Rasing the minimum wage could cost jobs

[esmith]

Seems that Microsoft founder Bill Gates expressed the view that raising the minimum wage could hurt jobs.

Bill Gates: Raising Minimum Wage 'Does Cause Job Destruction' | CNS News

Hmmm, isn't Mr Gates an Obama supporter?

 

[Sunstone]

Oh darn! Raising the minimum wage will destroy $7/hr Burger King jobs. How frightening!

Bill Gates needs to read this paper from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. It kind of blows out of the water his notion that raising the minimum wage will destroy jobs.

 

[LuisDantas]

Uh, what is the point of the OP?

That the universe does not exist to prove that Obama can do no wrong?

 

[Alceste]

Actually, any scaling back of employees due to minimum wage increases is balanced out by jobs created by people at the lower end of the income scale having more money in their pockets and dumping it directly back into the local economy.

That's how BC got away with adding a couple of bucks over the course of a few years without any impact on the employment rate. Observe the statistics over the period where the two dollar minimum wage hike took place:

I'll go with solid statistical evidence over the personal opinion of rich people.

 

[Valjean]

Historically, minimum wage increases have spurred the economy, though it may take two or three years for the benefit to percolate through the community.

 

[tytlyf]

$10.10 isn't necessarily a living wage. I believe anyone who works full time shouldn't live in poverty.

 

[esmith]

As we all know technology is growing at a rapid rate. What only humans once were able to do machines now can now do and that trend will continue. I think Mr. Gates was just stating a fact that the modern business owner has to take into consideration.....Will the investment in a machine that replaces a human be cost effective. As wages and other human based cost rise, the initial cost of equipment to replace a human will be cost effective. You can supply all the past history data you want; however a business owner has to look at their bottom line. The new modern worker is going to have to invest more in technology training to meet the demands of the modern age.
I was recently introduced to a very small sample of this move. In some brick & mortar casinos the human dealers at various table games are being replaced with electronic tables, thus the elimination of another human employee. Stop and think what could current jobs held by humans could be replaced by a "intelligent" machine.

 

[Iti oj]

This OP is a lie, name one time it has done so.

 

[Alceste]

This OP is a lie, name one time it has done so.

It never does, but the propaganda mill that advances the ideological agenda of our corporate overlords screams that it will every single time. They take us for a bunch of suckers, and they're often right.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Seems that Microsoft founder Bill Gates expressed the view that raising the minimum wage could hurt jobs.

Bill Gates: Raising Minimum Wage 'Does Cause Job Destruction' | CNS News

Hmmm, isn't Mr Gates an Obama supporter?

Being an Obama supporter doesn't necessarily means his assertion is correct. Raisng the minimum wage spurs economic growth. Do you have evidence that raising it hurts jobs?

 

[esmith]

Being an Obama supporter doesn't necessarily means his assertion is correct. Raisng the minimum wage spurs economic growth. Do you have evidence that raising it hurts jobs?

Do you have any facts that raising the minimum wage improves employment opportunities?

 

[Revoltingest]

As we all know technology is growing at a rapid rate. What only humans once were able to do machines now can now do and that trend will continue. I think Mr. Gates was just stating a fact that the modern business owner has to take into consideration.....Will the investment in a machine that replaces a human be cost effective. As wages and other human based cost rise, the initial cost of equipment to replace a human will be cost effective. You can supply all the past history data you want; however a business owner has to look at their bottom line. The new modern worker is going to have to invest more in technology training to meet the demands of the modern age.
I was recently introduced to a very small sample of this move. In some brick & mortar casinos the human dealers at various table games are being replaced with electronic tables, thus the elimination of another human employee. Stop and think what could current jobs held by humans could be replaced by a "intelligent" machine.

You needn't even replace a worker...just cut the workforce size with labor saving technologies. I've seen it happen in factories, & I've even cut labor in my own company by investing in tools to make fewer workers as productive as the former crew. This really became important to me as labor costs rose, not due to min wage, but overhead costs like health care insurance, workers comp insurance, & unemployment tax. People not in business won't see that we continually evaluate alternatives. So if labor cost in one area increases, then we're more likely to replace workers with machines.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

As we all know technology is growing at a rapid rate. What only humans once were able to do machines now can now do and that trend will continue. I think Mr. Gates was just stating a fact that the modern business owner has to take into consideration.....Will the investment in a machine that replaces a human be cost effective. As wages and other human based cost rise, the initial cost of equipment to replace a human will be cost effective. You can supply all the past history data you want; however a business owner has to look at their bottom line. The new modern worker is going to have to invest more in technology training to meet the demands of the modern age.
I was recently introduced to a very small sample of this move. In some brick & mortar casinos the human dealers at various table games are being replaced with electronic tables, thus the elimination of another human employee. Stop and think what could current jobs held by humans could be replaced by a "intelligent" machine.

Not all industries can replace a person with a machine. None of what you say here negates the fact that a minimum wage spurs economic growth and dispels the myth that it kills jobs.

 

[Revoltingest]

Not all industries can replace a person with a machine. None of what you say here negates the fact that a minimum wage spurs economic growth and dispels the myth that it kills jobs.

How is that a "fact" rather than mere opinion?
But replacing low skill workers with machines clearly happens.
I've seen it. Criminy, I've done it.

 

[Alceste]

Do you have any facts that raising the minimum wage improves employment opportunities?

I gave you evidence from BC. We went up $2.25 over the course of three years, and jobs grew during that time. That is a typical outcome.

As I mentioned, people at the lower end of the income scale spend everything they earn in the local economy. Therefore, putting money in their pockets creates jobs as local businesses adapt to an increase in demand.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Do you have any facts that raising the minimum wage improves employment opportunities?

Not my thread. You asserted that an Obama supporter says increasing the minimum wage kills jobs. Your next post makes other assertions. What do you have to back up what you believe?

 

[esmith]

This OP is a lie, name one time it has done so.

How Technology Is Destroying Jobs | MIT Technology Review

When it becomes an economic factor that replacing humans with machines, business will do it. So, if you increase the cost of using human labor outweighs the cost of new technology what do you think companies will do. Take a look at the auto industry

The Degradation of Work Revisited: Labor and the Post-War Automation Movement

 

[Alceste]

How Technology Is Destroying Jobs | MIT Technology Review

When it becomes an economic factor that replacing humans with machines, business will do it. So, if you increase the cost of using human labor outweighs the cost of new technology what do you think companies will do. Take a look at the auto industry

The Degradation of Work Revisited: Labor and the Post-War Automation Movement

That's a stretch. You're not going to see McDonald's using robots to flip your burgers in your lifetime. The jobs that article is talking about (manufacturing and clerical work) already pay substantially more than the minimum wage, so there's no link between job losses resulting from the automation of their work and raising the minimum wage.

Nice try, though. And that was an interesting read, so thanks.

 

[esmith]

That's a stretch. You're not going to see McDonald's using robots to flip your burgers in your lifetime. The jobs that article is talking about (manufacturing and clerical work) already pay substantially more than the minimum wage, so there's no link between job losses resulting from the automation of their work and raising the minimum wage.

Nice try, though. And that was an interesting read, so thanks.

Are you saying that it is impossible for a machine to fry hamburgers? Better take a closer look at the new world. Oh, that's right you are a Canadian

 

[bobhikes]

How Technology Is Destroying Jobs | MIT Technology Review

When it becomes an economic factor that replacing humans with machines, business will do it. So, if you increase the cost of using human labor outweighs the cost of new technology what do you think companies will do. Take a look at the auto industry

The Degradation of Work Revisited: Labor and the Post-War Automation Movement

This drives the point of raising minimum wage. Everybody but the elite is going to be working minimum wage jobs because of technology advances. Without the poor able to buy the economy will stagenate or collaspe all together. If you pay them just more than they need, then they will be able to give there extra money to the elite.