout machine. The subject of their uselessness leaves him slightly more defensive and less unemotional than usual. Luckily, an associate has been notified to assist us.

I find it tragic and inexcusable that certain political operators are so inept, they'd jeopardize access to employment. Maybe it's a joke to you, but it's not a joke to me.

Work was not hard to find, when I was a teenager. Work wasn't my favorite pastime, but it gave me money to get out of the house, buy things, and save a bit for school. Labor force participation for teens is down 30% since then. Meanwhile, labor force participation for the olds has doubled, thanks to lavish income subsidies and healthcare hand outs. The CBO has been whining for Social Security and Medicare reform during the entire debauched socioeconomic shift, but the clowns in Washington just crack more jokes about Boomerang kids.

Now people have to worry about being replaced by robots, as if offshoring wasn't enough to worry about. Maybe this is a joke to you, watching the US fall to pieces and borrow money from people who can't even vote yet. I don't find it amusing.

[King]

Work is not hard to find right now. Anyone can get the job you're talking about right now.  Teens don't want to work and a lot of their parents don't want them to. There is so much more pressure on college acceptance for today's youth that many are told to focus on academics and extra curricular than working.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Work is not hard to find right now.

If work was hard for people to find, this thread wouldn't exist because Walmart wouldn't have raised wages to $10 per hour.

Even Bushie just found a $10 per hour job, I mean come on

[memphis]

Work is not hard to find right now.

If work was hard for people to find, this thread wouldn't exist because Walmart wouldn't have raised wages to $10 per hour.

Even Bushie just found a $10 per hour job, I mean come on

This is all true, but work, at a living wage, remains very hard to find for those without very specific professional skills and licenses. It's one thing to be employed. It's something very different to be able to pay the rent and have enough money left over to pay all the rest of the bills.

[King]

This is all true, but work, at a living wage, remains very hard to find for those without very specific professional skills and licenses. It's one thing to be employed. It's something very different to be able to pay the rent and have enough money left over to pay all the rest of the bills.

Yeah, we know that, but AD is clutching his pearls at the idea that poor innocent teenagers want to work for $5/hr but because of the minimum wage of $7.25 they are unable to find these jobs. This is not true.

[Mechaman]

I think that the main takeaway from Mechaman's comment is the need for regional variation of minimum wages based on the local economy and cost of living. I'm hardly Mr. States' Rights, but I think the idea that it takes quite a bit more money to live in a big coastal city than it does to live in West Virginia or South Dakota is hardly controversial, and I don't see why minimum wage laws shouldn't take cost of living into account.

Yes mostly this.

Obviously, I don't support anything lower than $10/hr.  I mean I am a pretty left wing poster, but I do have an Accounting degree and I took several Economics courses.  There are some realities that we have to take into account on issues like this.

Really, we need to do more to combat the Cost of Living.  A $15/hr minimum wage won't mean much if the average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $1500/month (along with the observations of how cheaper it is to live in the South, I do not believe a $15/hr job is enough to live in some areas.  Hell, Seattle probably shoudl've gone with $17/hr).  I would support what was suggested in DC Al Fine's post about instituting a "Guaranteed Wage" by the government if necessary.  However, I do believe that there are things we can do to combat rising rent costs and the insane high cost of living in more urban areas.

I do not subscribe to ficon ideology, but that is one of the observations they have on society that I agree with.  There is something to be said about battling against runaway costs, the big debate is how we will do it.

-Mecha

[AggregateDemand]

Yeah, we know that, but AD is clutching his pearls at the idea that poor innocent teenagers want to work for $5/hr but because of the minimum wage of $7.25 they are unable to find these jobs. This is not true.

You think irrationality is synonymous with lack of omniscience.

Furthermore, work is difficult to find, though, such declarations should be obviated by sagging wages, high unemployment for the under-24 demo, and falling labor force participation rate.

You've offered nothing other than an incorrect opinion from the outset.

[DC Al Fine]

I think that the main takeaway from Mechaman's comment is the need for regional variation of minimum wages based on the local economy and cost of living. I'm hardly Mr. States' Rights, but I think the idea that it takes quite a bit more money to live in a big coastal city than it does to live in West Virginia or South Dakota is hardly controversial, and I don't see why minimum wage laws shouldn't take cost of living into account.

Yes mostly this.

Obviously, I don't support anything lower than $10/hr.  I mean I am a pretty left wing poster, but I do have an Accounting degree and I took several Economics courses.  There are some realities that we have to take into account on issues like this.

Really, we need to do more to combat the Cost of Living.  A $15/hr minimum wage won't mean much if the average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $1500/month (along with the observations of how cheaper it is to live in the South, I do not believe a $15/hr job is enough to live in some areas.  Hell, Seattle probably shoudl've gone with $17/hr).  I would support what was suggested in DC Al Fine's post about instituting a "Guaranteed Wage" by the government if necessary.  However, I do believe that there are things we can do to combat rising rent costs and the insane high cost of living in more urban areas.

I do not subscribe to ficon ideology, but that is one of the observations they have on society that I agree with.  There is something to be said about battling against runaway costs, the big debate is how we will do it.

-Mecha

Out of curiosity Mecha, what sort of standard of living do you think the minimum wage/guaranteed income should provide?

[King]

Furthermore, work is difficult to find, though, such declarations should be obviated by sagging wages, high unemployment for the under-24 demo, and falling labor force participation rate.

So I just tell the fast food place by my work that has had a NOW HIRING sign up for months now on the side of their building that the problem is not that nobody wants to work there but that their jobs really don't exist because a guy on an internet says the data doesn't show they do.

[Famous Mortimer]

I'm always amused to see the right insist they prefer Welfare over Working as the cure for poverty.

Refunding the inhumane taxes you impose on your slave workers is not Welfare. Even if the refund were larger than the tax liability, to relieve the imputed taxes on the goods and services they purchase, it still wouldn't be Welfare.

Welfare is teaching people to rely on the government by punishing them for aspiring to independence. Democrats have never stopped using this form of social control. Setting people free is difficult and unrealistic, and it upsets your economic ambitions.

We get it.

Why is "dependence" bad and "independence" good? "Independence leads to the very concrete problems of poverty and death. "Dependence" is only offensive on an esoteric/philosophical level.

[AggregateDemand]

So I just tell the fast food place by my work that has had a NOW HIRING sign up for months now on the side of their building that the problem is not that nobody wants to work there but that their jobs really don't exist because a guy on an internet says the data doesn't show they do.

First of all, now hiring just means they are willing to replace someone who lacks the credentials they prefer.

Second, if no one wants to work there, and they aren't raising wages, or they require a decade of economic planning before raising wages (like Walmart), they obviously believe there are plenty of people who are searching for work.

As I said before, these anecdotes are pointless. We have piles of macro data that all indicate declining employment opportunity and slumping earning power for the lower middle class.

[Famous Mortimer]

So I just tell the fast food place by my work that has had a NOW HIRING sign up for months now on the side of their building that the problem is not that nobody wants to work there but that their jobs really don't exist because a guy on an internet says the data doesn't show they do.

First of all, now hiring just means they are willing to replace someone who lacks the credentials they prefer.

No. This is ridiculous. No one does this. If you let an employee go, you have to pay into their unemployment benefits. No company hires people intending to let them go and replace them. That's craziness. It just doesn't happen.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

So I just tell the fast food place by my work that has had a NOW HIRING sign up for months now on the side of their building that the problem is not that nobody wants to work there but that their jobs really don't exist because a guy on an internet says the data doesn't show they do.

First of all, now hiring just means they are willing to replace someone who lacks the credentials they prefer.

No. This is ridiculous. No one does this. If you let an employee go, you have to pay into their unemployment benefits. No company hires people intending to let them go and replace them. That's craziness. It just doesn't happen.

"Hey Steve.

"Listen, you've been a valued member of this team over the last 6 months. We appreciate all the work you've been putting in to crisp up these french fries. Solid effort. You have a great salting technique, too.

"Unfortunately, though, we just got an application in from someone with a PhD in Fryology. You knew when you were hired that we were ideally looking for someone with, you know, better qualifications. Sorry Steve, but you know, this is just how the real world works. Minimum wage jobs are all about credentials. You'd know that if you spent any time reading commentary on Internet message boards."

[King]

AggregateDemand existing is an interesting social experiment. His thought process appears to be of someone who completely skipped K-12 school, and all the experiences that comes with it, skipped undergraduate work, and just straight up earned a Masters in Finance. He his knowledge tree begins and ends at the borders of an economics textbook.

[memphis]

High rates of turnover do not imply that work - even the worst sort of work - is easy to find.

To the contrary, high turnover does imply that work is easy to find. When lots of people leave their jobs, employers need to find somebody else to cover those shifts. Fast food and retailers have enormous turnover and, so, are just about always hiring lots of people. That constant churn makes these jobs very easy to get.

[Mechaman]

I think that the main takeaway from Mechaman's comment is the need for regional variation of minimum wages based on the local economy and cost of living. I'm hardly Mr. States' Rights, but I think the idea that it takes quite a bit more money to live in a big coastal city than it does to live in West Virginia or South Dakota is hardly controversial, and I don't see why minimum wage laws shouldn't take cost of living into account.

Yes mostly this.

Obviously, I don't support anything lower than $10/hr.  I mean I am a pretty left wing poster, but I do have an Accounting degree and I took several Economics courses.  There are some realities that we have to take into account on issues like this.

Really, we need to do more to combat the Cost of Living.  A $15/hr minimum wage won't mean much if the average rent for a one bedroom apartment is $1500/month (along with the observations of how cheaper it is to live in the South, I do not believe a $15/hr job is enough to live in some areas.  Hell, Seattle probably shoudl've gone with $17/hr).  I would support what was suggested in DC Al Fine's post about instituting a "Guaranteed Wage" by the government if necessary.  However, I do believe that there are things we can do to combat rising rent costs and the insane high cost of living in more urban areas.

I do not subscribe to ficon ideology, but that is one of the observations they have on society that I agree with.  There is something to be said about battling against runaway costs, the big debate is how we will do it.

-Mecha

Out of curiosity Mecha, what sort of standard of living do you think the minimum wage/guaranteed income should provide?

I was thinking enough to provide for the occupant and any of their household members.  At the very least, enough government income to cover the rent and basic groceries, depending on the cost of living in that area.  If there is a dire need they can get coverage for utilities, but basically enough money to cover the basic necessities (food, water, shelter, yada yada).

[AggregateDemand]

AggregateDemand existing is an interesting social experiment. His thought process appears to be of someone who completely skipped K-12 school, and all the experiences that comes with it, skipped undergraduate work, and just straight up earned a Masters in Finance. He his knowledge tree begins and ends at the borders of an economics textbook.

What's not amusing about the situation is that I'm the one who works in the industry, maintains my own business, and has academic/professional credentials to my name.

I didn't skip K-12. It seems I'm one of the few people who learned something after 12th grade.

[King]

AggregateDemand existing is an interesting social experiment. His thought process appears to be of someone who completely skipped K-12 school, and all the experiences that comes with it, skipped undergraduate work, and just straight up earned a Masters in Finance. He his knowledge tree begins and ends at the borders of an economics textbook.

What's not amusing about the situation is that I'm the one who works in the industry, maintains my own business, and has academic/professional credentials to my name.

I didn't skip K-12. It seems I'm one of the few people who learned something after 12th grade.

Wait,  you own a fast food joint? I thought you had clients that made huge amounts of money.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Wait,  you own a fast food joint? I thought you had clients that made huge amounts of money.

All those super-sizings add up quick.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Update: Target has announced it will raise its minimum wage to $9 per hour effective this April.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102508233