Conversation

Aella
@Aella_Girl
One thing I don't fully understand is why the equilibrium for the demand/supply of labor is not enough to live on. Why does the hiring party get to be more picky (and thus pay less) among potential employees, while employees get to be much less picky in their job? Some theories:
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Maybe 'not enough to live on' is a false premise - maybe the natural equilibrium *is* enough to live on for a subsection of people, and artificially pushing the equilibrium upwards (minimum wage) somehow has spillover effects onto people who need higher pay (like a family)
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
Maybe there's something weird specifically with *low* pay labor/demand markets. High paying jobs often do feature very strong employee power - lawyers can make private practices; head hunters try to poach employees, etc. Why is the equilibrium inadequate for low wage categories?
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Maybe there's not enough 'natural' competition among companies at low wages? Just, not enough jobs in general offering entry level positions. If more jobs opened up, employees could put way more pressure on companies, and wages would naturally increase to be competitive.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
Basically, I'm operating under the assumption that the need for a minimum wage is abnormal. The idea that we have to literally ban the option for consenting adults to agree to certain types of exchanges means that something else is very wrong inside the system.
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Aella
@Aella_Girl
My priors make me want to guess that regulations that make it difficult for new businesses to pop up, or tax burdens that make it difficult to hire more employees, and lobbying'd laws from corporations that suppress competition, are the real culprits for low equilibrium.
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dougeweber
@dougeweber
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
One of the problems is the definition of living. Remember that for most of history a man would not marry until he had a job that payed well enough to support a family. Now we say a minimum wage should be enough to do that.
ZePompom
@SoTxBob
Replying to
@Aella_Girl
$10 hr in this day is not enough to live on. 400- taxes might get you a shack but utilities, food, gas etc, leaves you starving, even in an area that is normally cheap to live. I have a very tight kid that doesn't spend anything frivolously. Most months he needs a small loan.