minimum wage

The concept of a minimum wage stirs quite a bit of debate across the web. There are blogs and websites like The Minimum Wage who support the idea of a minimum wage and would like to see a "stronger federal minimum wage." The idea being that people need to be paid a reasonable amount for their labor.

There are also those who are against the idea of a minimum wage altogether, and those who would like to repeal it. The reasoning being that wages are an agreement between employee and employer that does not benefit from government interference.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, it's easy to agree that there are a lot of emotional arguments involved. Many would argue that people need a living wage. Others argue that families living on minimum wage need to make more money to survive. Amidst all of the emotion, there is limited discussion and analysis of the usefulness of the minimum wage.

Basic facts about minimum wage can't be ignored, no matter what your viewpoint might be. The requirement to pay minimum wage was started in 1947 at a little less than 50 cents per hour, and roughly 60 years later, it reached about $5.50 per hour. Many groups of employees are exempt from coverage, and it's mainly used by young entry level employees as supported by data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Original Technorati articles tagged “minimum wage”

• in Business
  When Americans Will Do Dirty Jobs
  Recently, Bloomberg on MSNBC.com published an article that claimed that Americans won't do dirty jobs.
  by stephengfm / on Nov 16, 2011

Latest blogosphere posts tagged “minimum wage”

 

• The lesson of ‘Julius’

  
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  Remember last year when the Obama campaign came up with the idea for “Julia”, a fictional woman who was supposed to represent how Obama made life better for women everywhere? (You know, that phony, made-up ‘War on Women’ and all that.) I wrote about this  about a year ago. Well, one year later the good ...
  6 days ago

• The Cost of a Burger

  
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  There is an article on the PayScale blogs about the recent protests by fast food workers in New York City. NYC is one of the most expensive cities in the USA in which to live, and yet fast food workers are still making about $8 per hour.They were demanding not only $15 per hour, but benefits... [[ This is a content ...
  6 days ago

• Cartoon, Video (Hilarious): Hey recent college graduate, congratulations?

  
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  Despite the fluff being floated by the Obama administration about an improving job market, the unemployment rate for recent college grads is reported at 8.8%! What that number doesnt tell you, however, is that for graduates who are actually employed, it is often at compensation levels that cannot possibly allow them ...
  1 week ago

• McDonalds responds to Detroit minimum wage protests

  
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  Activists singled out McDonalds Friday in a series of Detroit rallies calling on fast food and retail chains to raise pay for workers with or without federal or state changes to minimum wage laws.
  1 week ago

• Activists call for $15 minimum wage in raucous Detroit rally targeting McDonalds

  
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  Jay Robinson started working at McDonalds about three years ago at Michigans minimum wage, $7.40. Hes since been given a raise, he said, and now clocks in at $7.48.
  1 week ago

• Minimum wage rally planned in Detroit as activists target fast food restaurants in series of protests

  
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  Activists who have been targeting fast food restaurants today in demonstrations calling for a higher minimum wage levels plan a 4 p.m. rally at the Detroit Federation of Teachers building, 2875 W. Grand Blvd. in Detroit.
  1 week ago

• Mothers, Families Tell Struggles of Living on Minimum Wage

  
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  The stories pastors, chaplains, and charity workers too often hear behind closed doors and through frustrated tears are being brought to light. Acting Secretary of the United States Department of Labor Seth Harris has hit the road to listen to people struggling to get by on the minimum wage.  Courageous people are ...
  1 week ago

• Fast food strike wave spreads again, now to Detroit

  
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  As St. Louis fast food workers were going back to work from their Wednesday evening to Thursday strike, Detroit became the latest city to be hit by this springs wave of fast food strikes. Organizers report that more than 100 St. Louis workers joined the strike, and Detroit is expected to be bigger ; in fact, Josh ...
  1 week ago

• The minimum wage is lower right across the street, but this McDonalds is staying put

  
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  Heres another data point destroying the already long since destroyed Republican argument that raising the minimum wage will cause job loss. Washington state has a minimum wage nearly $2 higher than neighboring Idaho. And yet , researchers: [...] looked at 16 years worth of restaurant employment data for 316 pairs of ...
  1 week ago

• Kudos to the Warehouse for pay move

  
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  It’s great news that the Warehouse is making it a policy to lift wages. This move is partly inspired by the Living Wage campaign . The Green Party has been actively supporting this campaign that would see big employers sign up to pay a living wage.  This is the wage that would allow their employees to achieve ...
  1 week ago

• Advocates For Women’s, Workers Rights Say Congress Must Reject The Working Families Flexibility Act

  
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  More than 150 women’s, worker and civil rights organizations sent a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives Monday urging them to reject the  Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013. The measure,  H.R. 1406 , sponsored by U.S. Rep. Martha Roby (R, AL-2), is expected to go up for a full House ...
  1 week ago

• Harvesting Justice 13: We Have a Dream – Farm Workers Organize for Justice

  
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  By Tory Field and Beverly Bell Part 13 of the Harvesting Justice series For decades, farm workers – the more than one million men and women who work in fields and orchards around the country – have been leading a struggle for justice in our food system. They have been building awareness and mobilizing the ...
  1 week ago

• Harvesting Justice 13: We Have a Dream – Farm Workers Organize for Justice

  
  — Authority:
  By Tory Field and Beverly Bell Part 13 of the Harvesting Justice series For decades, farm workers – the more than one million men and women who work in fields and orchards around the country – have been leading a struggle for justice in our food system. They have been building awareness and mobilizing the ...
  1 week ago

• Hundreds of survivors protest as Bangladesh factory collapse death toll passes 700

  
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   Hundreds of survivors of last months collapse of a building housing garment factories in Bangladesh protested for compensation Tuesday, as the death toll from the countrys worst-ever industrial disaster passed 700. The police control room overseeing the recovery operation said the death toll stood at 705 on Tuesday ...
  1 week ago

• The Cheapest-Paying Corporations

  
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  These are the cheapest of the giant corporations -- the ones that pay their workers a very low-wage (at or near the minimum wage). Note that these are not small businesses that are barely scraping by, but corporations that pay their CEOs and executives many millions of dollars -- and are currently reaping ...
  1 week ago

• State Senator seeks to unearth minimum wage bill

  
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  Senator Earline Parmon has resorted to a relatively unusual tactic in an effort to unearth a piece of common sense legislation that has been buried in the Senate Rules Committee for the past two months. The Winston-Salem Democrat gave notice last … Read More...
  1 week ago

• Wage Hike Equals Zero For Some

  
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  More often than not, Marta Schwartz’s paycheck is worth nothing. The $5 she makes per hour as a server doesn’t even pay the taxes she owes on her tips, and that’s reflected in her pay stub with a neat line of zeros. Schwartz is one of 771,000 hospitality workers in New York State — about 2.8 million food ...
  1 week ago

• My Boring Life: Day 121

  
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  From a money spending perspective, the next week is going to be pretty boring for you to read about because unless something unexpected happens (which is always a possibility), I’m anticipating that it’ll be a no-spend-week. This is one of those Catch 22 situations when it comes to writing about being on a strict ...
  2 weeks ago

• My Boring Life: Day 121

  
  — Authority:
  From a money spending perspective, the next week is going to be pretty boring for you to read about because unless something unexpected happens (which is always a possibility), I’m anticipating that it’ll be a no-spend-week. This is one of those Catch 22 situations when it comes to writing about being on a strict ...
  2 weeks ago

• Are Today’s Teens Materialistic?

  
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  When I was a kid, I worked my butt off doing chores around the house and spent my weekends at a minimum wage job.  I cut the grass, shoveled snow, painted the deck, cleaned the pool, you name it, whatever had to be done around the house, it was the job of the kids.  My ... read more
  2 weeks ago

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