Minimum Wage Yearly Increase since 1994: $1800 and no benefits.

[berni_mccoy]

Congressional Annual Salary Increase since 1994: $32,000 plus benefits.

Every person in Congress got a raise that is more than SEVENTEEN TIMES the raise given to minimum wage since 1994.

1994 min. wage: $4.25 / hr (assuming 50 weeks at 40 hours a week, that's $8500 / year)
2005 min. wage: $5.15 / hr (same assumption, that's $10,300 / year)

1994 base pay in Congress: $133,600 per year.
2005 base pay in Congress: $165,300 per year.

Don't forget all the benefits the Congressmen get (Health, Dental, Vision, travel expenses, etc)

Now, if we could only get our Congressmen to work 2000 hours a year...

[Erika]

1. The rich are buying 2nd and 3rd homes

Look on the brightside. These additional homes require gardeners, cooks, maids, etc. Good for America.

[serryjw]

2. That is 8 CENTS/hour!

Not to mention how much less it BUYS in 11 years! I am currently working on a CO state initiative to raise our to $6.85

[jdlh8894]

3. Flame Suit On Again!

When was the last time you saw an ad saying that they are paying minimum wage? Most of the ads I see say that they start @ 10-15 /hour.Which IMHO is still to low!

[berni_mccoy]

6. No flames, just data

In 2003, there were over 37 million tax returns filed with incomes at or below the minimum wage annual earning. That's 28% of the income earning population. (stats come from the IRS: http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=98123,00.html)

Of course some of these people could be wealthy and only earning income at this level, but this would be extremely rare. Someone with just $1 million could earn $50k/year just off risk-free interest (still a taxable form of income that would factor into their AGI).

37 million income earners would disagree with you.

[jdlh8894]

8. See Your Point

But still didn't answer the ? about ads. I tend to think that the minimum wage just doesn't matter.(unless you are in high school)

[serryjw]

10. Either you have not worked in years

or you are a RW troll. Millions get paid $7-8/hour which is a little more than minimum wage.

[berni_mccoy]

12. I did answer the question

When 37 million Americans make a minimum-wage yearly income or less, your 'ads' comment is irrelevant.

I've provided you with accurate statistics published by the gov't. All you've shown is that you've seen ads hiring 10-12 / hour. I've seen such ads too, but are there 37 million of them?

[jdlh8894]

15. Ads

I see the graph, but do you want yo write me an ad that says-"paying minimum wage -Please apply!"

[berni_mccoy]

16. Hmmm, according to the gov't

The unemployment rate for the Atlanta metro area is 5.2% (as of May 2006).

I'm not sure if your employees are skilled laborers or not, but there ought to be some min-wage work available to the 5.2% of workers in your area. If there are plenty of jobs down there, then why is your area rank in the top 10% of areas with the highest unemployment rate.

Out of 367 metro areas, Atlanta is ranked 37 of highest unemployment rates.

(data from http://www.bls.gov/lau/lamtrk05.htm)

[LostinVA]

19. Only a minute fraction of jobs are advertised

And the ones that are are rarely the minimum wage (or barely above) service jobs.

[SoCalDem]

20. A lot of "ads" are bogus too

I would guess that most jobs are found by accident or by word of mouth.. ..

Low paid people are often in service fields like restaurants & hair salons.. Those people are told that their tips justify the low wages.. In the old days when tips were between the tipper and the tippee, it may have been ok, but tips are carefully scrutinized..(can't have a poverty-level waitress not declaring tips, now can we?)

Even at $8 or $10 an hour, after deductions are taken, you cannot live on that very well, now can you?? How many after deductions hours would it take to fill up your gas tank, or pay the electric bill??or the rent??

[serryjw]

9. $10-15/hour

in Woodstock, Ga...You are full of it!

[jdlh8894]

14. Woodstock,GA

Boy howdy!! Somebody from Denver,CO knows how things are here? I'm just 30 miles north of Atlanta and still can't hire people for less than $12 !!!

[serryjw]

17. I had a condo in Dunwoody

for 10 years.......Ask the cashier at your corner gas station how much she makes. What do you do, what are you hiring for?

[987654321]

4. Lou Dobbs had a good segment on this tonight.

It's a shame that the millions who work for minimum wage have been made to suffer for so long.

[GreenTea]

5. What's the republican mantra...

It will hurt small businesses. Bullshit!

No, It will help the workers in massive employment places like Wal-Mart, McDonald's hotel, restaurants, and all other service jobs. Republican donors - Who want to keep undocumented workers, students, and the working poor pay at a minimum to squeeze every bit of profit off the workers backs.

While always saying "it will hurt small business". They don't care one shit about small business. it's the corporations massive non union worker's they want to continue to exploit - In so much as it becomes easier for them to break what's left of the unions, so we'll all be slave labor under their thumb.

President Clinton ran twice on the minimum wage increase and won, knowing republicans are always going to be against it...Today's Dem's just don't get it, or don't care.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Absolutely Correct

There are have been analyses, by me and others, that PROVE (yep, prove) that at no point in modern history has a wage floor, or increase of same, ever negatively impacted the economy. This is true in terms of employment levels, GDP growth, inflation, and in the number of business failures. There is ABSOLUTELY no linkage between increases in a wage floor and negative consequences to the economy.

This is a silly two dimensional argument put forth by people who can't grasp the fact that the Austrian school was wrong.
The Professor

[Nikki Stone 1]

11. The Austrian school?

(Really curious. Don't know anything about the history of economics.)

[berni_mccoy]

13. As you'll see above in an earlier post, the Mantra is that there are

plenty of jobs earning 10-12 / hour. The way you answer that is you ask, but are there 37 MILLION paying 10-12/hr? And 10/12 an hour is still near poverty level income for a family.

Repubs will never understand that they are destroying America with their tax-breaks and corporate welfare.

[SoCalDem]

18. The "assumptions" are out of whack too

Hourly, low paid people are RARELY given 40 hrs a week.. Most places offer 20-30, and in slow times, send employees home early, make them do split-shifts (twice the gas costs), or even work off the clock.

The government "reports" always assume the rosiest of scenarios, when in reality they NEVER happen that way.. To get a 40 hr wk, most low paid people muct have TWO crappy jobs...neither with benefits.

[brook]

21. "A" for accuracy!

Good for you. :hi:

I'd add - to all on this thread - please stop calling it 'minimum wage'. A 'minimum wage' is nothing more than a poverty-inducing tool. What we need to champion and demand is a 'living wage'...and that is a wage that needs to be indexed to the cost of living in the worker's county.

For the past 6+ years, I have been employed at a part-time job which is the only steady work I could find. I started at $1 per hour less than my predecessor; was raised 14 cents the 2nd year - and last week was given a 25 cent raise. Another 6 years and I might be up to what the job paid in 1998! :bounce: :party:

Of course, given my age, I don't expect to reach that level. When I was younger (60's) I was able to do 2 or 3 jobs but those days are gone forever.