States with Higher Minimum Wage Boast Faster Job Growth

a reply to: xuenchen
Except most don't even bother to sell there. They know they cannot afford their ridiculous prices.... The ones that do sell there, sell there at a fraction of a cost of what "1st world countries" pay. Then they turn around and charge "1st world countries" quadruple what they charge in india or china.

It's all gonna collapse sooner or later at the rate it is going, and only the monopolies on the basics will be left standing. It simply cannot go on like it is, it's economically impossible, if the west is too poor to buy their stuff, the jig is up for them. The sooner they realize it the better.

a reply to: TKDRL

A good answer, but it still does not address any benefit for raising the minimum wage.

I starred your reply though. It was well thought out.

a reply to: FyreByrd

States with Higher Minimum Wage Boast Faster Job Growth

Does the story actually say any group of States has a higher minimum wage than other groups of States ?

Hmmm.

It says a group of States raised their minimum wage (slightly as it was).

Hmmm.

The theory is truly a "Boast" indeed !!

a reply to: TKDRL

Well then there must not be a genuine profit motive if that's true ?

But I agree it will collapse soon enough.

Very deceptive title. These are not States with the highest minimum wages. They are states that increased their minimum wage. Some of them are as little as .25c above the federal minimal, just $7.50 an hour. Some of these states had a .10c increase. Nine of them had mandatory increases and did not legislate an increase.

A better way to look at it is not that a "high" minimum wage is good, but a minimum wage that is commensurate with the economy is good.

a reply to: beezzer
It doesn't address any benefit? Not for the huge corps no, like walmart who is allowed to take the food stamps. The basic companies are subsidized by uncle sam. A local company would benefit greatly from the peons making enough to survive, plus have some savings and extra. That is why most small businesses can't survive anymore. Big companies like walmart and home depot etc that do everything can survive on slave labour.

It used to be, you want to buy a certain tool, you would have many companies competing, these days only the big survive. Only the big can survive these days, because the game is rigged. No more little guys offering superior service, because they cannot compete with slave labour, tax free. A big company can set up a sweatshop wherever, while the little company cannot. It used to be the little companies that gave a crap would win, when the playing board was equal.

I had the choice to drive an hour away to get my gun customized, and get a mediocre job done. Or I could take my gun to the local gunsmith that would bust his ass and go above and beyond the call of duty, knowing that I probably had 40 other guns I might take to his shop given the exemplary job he did, and the local location. NAFTA killed all that, and world free trade pissed on the dead body.

As with anything else, you think you are winning with the cheaper prices, but you are losing in the long run. I am well versed in the construction business, I can speak on that. I have seen the dirt cheap businesses run, and they suck. They say thing like "Putty is my buddy!" which means, who cares about being accurate with your work, there is filler that will make it look OK, at least for the first year. After that, you see things start to go to crap. In the flooring business, well all the puttied imperfections start to pop out and create holes. All the morons who don't know where to leave expansion room so when floors swell a bit during the humid days, they start pushing walls and cracking things.

Trimworkers don't need to cut accurate anymore, they just fill the cracks in with caulk, who cares if in a year it starts to crack, not their problem, it looked sharp when the house was sold. Etc Etc.

There was a reason why top-end contractors hired us exclusively, we knew what we were doing in all situations. If you had to call us about repairs in less than five years it was because of stupid people. Walking around all day in spike heals, or having huge st. bernairds with uncut nails run around, or you left the sink on and flooded the kitchen. If stuff went to crap by itself in three years or less, we fixed it free.

Businesses like ours are a thing of the past. The businesses that survived are just out to make the fastest buck they can. They will hire illegals, and they will not care if their work goes to crap in a year. Worse comes to worse they will file bankruptcy and then will make a new business in one of their family member's names. They don't care about the people they work for, and that is why they are dirt cheap. Sometimes makes me mad I didn't do what they do, pissed that we were punished for doing the right thing. Then I remember I have a conscience, and that I cannot rip people off and not feel bad after. For better or worse, deception is not how I role.

Even up here where everyone is paid by the hour, I cannot just jerk around even though I could do like the jerks up here and work 2 hours a day and get paid for 8. Sometimes I wish I could just do as they do, and make money for nothing. I just keep hoping people will see the difference and the word will spread that we are the guys to hire.

Sorry to keep editing, I always think of more to add, or end up thinking I didn't explain enough and have to keep adding. Bottom line, as a person that provided a quality service, I could only vouch for manufacturers I knew and trusted. My name was attached to them, through my recommendations.

Could I have gotten wood much cheaper from foreign manufacturers? Absolutely. Could I fly to some other country to check their mills, warehouses, and delivery methods to have the quality I demanded? Nope, not at all. These days mills that are garbage don't waste a thing, a bundle of wood is two long pieces and all short crap. The mills I vouched for would get you almost all long pieces, and stuff like 1/4 sawn wood(looks sexy as hell, lots of pretty patterns) yeah it cost money.

You get what you pay for. You order crap #3 from a mill, you get many knots, you get many boards warped like crazy, etc etc. Some people don't care and expect to get the same quality flooring from a company that charges a lot less. You see why they charge less, when you see most boards are short. Pros like us know how to stagger wood the best, know to save the worst crap for closets, but we can only work with the materials the customer buys.

a reply to: beezzer

You think to small bz, I say we raise it to $100 per hour with 150 paid vacation days per year.

The increases in the OP are negligible... seriously they are celebrating fractions of a percent?

Give me a break. Whats to say even without the infinitesimal increases, or even the larger ones like in seattle would have resulted in growth anyway?

I hope it works, im all about people making more money. However, the people that are pushing this don't consider the unintended consequences, like raised prices on goods.

These companies that are paying employees more aren't going to just roll over and say "here ya go employees, we will take a paycut this time" it would be nice, but reality dictates these businesses will increase prices on goods and services when costs rise. It would be stupid of them not to, because they are a business with a profit motive.

if raising minimum wage does boost the economy, then why hasn't business been doing it for decades?

Because business people are only interested in maximizing their own profits?

Washington has had the highest minimum wage in the country for many years now and we also have one of the best economies. Study after study here has shown that minimum wage increases are mostly beneficial, but conservatives want to ignore all evidence as usual because they operate 100% on ideology and indoctrination (and greed). In fact as our minimum wage goes up and Idaho's doesn't they lose money because their workers come over here to work and then spend money.

originally posted by: CB328

if raising minimum wage does boost the economy, then why hasn't business been doing it for decades?

Because business people are only interested in maximizing their own profits?

Washington has had the highest minimum wage in the country for many years now and we also have one of the best economies. Study after study here has shown that minimum wage increases are mostly beneficial, but conservatives want to ignore all evidence as usual because they operate 100% on ideology and indoctrination (and greed). In fact as our minimum wage goes up and Idaho's doesn't they lose money because their workers come over here to work and then spend money.

Here are the top 10 Min Wage States. A * denotes they are worse than the national average.
June 2013 Unemployment --- June 2014 Unemployment --- CHANGE
USA Avg.
7.5 --- 6.1 --- 1.4
Washington
7.0 --- 5.8 --- 1.2*
Oregon
7.8* --- 6.8* --- 1*
California
9* --- 7.4* --- 1.6
Vermont
4.4 --- 3.5 --- .9
Connecticut
7.9* --- 6.7* --- 1.2*
New Jersey
8.4* --- 6.6* --- 1.8
Illinois
9.2* --- 7.1* --- 2.1
Nevada
10* --- 7.7* --- 2.3
Massachusetts
7.1 --- 5.5 --- 1.6
Colorado
6.9 --- 5.5 --- 1.4
www.bls.gov...

As you can see, many of these States are underperforming. They also seem to be recovering slower, so they had minor gains initially, and now are getting bigger gains .. but still many lag behind.

a reply to: CB328

Washington has had the highest minimum wage in the country for many years now and we also have one of the best economies.

Except that Washington State is deep in debt !!!

$76 Billion in debt !!!

More than 1/7th of the population on food stamps alone !!!

Just like all the Progressive governments.

Washington State debt Clock

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Just for kicks here is the data for the 10 lowest states.

2014 Unemployment Rates
Georgia
7.4*
Wyoming
4.0
Minnesota
5.0
Arkansas
6.2
West Virginia
(not on the list??)
Virginia
5.3
Utah
3.5
Texas
5.1
South Dakota
3.8

Hilarious how much better they are doing.

Average unemployment for top 10 high min. wage states.
6.78
Average unemployment for bottom 10 min. wage states.
4.47

a reply to: xuenchen

So go ahead and just change all that, what you said to say the United States of America. Cause oh wait I'm pretty sure it is... Like the minimum wage had anything to do with that "deep debt". Give me a break dude and actually open your eyes.

Eta: why dont you go ahead and toss up THAT debt counter and continue to blame it on the massive amout of people (myself included) that just want to "get by".

a reply to: FyreByrd

Consumers boost job growth, not unlivable wages, not tax breaks for the wealthy. A raise across the board will simulate your economies more than any other thing. The more people make the more they spend thus simulating economies and fueling more taxes collected.

Aren't the people tired of the conservatives lies about tax breaks creating jobs? Lies about wage increases killing the economy?

The more people have to spend the better everyone does, the more jobs and economic growth for all classes.



Stop listening to pundits, stop listening to politicians from red states where poverty and failed government are the rule and not the exception. Compare red and blue states and look who is doing a better job for all the people and not just the rich.

originally posted by: Ilovemygreatdanes
a reply to: xuenchen

So go ahead and just change all that, what you said to say the United States of America. Cause oh wait I'm pretty sure it is... Like the minimum wage had anything to do with that "deep debt". Give me a break dude and actually open your eyes.

Well it don't look like it helped any does it.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

I see a drop in unemployment in every state you listed from 13-14. Thats good right?

originally posted by: LDragonFire
a reply to: OccamsRazor04

I see a drop in unemployment in every state you listed from 13-14. Thats good right?

Yes. But most of the ones who are being touted as having great job growth because of their high minimum wage have high unemployment. So if someone has 10% unemployment and someone has 3% the one with 10% has more job growth because they have a lot more recovery left to do. Make sense?

ETA: Of the top 10 min. wage states 6 have higher unemployment than the national average.
Of the bottom 10 min. wage states 1 has higher unemployment than the national average.

a reply to: xuenchen

Oh you know, just the average everyday working class citizens who do not contribute to a states personal debt for any given number of reasons (mismanagement, fraud, the economy and greed). But that's crazy talk, right?

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Your whole argument is a deflection. Conservatives claim any wage increase will destroy the economy this is a lie, so you deflect!

a reply to: LDragonFire

He reminds me of my old economics teacher 25 years ago.
He told us If people got paid more they spend more making growth so it is logical to say If the minimum wage goes up people spend more and make more jobs.
But only If it is at the same rate of inflation or above.
Thing is Governments and Politicians have their fingers in business's pie so It will not change.