Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

>Guess those companies should not exist then. No company should exist if their workers end up in poverty or need help in the form of food stamps or any other kind of help. Any job should pay enough for a decent life.

Killing such such companies doesn't magically create new companies able to pay more, it just converts their low-paid workers to unemployed workers. The minimum wage is always zero (no job).



That's only the case when profit margins are so low that the minimum wage extinguishes the marginal benefit of a worker.

At the bottom of the wage spectrum that's mostly not true. Profits would allow for higher wages, but the negotiating power of the employers is such that they can hold wages down. In these cases minimum wages do make sense and don't result in higher unemployment. And implementing minimum wage laws has shown that it does not affect unemployment in a big manner.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: