[davengh]

That unemployment pay is more attractive than working says a lot about prevailing wages. If unemployment covers rent and working does not, why in the hell would any rational person want to work? And why should employers think they shouldn't have to compete with that?

[leopaacc]

Part of the problem is that the high unemployment premiums are coming from via the stimulus packages which will probably end at some point. In the meantime more businesses will go bankrupt or close doors. So yeah, it's rational for the employee to sit things out, but the market is distorted

[dublin]

Remember, as Thomas Sowell has correctly pointed out, the true minimum wage is always ZERO. I'm advising a smallish manufacturer now whose goal (as a response to minimum wage and other govt regulation) is to eliminate ALL of their employees, through both automation and outsourcing. I've seen the numbers, and this takes them from barely profitable in a good economy to marginally profitable even in a fairly down economy. They will not survive another downturn if they don't do this, so all the jobs will be gone soon, anyway.

This isn't what they want to do, but what they must do, especially with no barrier to Chinese cheating in the market.

Policy has consequences, and right now, most of our government policies are actually arguing against creating (or even maintaining) jobs.

[benlivengood]

Has Thomas Sowell talked to any panhandlers lately? I'd say the floor on minimum wage is at least $3/Hr if one can sit on a curb with cardboard and earn that much.

[rdtwo]

Panhandling is way more profitable than that. I’d estimate they earn 30-50 an hour in Seattle

[benlivengood]

I was estimating the floor in 99% of the country and not just the big cities because labor costs are very regional.

[WalterGR]

How are you making that estimate?

[rdtwo]

Extrapolate out of how often I see folks giving money out on my way home at the same intersection (around 1/4) times for a 2 minute wait. With what looks to be more than a dollar worth of sponsorship for the panhandlers habit