Even "starter jobs" should pay a living wage.

[white_wolf]

This was brought up in this thread, http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022394394 , but I feel it deserves it own post. The argument was that not all jobs should be required to pay a living wage, because some jobs are simply starter jobs meant for people to get some extra spending money. I don't like this line of reasoning, and it's something I've heard a lot from conservatives, because it is a slippery slope. In a bad economy I'm willing to bet there are plenty of people who have lost their "career" jobs and are forced to work for low wages at these "starter jobs." I'm sorry, but companies like McDonalds, Wal-Mart, chain stores, chain movie theaters,etc. can afford to pay their employees a living wage. They get away with not doing it because we've bought into this right-wing talking point that these jobs are just for students who need spending money and shouldn't be enough to live on. It is not unreasonable to expect these massive corporations to pay all of their workers a decent wage. If they can afford to pay their CEOs millions of dollars to figure out new ways to cheat the government out of tax dollars then they can afford to pay their workers decently.

[OceanEcosystem]

1. "A living wage" really needs to be defined here.

As was mentioned in another thread, someone may be able to have food, health care, transportation, and a place to live, but not be able to afford to purchase a two-bedroom house or a very good car. A "living wage" would provide for the former but not necessarily the latter.


I think this is why some people may draw the line at a "living wage" at, say, $27,000 a year, while others would draw it at $40,000 a year. (Of course, the cost of living varies from place to place, but a national minimum wage by definition has to apply to the whole country and not specifics.)

[Warpy]

2. Bottom wages now aren't only not living wages, they're not

even subsistence wages. Eventually anyone trying to live on minimum wage is going to get sick, get into an accident and be injured, or otherwise be incapable of working for a few weeks. At that point they fall completely through the cracks and this is where a lot of the homeless are coming from.

Minimum wage no longer pays a worker enough for nutritious food, safe housing, and basic medical care. These workers are being systematically robbed every time they go into work.

Paying below subsistence used to get employers marched off to prison. Now it's "smart business" as CEOs and top shareholders profit from the suffering of their workers.

Honestly if you can't afford to pay a subsistence wage for a job, you need to do it yourself or go out of business.

That's the message we need to send. In any case, the minimum wage needs to go up a tremendous amount.

[Cleita]

3. This is why I'm against internships. They should at least pay minimum wage.

Not everyone has parents to support them through an internship and I find it really unAmerican to not pay people for their work even if it's in a learning capacity. These jobs used to be known as trainee positions. Sure they didn't pay the full wage of an experienced worker, but at least they paid for work done.

[surrealAmerican]

4. Do people really work full time ...

... for "extra" spending money? I've heard this argument before, but the only people I've known to take a job for "extra" income have taken part-time jobs - usually less than 20 hours/week.


... and do we really want to make sure that people "just starting out" won't be capable of supporting themselves?