http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24340661
I found this article very interesting because it introduced a new idea to me. Have different age brackets earn different amounts of money. It is true that a vast majority of teenagers that earn minimum wage live with those that do not. Why not pay them less? They're just kids. They don't have as many expenses as an adult may have. Pay the adults $0.25 more and just subtract that from the kids pay. There are probably a similar amount of teenagers earning minimum wage as there are adults earning minimum.
Also, maybe the US needs to explore what the UK calls the living wage. If we explored what it actually took to live in an area without many luxuries, then maybe our wage would actually get its value from something. Now it's just a number that tries to keep people out of poverty. I think we would obviously find that by getting a living wage and doing it by geographical location like in the UK, our wages would drop in some areas, and rise in others. These drops would allow the overall amount of money being paid to people to stay the same, but the minimum earners in high cost of living places would be better off, and the minimum earners in low cost areas wouldn't have as much ability to buy luxuries.
I'm not saying that these policies are great or should be enacted tomorrow. I'm simply providing food for thought.
- David Gerhart
This is a really interesting conspet. I've never thought like these before. I don't agree about the teens making less than the adults just because at the moment their costs aren't as high but soon with college on the way they'll be spending tons and need that money. However I was intrigued when you raised the point of basing the income on the living costs of areas. This topic is truly one that raises some questions.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the fact that adults have way more expenses than a teenager. Like you said, the minimum wage is to keep people out of poverty, but Kirsten did raise a good point about teenagers having to save money for college tuition as well as room and board. Perhaps a raise minimum wage would be able to help more kids save just enough money to attend college.
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