Re:I need to explain to you just how dire America's Pokémon ...
by lumost on Saturday May 01, 2021 @02:23PM
(#27008532)
Minimum wages also provide a price floor on labor. If I make 21 an hour managing a Starbucks, then I make 3x the minimum wage.
I’d suspect that the owner values labor in multiples of the minimum, if the minimum wage were cut in half I’d expect the managers rate to similarly fall.
Re:I need to explain to you just how dire America's Pokémon ...
by dragonwriter on Saturday May 01, 2021 @02:49PM
(#27008752)
> I’d suspect that the owner values labor in multiples of the minimum
For low-bargaining power labor, having a progression from the minimum is probably a factor; OTOH, UBI eliminates the economic coercion that is a major contributor to low end labor having low bargaining power.
For labor what the combination of oversupply and economic coercion doesn't overwhelm normal market factors, competition among purchasers should result in wages @ the marginal value to the employer added.
Why should the minimum wage be livable on its own? The minimum income obviously should, but why should people who can’t currently provide labor worth a “livable” wage in the market be excluded from productive engagement in the economy?
The minimum wage is a crude hack to prevent economic coercion of low-negotiating-power labor by capital, but a UBI funded by progressive income taxes which treat capital income similarly to other income, would serve that purpose more effectively.