The California legislature today passed a bill that would raise the minimum wage in the state to $10 an hour. The bill is structured so the wage goes up in two increments: $9 an hour by July 1, 2014, with another dollar an hour by January 2016. The measure now heads to Governor Brown, who has already indicated he will sign it into law.
This is a popular, yet unsurprising article. As living costs in California gradually increase, it would make sense for the minimum wage to increase as well. The issue of increasing the minimum wage is always being discussed as many minimum wage workers struggle to meet minimal living expenses. Hopefully, living expenses won't drastically increase by the time the minimum wage increase occurs.
ReplyDeleteGovernor Brown does have good intentions for wanting to raise the minimum wage; however, such a measure will prevent teenagers from finding jobs. Most employers are looking for experience and use minimum wage as a base salary for new employees who they need to train. If minimum wage is raised to ten dollars business owners may be apprehensive when considering to hire or give raises to teenagers. More experienced candidates might also be willing to take jobs for minimum wage as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting article. there's two side to this kind of situation. Raising minimum wage will give workers more money in their pocket but also tax will be risen which will make some people who pay taxes go against it. I like to agree to Kayla about how if minimum wage is raise, teenagers will have a harder time to look or a job or gain a job. I am sure that employers would not want to pay that much for an inexperience person.
ReplyDeleteBy increasing minimum wage, Brown is trying to help the families of California. I believe he is headed in the right direnction with the bill even though Perez claims that raising the minimum wage would actually reduce jobs. Perez states that by doing so it will ultimately strengthen the recovery of California's job market than the rest of the nation. Isn't the goal of increasing minimum wage to help recover the job market? So if it's fullfilling it's purpose why not pass the bill.
ReplyDeleteTo break the ice, I would like to begin by saying I fully agree with Lorenzo, but in contrast, I do not agree with Kayla. This bill is a response to the increasing cost of living in California in order keep minimum wage workers from descending deeper or flooding bellow the poverty line. As the article states these workers will have more money which will go back into the economy and inflate it. As a natural response to inflation, the costs of goods will assimilate along with the wages of Californians. Raise in minimum wage should have little effect on the younger working class. In short, this raise is just a response to foreseen increase in cost of living, and it's only logical to control poverty.
ReplyDeleteWhile Thomas, Lorenzo, and Austen do make a great point it is clear there logic is flawed and utterly unfeasible because they neglected to acknowledge the fact that job creators do not pay all employees minimum wage. In fact according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics only 5.9% of hourly wage earners above the age of 16 receive minimum wage. Currently for $40 dollars a business owner can create 5 jobs; however, if minimum wage is raised to $10 then for every 5 employees business owners are forced to fire one. As previously mentioned the cost of living in California is relatively high, but when juxtaposed the extreme cost of operating a business in California, the cost of living is inconsequential. If California mandates such a radical increase in minimum wage not only will small businesses be unable to develop and expand, but in addition large corporations will realize it is more economical to create jobs in a different state.
ReplyDeletePreviously there was argument injudiciously claiming, "Raise in minimum wage should have little effect on the younger working class...it's only logical to control poverty." While that individual did provide invaluable insight, I must agree with Ka Bao's argument that employers will be apprehensive to pay so much for an inexperienced employee. Regrettably the working class youth will be the first to lose there positions and any hope of future success. To reiterate I agree with Ka Bao because the facts she presented were "only logical."
ReplyDeleteI agree with Thomas that by increasing the minimum wages in California is one of the ways to prevent the lower class from struggle below the poverty line. However, I could not help thinking that after the Bill is effective throughout the cities, taxes and prices of everything will increase tremendously. I also agree with Ka Bao that it's only logical and reasonable for company to deny hiring inexperience teens. Even now it's already a struggle for teens to find a suitable job.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very very interesting. As I read through this though, the only thing I thought about was the high chance of living costs to rise as well., Like Lee. I mean, that's what has happened before and many places cost a fortune to stay. I do respect everyone's point of view on this article. We're all right in some way. I'm looking forward to this bill being applied in the near future and I'll be looking out for the differences in our government and lifestyles.
ReplyDeleteI also found this article quite interesting. It seems that this bill was passed to help the working poor pull themselves out of poverty and better their living experiences. Although I believe that this idea may be great, I also agree that this bill being passed would possibly cost us many jobs and lead to inflataion. This isn't something any of us can be too sure of, but i hope for the very best.
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