Minimum wage hikes-- did you know that they mostly benefit the RICH?

[TexasLawyer]

There was a link to this press release on Townhall.com. Re the statement:

"the average family income of Maryland’s employees who would benefit from a minimum wage increase to $6.15 is over $67,000 a year. Why? Because fully 91% of employees whose wages would be increased by this proposal either live with working parents or another relative, live alone, or have a working spouse."

How does living alone on less than $6.15 per hour get you to an average $67.000 per year? Also, what about all the people who need to move in with Mom or Sis so that they're not homeless ?



Who will really benefit from Maryland's Minimum wage hike?

2/10/05, Annapolis – The Employment Policies Institute (EPI) testified today before the Maryland State Senate Finance Committee on the negative economic consequences of raising the state minimum wage to $6.15 per hour. EPI will present figures from the U.S. Census Bureau which show that the vast majority of the benefits of such an increase will not reach its intended target--Maryland’s low-income working families.

An analysis of data compiled by the Bureau’s Current Population Survey shows that the average family income of Maryland’s employees who would benefit from a minimum wage increase to $6.15 is over $67,000 a year. Why? Because fully 91% of employees whose wages would be increased by this proposal either live with working parents or another relative, live alone, or have a working spouse.

Just 9% of beneficiaries will be sole earners in families with children, and each of these sole earners has access to supplemental income through the federal and state earned income tax credit (EITC). Research from Michigan State University and the Federal Reserve found that the EITC is far more efficient at actually helping those in poverty than an increase in the minimum wage.

“The proposed minimum wage increase is a poorly targeted attempt to help Maryland’s low income working families,” said EPI’s director of research, Craig Garthwaite. “The vast majority of benefits will not go to poor families and the majority of poor families will not receive a benefit.”

Maryland employees affected by proposed $6.15 minimum wage:

· 41% of minimum wage earners live with a parent or relative · 25% of minimum wage earners are a dual earner in a married couple · 25% of minimum wage earners are a single earner with no kids · Just 9% of minimum wage earners are single parents with kids or a single earner in a couple with kids, and each of these sole earners has access to supplemental income through the EITC.

For a graphic representation of this data or to see figures for other states, visit www.minimumwage.com

http://www.epionline.org/news_detail.cfm?rid=40

[Blower]

1. My interpretation to this puzzle

Would be that people making minimum wage as it is now cannot get by to even live on their own, therefore they live in a group situation.

[TexasLawyer]

4. some minimum wage earners will be teenagers

and that is the primary factor, I'll bet, in lifting the family income average to $67,000, if that is in fact the right figure. (That sounds really high to me. Isn't the average US family income around $45-50,000?)

Maryland is an expensive state to live in. You'd have to be working a really crappy job to be getting less than $6.15/ hour. How could you live on that unless you were a teenager living with Mom and Dad?

[vision]

7. median income is 41,944 in 1999

that is for a family of four. I have seen estimates that up to 25% of the population has a houshold income of $25,000 or less. These families would certainly benifit from an increase in the minimum wage. If some more wealthy families were also helped I am fine with that.

[sandnsea]

2. See their bullshit?

Do they say that the reason the working adult is living at home is because he can't afford his own place? Or that both people are making low wages? How many people really think there's couples out there with one making $60,000 and the other minimum wage?

Their justification NOT to raise it for single parents? Social programs.

I've seen this shit every single time there's an argument about minimum wage. The exact same people who bitch about taxes and social programs turn around and use them as a rationalization to keep low wages.

They are flat full of shit Cheap Labor Conservatives.

Why hasn't the price of a pair of Nikes or Levis gone down since they moved labor offshore? If labor drives the price of products so much?

[LiberalFighter]

19. Do they want families to earn their income or have it given to them?

Do they want the taxes from income or spend the money on families?

[sandnsea]

20. Cheap labor

With the people picking up the tab instead of the business owner. That also creates political divisions. Sounds like a super power plan to me.

[MO_Dem]

3. Hogwash!

If it really hurt the working poor and helped the wealthy, this story would not have been written! It's a lie!

[DuaneBidoux]

5. Actually true

The raising of the minimum wage, or in fact, getting money into the pockets of working class folk through whatever means you wish does help the rich, and the middle class, and AMERICA. The Republicans still haven't figured out why their policies never create the jobs of Democratic administrations but it's quite easy: when all do better, all do better. What a concept!

[DaveinMD]

6. another lie from the right

the minimum wage helps working class families. It helps people escape poverty. It needs to be raised to a lot higher than 6 bucks. It should be at least 8.

[LdyGuique]

8. I am incoherently angry

Frankly, I believe that minimum wage should be $8.00/hr, especially since most people who earn minimum wage are not F/T and/or do not have any medical benefits, etc. This type of right wing garbage is just more of the same -- shilling for the Corporate world -- they don't need to tell the truth, just make it "seem" like it might be the truth. I also think that wait staff at restaurants should be getting $5.00/hr as their minimum wage. Some people tip and some people don't -- depending on tips for one's living is a risky business that fails to cover the time when one has to clean stations and/or wait for patrons.

[Selatius]

9. I can't honestly believe for 50 fucking years no one pegged min. wage

to the rate of inflation. It's unbelievable. We wouldn't be visiting this issue over and over again if a law was passed that automatically adjusted the min. wage for inflation. If this was done back in 1968, when the purchasing power of min. wage was highest, then the minimum wage today would stand north of 8 dollars. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Democrats never did this.

Read this:

http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/MinimumWageGraphs.pdf

[Nimrod]

10. Why raising the minimum wage does nothing

It does nothing by itself anyway. The reason is the vast amounts of power we've given the corporate elite.

Let's say we raise the minimum wage to $8.00. That's going to cut into the profit margins of companies - ESPECIALLY the large companies that employ many bargain-basement laborers.

Do you REALLY think the CEO's are going to stand for that? Profit margins are everything to these people. The minimum wage goes up one day, and the next day the big corporations are raising their prices.

Now, we step down one level - big retailers. Best Buy isn't going to stand for losing THEIR profit margin, so the day after the corps raise their prices, the big retailers raise their prices to match the new cost of products AND to make up for having to pay THEIR bargain-basement employees more. Double bump up in prices.

Now - down to the mid-level retailers. In two days we've increased the market standard, so up go THOSE prices.

Off to the side are the landlords, property management companies, etc. In three days, their cost of living has increased because all the prices for their nifty toys have gone up. Guess what happens to the rent?

Off to the other side are the utility and service companies (phone, power, water, cable, whatever). People are making more money now (not to mention THEIR bargain-basement employees are getting paid more) so the cost of utilities and services now gets bumped up. They call it "meeting the market", translated roughly to "GET THOSE EXTRA COUPLE OF BUCKS".

So down to the small-business owners mom and pop shops who don't employ anyone but themselves and aren't affected by minimum wage laws. Well, their rent has gone up, their power and phone bills have gone up, food has gone up, and they were just barely squeaking by as it was. THEIR prices have to go up just so they can continue to survive.

So a week has passed since the minimum wage went up to $8.00 bucks. The people living at the poverty line haven't moved an inch, the people in the working class making $9-$10 an hour are now just barely above the poverty line, and the "middle class" has slid drastically down the food chain as well.

One thing has changed - the CEO's who started this whole chain reaction have (of course) taken this opportunity to give themselves a nice fat pay raise to compensate for the inconvenience.

The elite LIKE us where we are and they're going to keep us here.

[LdyGuique]

16. Corporations have no intentions of keeping jobs in the US

The corporate world has no itentions of keeping jobs in the US at any wage as they make bigger profits offshore outsourcing. Few of the businesses who moved either their production or services offshore were fighting a red bottom line -- they were profitable and just became more profitable in doing so. Minimum wage will hardly affect their decisions as many of the people who have lost their jobs were making more than $8/hour.

[blondeatlast]

11. $67,000 a year is RICH? In Bhopal, maybe, but in Annapolis?

So maybe the so-called "rich" will benefit most.

That's just a whole heckuva great reason NOT to help the working poor.

Apparently the Employnment Policies Institute (RW tax-exempt "think tank," no doubt) thinks liberals are as dumb as rocks.

:eyes:

[Nimrod]

12. To me, that's wealth beyond the dreams of avarice

My income last year was about $12,000, before taxes.

[blondeatlast]

13. I understand, but it can hardly be considered wealthy. nt

[sendero]

14. What a horseshit..

... fallacious argument. I won't bother pointing out the glaring hole in their assessment, it is too damned obvious.

You have to give these venal fucktards credit, they can be creative.

[Selatius]

15. Bump

[dorktv]

17. As someone who has worked for minimum wage...I think people

should get more then 6.15...it should be at least 10 bucks. Flipping burgers sounds easy but that is generally not the ONLY thing you do.

[no name no slogan]

18. Couldn't agree with you more

In 1993, I spent a few months as a manager at a major fast-food chain restaurant (my first "real job" after graduating college in 1991). We had a lot of teenagers working there, but I bet half my workforce in this fairly affluent suburban restaurant were adults.

Most of them made $5.15 TOPS at the time-- I myself ended up making about the same. The 'adult' women all lived in a run-down residential 'motel', and drove cars that barely ran. No use trying to take a bus to work-- the only ones that went out that far ran at 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM-- not convenient for a fast-food worker.

The minimum-wage jobs at my shop were some of the most back-breaking, monotonous and physically-challenging jobs there were. Not to mention the possibility of serious injury due to the working conditions (hot grills, grease-filled deep fryers, etc.).

Oh, and then there's the "benefits". I could buy into the company "plan" for about $275/month for their Cadillac HMO plan-- which was more than 1/4 of my monthly income. My workers had this same option, for the same price-- but to them, it was nearly 1/2 of their monthly income. If you didn't get this plan, you were on your own to get insurance-- or you went without.

In a fair economy, the minimum would be AT LEAST $10-- possibly more in some areas. Most people (at least the ones who can afford to use the web regularly) have no idea what it's like to live on minimum wage, liberals OR conservatives. Until they actually try to make a living on it, they have little right to bitch about raising it to a livable wage.

[proudbluestater]

21. Sounds like somebody's paying ring-wing think tanks again...

"Because fully 91% of employees whose wages would be increased by this proposal either live with working parents or another relative, live alone, or have a working spouse."

I think they are ignoring the REAL point to make another. Fully 91% live with a parent or a working spouse because THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO LIVE ON THEIR OWN!

Anybody living "alone" on 5.15 an hour either works 80 hours a week, or they live in a cardboard box.

This article is pure bullshit.