re: #493 Ryan King

What’s also lost on lots of these people is that these jobs aren’t just for college part timers or after school jobs for high schoolers. You’ve got people working full time (or trying to at least) at these positions, and they’re not easy jobs to be on your feet 8 hours a day prepping and cooking food while adhering to proper food preparation to make sure someone doesn’t get food poisoning.

The minimum wage hasn’t kept up with inflation so it’s not worth nearly as much as it should. That needs to be fixed. Doing so would put more money in the pockets of workers, who would turn around and spend it on stuff they want, not just what they need. That in turn stimulates demand for more items, increasing the number of jobs.

Where does all that money that goes to wages come from? It means slightly less profit at the end of the day for shareholders of companies like McDs, which make money hand over fist. Or, they could raise prices fractionally to cover the costs, and the result would still be a workforce that is more stable and more willing to go the extra mile for the company.

A happier workforce is a better workforce, and some more enlightened companies realize this, so they pay more than minimum wage even though they don’t have to.