You keep harping on the obvious fact that there are more minimum wage workers than there are supervisory and management positions to which they can be promoted. Yet companies struggle to fill these positions. Why? Shouldn't there be a long waiting list based on your point? Like the years it takes to get Giants season tickets? Or is it possible that some choose to remain poor because it's a lot easier to bitch about your lot in life and blame the system for your failures than it is to expend the time and effort to qualify for a better job?
That presumes that everyone has the same capacity, which is simply not true. Many people aren't qualified to be managers or supervisors.
I'm not. I'm arguing that a person today should be able to choose to work one job for 40 hours that will support their needs. If you look at living wage calculators, like what MIT has provided at http://livingwage.mit.edu/, you can see a breakdown. For my parish, East Baton Rouge, for a family with two adults and one child, each parent must make $12.60 per hour at a 40 hour week. Minimum wage in Louisiana is $7.25 at a 40 hour week.
In your situation--two adults, two children, with one adult working--the poverty wage is $11.00 per hour in EBR Parish at a 40 hour week. The living wage is calculated at $24.95 at a 40 hour week. If you were working 80 hours a week at minimum wage, you'd be gaining slightly over half of that.
Given what we know about the death spiral that most physical retail stores are going to be in/are already in due to delivery/Amazon, the coming huge loss of jobs due to self driving vehicles, the constant influx of low skilled immigrants that can be linked to depressed wages in big cities, and the general automation of certain parts of certain industries, then what is the solution?
I mean I know what my solution would be - curtail immigration/reform so that wages across the board would be increased as there is greater competition for workers. But you are right that not everyone has the innate talent to do certain positions. And really, a lot of people who should be focusing on certain industries are choosing not to do so for whatever reasons (the NYT recently had an insightful article about the pressure of wives on husbands to not choose careers in traditionally pink collar fields).
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- 28/06/2017 12:13:42 AM
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