Would decreasing the minimum wage increase employment?

B

bond_trad3r

I go to get some late night food last night. Waited 15 minutes in the drive-thru waiting for some minimum wage bozos to make the food. Same place takes a couple minutes in the morning, but probably has twice as many staff.

It got me thinking... If the gov't were to halve the minimum wage, it should double the amount of employment or make businesses more profitable which in turn would lead to increased aggregate demand. There are a lot of unemployed high school and college students which would be looking for any kind of money rather than nothing at all. Just a thought.
 
On the contrary, minimum wage reductions - according to Keysian economics - increase employment for the same reasons the OP stated.

Cheaper prices at static profit margins equate to more goods sold at comparable national income.

More goods sold = higher employment to service higher demand.

Shows you two guys haven't a clue, ironically.
 
hehe...you gotta becareful on this board. Try to remember that there are a few people on this board making min wage right now and they do NOT want it out that their salaries should be halved. You can tell who they are as they just come straight out with the name calling and no real answer to the question.

But to answer, yes...decreasing min wage does increase employment, but it just puts that much of a gap more between the middle class and the poor and doesnt really help our economy...it just fills employment numbers. I mean, if im a business and i pay 1 guy 8 bucks per hour (340$ per week) its the same as if i have two employees paying them $170 per week. There is no extra money in the economy and the money i paid them doesnt make the economy any better or worse. (actually it might keep crime down a tad since now there is 1 guy not unemployed and getting himself into trouble, but then again...it might make crime go up and now there are two guys that cant live on that wage.)
 
Achillies, and what are you going to tell that person making such low wages when he/she cant pay her bills/rent (even working 2 jobs)...????

Let me guess....you will pitch in to help them pay their bills correct?? LOL


another RETARD
 
IMHO the reality is that if you decrease minimum wage you would decrease employment.

People simply wouldn't work those types of jobs.

They would either go on the government dole or work jobs where they can do better than a pittance.

2 Cents
 
Quote from joemiami:

Achillies, and what are you going to tell that person making such low wages when he/she cant pay her bills/rent (even working 2 jobs)...????

Let me guess....you will pitch in to help them pay their bills correct?? LOL


another RETARD
More...

Retard? For a guy who evidently knows nothing about economics to speak authortativily about it - in an economics forum, no less - is the height of idiocy.

Your socialist diatribe about the disaffected poor's coping skills is irrelevant. But of course, you made it the centerpiece of a debate you couldn't win....

The fact of the matter is cheaper labor equates to higher employment. That translates to a lower standard of living for the working poor, and a higher standard for everyone else.

Those are just the facts. Feel free to piss those panties again. :D
 
Quote from achilles28:


The fact of the matter is cheaper labor equates to higher employment. That translates to a lower standard of living for the working poor, and a higher standard for everyone else.

Those are just the facts.
More...

Those are the facts if you're a supply sider like Alan Greenspan. A trillion dollar hole (or two) was blown through his economic theory in 2008. Maybe he's wrong about this one, too.
 
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