Useful minimum wage links
Jim, a reader and commenter, posted the following link-filled comment yesterday and I found it useful, even if I haven't had the time to thoroughly review all of the linked information:
On the latter comment, I would welcome the chance to hear what Andrew Brod has to say on these topics. Anyone know him and want to encourage him to chime in here or in a more formal capacity? I'm happy to post his thoughts instead of letting them be buried in the comments section.
My immediate reaction was to stock a survival bunker, but I've been working my way through it and am finding:
It is a reasoned, unhysterical debate.
It's already happened in various places, in various flavors.
There is already substantial data.
There is a lot of information available.
I'd be most interested next in surfacing issues relevant to Greensboro's unique economic conditions. For that, I'd recommend a visit with a local subject matter expert.
On the latter comment, I would welcome the chance to hear what Andrew Brod has to say on these topics. Anyone know him and want to encourage him to chime in here or in a more formal capacity? I'm happy to post his thoughts instead of letting them be buried in the comments section.
posted by Jill Williams at
3:06 PM
1 Comments:
I'll be diving into this discussion deeper a little later, but I wanted to share a few comments on the minimum wage discussion.
There are a couple of possible attitudes toward a higher local minimum wage: one might take the position that there should be no minimum wage at all. Few on this blog seem to be saying that, though some pure free-market types will argue the point. But if we accept that there should be some minimum level at which people should be paid the questions are what should it be and who should decide it.
Those arguing that only the state government should decide such a standard might tell us why they think this is so. It would seem to me that we in this local community should have a right to decide on a standard of living that we think is fair for full time work.
Such local decisions are made all the time. For instance, there are wage level standards that the City Council uses to decide whether or not to offer incentives to businesses wanting to locate here. An ordinance establishing a base rate of pay is not that different.
The question of how high a local minimum wage should be is one that needs to be discussed. After I heard about the calculation that $9.36 / hour returns us to the purchasing power of the minimum wage of 1968, it seemed to me that this was a reasonable level.
I have glanced at some of the material that has been linked on this blog to economic studies done in San Francisco and Sante Fe where local minimum wages ordinances have been enacted. While I haven't read them in detail, I know from a cursory scanning of the news that the sky hasn't fallen in either of those communities. I am led to believe that raising the minimum wage will not cause dire economic consequences here either.
It is indeed a moral issue and a question of community standards. We get to decide what kind of community we want to be. It is for that reason that I support this proposed increase in the local minimum wage.
Ed Whitfield
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