Daryl wrote:Sorry I was working off 3 yr old World Bank figures where the US was 9% and most countries were about 7%. The latest figures show the US at 6.2% which is middle pegging, some countries worse and some better.
I'll not swap our national debt per person or per GDP for yours. How much longer can that can be kicked down the road?
I'm really not trying to bag the US, but any reputable economist will tell you that raising the minimum wage to a living level is not only the right thing to do socially, but it stimulates the economy.
When the US was checking employment documentation, nobody made minimum wage for a full time job. Actual wages were much higher and the minimum wage was only paid to kids working their first part time jobs if then.
As workers flooded in over our southern border and weren't seriously prohibited from working, our median wages fell or remained stagnant. This has been true for decades. Increasing the minimum wage now simply means more illegals will flock to work here. As that minimum wage increases there will be increasing incentives to pay illegals below minimum wage. That will simply drive actual wages lower and worker participation rates lower still.
If we require documentation for employment and enforce stiff fines for employing undocumented workers on employers, the problem goes away. Illegals will self deport and the labor pool will shrink and wages rise to reflect a more limited supply of workers. Granted the ones with dependents born here might ride the dole. That's part of the reason Trump's message resonates with the middle and lower middle class.
It's fine for you guys downunder to crow about the minimum wage, you have an ocean limiting immigration for the destitute. You guys, especially the kiwis, take immigration rules seriously. Setting a minimum wage that is commensurate with the supply of workers costs your economy and society nothing. Try the same policies with a porous border.
