[lumost]

The economics of this situation are pretty complex. The short-term benefits may also be forcing employers to raise long-term wages to compensate. The long-term wage increases for low-income jobs may result in lower usage of other government programs such as food stamps, and housing assistance.

I passed by a giant sign next to a McDonalds offering $17/hr starting wage for McDonald's employees at a roadside operation in Western Mass.

[dingusthemingus]

I dont think anyone likes the fact that US minimum wage is so low. Seeimg the higher wage offers has been pleasant, but not being able to go in restaurants because they have been unable to hire enough staff hasnt been.

Mcdonalds + Amazon wont be a victim of minumum wage laws, they advocate for high minumum wages, as less productive chains and small businesses with smaller margins will have to die off to allow for more mcdonalds and amazon.

It is sad how expensive some parts of the country are, and the minimum wage "should" be higher, but ive seen economists say raising minum wage hurts low income earners looking for their first job (disproportionatly bipoc people), increases prices for everything, increases govt beurocracy, and simply doesnt work as a simple fix.

[nerdponx]

And that's $17/hr * 40hrs * 50weeks = $34,000 / year. A single person could be comfortable on that kind of money, but they won't exactly living the luxury life either. I think that's a pretty reasonable baseline for a full-time-employed resident of the USA.

[fzzzy]

You're just missing one thing -- there is no way in hell mcdonalds will ever give you 40 hours a week.

[nerdponx]

Good point. The best case scenario is that you can make a decent living for a single person on $17/hr. The more realistic scenarios are uglier.

Point being: we need to stop thinking of $15/hr as a high hourly wage.

[lumost]

This Mcdonalds had a rather extensive line, I wouldn't be surprised if they're paying overtime to keep serving customers.