I am a public school teacher in NC. We just took another pay cut (well, elimination of another increase). Now I can whine and moan about the cut, or I can just take it, or I can simply resign and find another job.
If the productivity of a worker is such that the job warrants $13.00 per hour, then it makes no sense to say they should be paid $23.00 per hour. Thatâs a recipe for bankruptcy.
If it does make sense, then maybe $33.00 per hour makes more sense. Or $43.00 per hour. At what point does paying someone in excess of their productivity no longer make sense?
Has anyone stopped to think that maybe the reason 16 year olds canât get a Burger King job is because of the increases in minimum wage?
Jon
The reason 16 year olds arenât getting Burger King jobs around here is that their mothers and fathers are filling those jobs! I wish I was joking.
I live in a city of 150,000 and in a pretty central location. The nearest main road to me is home to one of every regionally available fast food joint and a few of the sit down chain restaurants. A very common sight here is former factory workers working whatever job they can get and working fast food as a 2nd job while their wives, who used to be stay at home moms, work fast food as a primary job.
I know that a lot of teachers and other professionals have had to take pay cuts, but those folks are in a better position than most. Sad reality right there.
From my point of view, the unions became more of a problem than a help in our area. It became standard for uneducated workers to make a wage realistically above their education and skill levels. When you can go work for an auto company or supplier with little education and training to the tune of $40-something an hour including benefits cost to the company it sets a region up for failure. People skip education in favor of a paycheck now, work for years, buy homes and cars, take on debt, and then lose everything when the job goes overseas and the worker has no ability to find another job making even close to the pay and benefits. Or, in a lot of cases, the company simply cannot afford to pay what the union contract demands, the unions refuse to negotiate, and the company goes out of business. Happened to most of the auto suppliers here. We ended up with a boatload of people who lost their jobs in such a way and have no skills or training beyond factory work.
So, no, I do not believe someone should be paid outside their skill levels. But I do think that most big companies could afford to pay their employees more. The $13+ an hour idea for cashiers or fast food workers is beyond ridiculous. However, I think $9 an hour is doable. It doesnât sound like much, but the additional $40 a week can be the difference between paying a utility and having to go without food to pay a utility.
Did anyone else see Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs) do Real Time with Bill Maher or hear his testimony before congress? We have over 3 million jobs going unfilled because there is no one with the skill and willingness to work those jobs. And those jobs pay a living wage!
You might think âThatâs insane! What gives?â Well, apparently those jobs are blue collar jobs like HVAC, mechanic, plumber, construction etc. and no one was told in school that those jobs were a viable option. Everyone, even those not academically inclined, is pushed toward college and some sort of white collar work. So, they never considered going to a community college or trade school(where education is much less expensive) to become qualified to work those jobs. Either those people quit education altogether or end up with student loan debt and a degree that is essentially worthless because there arenât enough jobs in the chosen field.
My own personal favorite solution to a lot of our economic problems is to A) get people interested in re-training and trade school education and B) get the federal and state governments to pay for a massive upgrade of the US infrastructure. Our roads, bridges, and sewer systems are a disgrace. Our economy in shambles. Get funding to educate the unemployed in useful trade skills and put them to work fixing and then maintaining our crumbling infrastructure. Theyâll be paying taxes, getting off state and federal assistance, making enough money to live a decent life, and theyâll pump money into the economy by going out to eat, buying new cars, buying homes, shopping for clothes and other essentials, and paying for upgrades and repairs to their homes.
