Restaurants And Stores In The US Are Finally Starting To Raise Salaries And People Share Their Thoughts On It
In the current post-pandemic times, more and more businesses are reopening their doors, and job openings are accelerating faster than people can send in their job applications.
Many reasons can be blamed for staff shortages, from parents not having anywhere to leave their homeschooled children, to others who are worried about catching the virus, while the rest are satisfied with benefit expansions.
So to attract more applicants to keep up with a new wave of customers as the restrictions ease, restaurants and stores in the US are now hiking wages. McDonald’s, Sheetz, and Chipotle are just some of the latest companies to follow Amazon, Walmart, and Costco in boosting wages to $15 an hour or even higher. It sparked a discussion on Twitter with people posting job ads that show “they can afford to pay you.”
Image credits: derenicbyrd
Image credits: DerenicByrd
The race to find an employee, let alone a talented one, has become a real headache for many businesses, both retail and catering, as the job market is being torn by increased customer flow amid vaccinations and a labor shortage.
Image credits: DerenicByrd
Image credits: DerenicByrd
So companies like McDonalds and Amazon, which are not usually associated with good pay and working conditions, are now forced to step up a little and pay more per hour.
For example, on Thursday, McDonalds reported that it will raise hourly wages “by an average of 10%” for more than 36,500 employees at more than 660 company-operated US restaurants. This will make an entry-level job come in at $11-$17 an hour. Meanwhile, shift managers can expect their wage to increase to somewhere around $15 to $20 an hour to start.
Image credits: DerenicByrd
Image credits: DerenicByrd
On the same occasion, Amazon has announced it will be hiring 75,000 workers for its warehouse and delivery placements in the US and Canada. The company is now offering an average starting pay of $17 per hour, plus it will pay new warehouse and delivery workers a $100 bonus if they show a covid-19 vaccination card.
Chipotle has also said on Monday it will be raising its average hourly rage to $15. The package will include employee referral bonuses of $200 for restaurant workers and $750 for general managers.
Image credits: DerenicByrd
Image credits: DerenicByrd
Josh Bivens, a research director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told AP News that “Customers are coming back faster than restaurants can staff up. By raising pay, they are able to get more workers in the door.”
Here’s what people had to say in response to this thread
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I love all these people saying "get an education." That costs money. If you have no financial assistance, how are you going to afford your education? And student loans are so predatory I can understand why people want to avoid them at all costs. People need to change their mindset that minimum wage jobs are just for teens, they are for everyone. McD's can't run on 16 year olds alone!
Exactly! Also, not everyone is intellectually capable of getting a degree. We can't all be lawyers and doctors, we also need cleaners and factory workers and these people deserve to be able to feed their families and put a roof over their heads.
Load More Replies...
Something occurred to me as I was reading this - the argument about cost of living. The example given quotes rental rates. They're on a supply and demand basis too - and often landlords can (and do) raise rents more to line their pockets than to cover their expenses and make a modest profit (let's face it, no landlord does it to break even). It becomes a vicious cycle - landlords work out that their tenants are earning more, so they up their rent to take more from them, pushing out potential new renters, who need to demand a higher living wage to have somewhere affordable to live. The system is broken all the way through. And the argument that this will break other small businesses - it is a cost of doing business to pay your staff sufficiently. That may mean raising your prices, or it may mean your business is no longer viable. But to keep paying a pittance just to keep your business going should never be an option.
You’re so so so so so so so so soooooooo wrong about landlords it’s not even funny. There are legitimately thousands if not millions of landlords who do it just to break even, or less. That way their mortgage is paid. Many aren’t even close to earning a real profit from rentals unless they have multiples. Only the slumlords and the landlords of nicer pricier places make a livable profit. Rent costs what the market bears, like most other things. Landlords require you to make 3x the rent. Once they know that, not a single landlord is sitting there calculating your wages. Man unchecked and unregulated capitalism makes some of you really fall into paranoid delusions. Anyway. The small business workaround is just to pay people under the table or pay them more. Either will do.
Load More Replies...
I made more (including benefits) working as a janitor than I did using my degree. And I barely made ends meet with either. Stop accepting garbage pay. We deserve to live not just survive from our meager wages.
I work in a job that pays about twice what my degree-specific profession would pay. The job doesn't draw on anything I learnt in my studies (you can train almost anyone to do it) but the business wouldn't hire anyone without a degree.
Load More Replies... The GOP has a simple solution: Just cut all financial support to poor people so they have no other option than to work as an underpaid wage slave. That's how you fix the economy.... Remember this when you're voting in 2024.
UK minimum wage is US$12. You will pay ZERO income tax on that amount. Statutory paid leave is 28 days per year, statutory paid sick leave is 6 months, statutory paid maternity leave is 39 weeks. A McDonalds cheesburger.... costs US$1.42 ...
$1.42 price (£0.99) INCLUDES the 20% sales tax. McDonalds in the UK only reduced the price of some of their products due to the temporary hospitality tax cut. The "99p cheeseburger" has been that price for years. Either way, you're talking about pennies difference in price even when the company has to pay their staff almost DOUBLE the USA's minimum wage over here.
Load More Replies...
Them: "It was never supposed to be a living wage!" FDR when he established Federal Minimum Wage: "It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country...and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level. I mean the wages of decent living."
Why do I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't care how much fast food costs? It's garbage. If you eat so much fast food that you get jacked about the cost of a McMuffin, maybe you should learn how to use a microwave, because you can get that junk in the frozen food aisle at the supermarket. I make my own coffee. And my own sandwiches. I don't rely on fast food, and have no need for companies to lowball their employees with the threat of inflated prices to the public. Go ahead and pay the workers a living wage. On the occasion that I want a hamburger and am feeling too lazy to make it myself, I'll pay the going rate for it.
I love the people saying EVERYTHING will go up with prices. People were being exploited and things were going up anyways while people were earning the same. Since 2009 or so? That's not right. $7.25 per hour is nothing close to trying to live on it. That's the problem. For years people worked on the same wage while cost of living was and still is going up. Wages should keep up with raising prices of living.
Worth mentioning, most people also seem to associate working for minimum wage or close to it with fast food. More than half (about 60%) the jobs in the US pay $20 or less. And the majority also have no more than the minimum paid benefits. "Getting a better job" means getting a better job than half of America, not just the 5 people at a roofing company or the staff at McDonalds.
UGGGGHHH the people saying "get a skill set and a better job!!!" are hurting my brain. PEOPLE ARE DOING THIS. So there is a shortage of low-wage workers. So now what, Einstein?! F*****g ay, why are people against other people living decently? Not rolling in cash, just DECENTLY. If you don't want your fellow humans to thrive you're a monster.
Because they're bitter and terrified of change, even if the change is overall positive.
Load More Replies...
1. The people talking about 'getting an education' sound a bit silly - a nurse is an example of a job that requires qualifications and long unsociable hours but doesn't pay much, same with being a car mechanic. We can't all be CEOs/tech workers or investment bankers. This is before we even get to the point that not everyone is capable of doing a degree (either because of financial implications or simply aptitude). Do these people not deserve a living? 2. The roofing company argument only makes sense if we knew what the owner makes in relation to his workers. If he takes home 150k while the workers get paid peanuts, then he can afford to pay the 5 workers 10k more and still take 100k home. Different if he's barely breaking even and genuinely can't afford to pay his workers...
The argument by the roofing company...a person working for $7.25/hr has zero money to spend on fixing a roof or shopping at any small business. When people start earning a living wage, they will put more money back into the economy, including being able to hire roofers to fix their homes, so the roofer will be able to pay his employees more. And then his employees will in turn be able to shop at other small businesses.
People are so dramatic. "Enjoy your $20 Big Mac meal" is not an effective counterpoint, it just shows there's yet another person who isn't interested in facts and data.
Going back to the plague every mass illness has caused a major step forward in worker rights
Conservatives: "we hate the liberal elite and their stupid college educations". Also conservatives: "gO To sChoOL"
The big mac index of Denmark is wrong it's 4,9$ for Denmark and 5,66$ in the US based on 2020 index But the rest is right. But it's only the basic salary there are supplement for working after 19 at night more after midnight ex double for working Sunday/holiday after 19. And the tax is 39% (include full Heath Care and free college for kids) and there are obvious also tax deduction so it more like 34- 35% tax. Ohh I forgot 8% in private pension to. So being in a union don't seem that bad does it? MC D have been that since the mid 80's in Denmark
Another thing, when your wages increases, food stamps decrease and income based rent increases.
Hired all unpaid interns, think of the profit! Would the prices of the burgers reflect the low wages? Will everything else lower in cost?
Denis Tymulis comes off like a shitbag for including all that anti-living-wage bullshît at the end there. Why include obviously wrong talking points? So you can “both sides” something that doesn’t have two sides! FOH
They have nonchoice... If they don't act and raise it now, they'll be swept away. See? Solidary CAN make a change...
Funny how this is happening right as 17 states and counting are eliminating unemployment benefits and replacing it with employment incentives. Like it or not, most of these jobs are going to be self checkout and order kiosks in the near future. So do yourselves a favor and start working on plan b.
You think a self checkout machine is going to fry a burger in the kitchen?
Load More Replies...
This is excellent, I'm a health care aide and my wages are really low
So much weird reasoing in some posts. I don't know abou the US but a roofer is a skilled worker, over here. He costs a fortune.
The problem with jacking up wages this high, in one go, is that companies are going to jack up prices on everything to compensate...........so you aren't any better off than you were making the previous wages. This country is already seeing prices jacked up to ridiculous amounts as it is. In order for people to actually MAKE more money, the government would have to put a 5 year price freeze on EVERYTHING in this country!
I loved the comment "Don't like working at McD's, then get an education. Why should they be paid $18/hour and make me wait 10 minutes for cold food." Well, dear commenter, how about YOU get an education and a higher paying job so you can eat at 4-star Michelin restaurants, not at a fast food place?
fastfood is a career path, where do you think their managers, general managers, regional mangers, etc come from?? in some area, those also the only jobs available.
dumb ass people, prices have been increasing forever, cost of living has increased multiple time, minimum wage has never changed. it has nothing to do with price of your food, it has to do with giving the owners smaller profits.
In a perfect world, everybody would earn the same, working in an area they like. If you spent more for education then ofc you should earn a bit more until you hit the break-even point. But everythin else is just made up stuff which needs to be addressed. Summes up: Eight hours of my time cant be worth more then anybody elses time. Period
The movement should demand a LIVING wage, not a number. Greedy corporations want to seem like they're "with the people" by raising the wage, and then they raise costs, and everything else goes up, and we're right back where we started. The goal should be that if you're working, you should be able to pay your bills and provide for your family. Period.
I hope for every $1 they increase wages, they make it 5x easier to fire slackers. You want the money, earn it.
I ran a small business and did most of it myself until I could afford to hire. Work your way up isn't an employee responsibility it is also the employers responsibility to build their business to AFFORD employees
Regarding the Buc-ee's sign, that's been their policy for a LONG time. From everything I've heard about working there, though, you start with a high rate, but raises and promotions are next to impossible to get. Can't say it stopped me from applying multiple times when I was unemployed. Also, Buc-ee's is amazing! Cleanest public loos ever!
I get it, when fast food boomed in the 70's it was mostly teenagers working part time jobs for spending money so who cared if they made $2.75 per hour? Now, it isn't teenagers working part time for spending money. They are adults with families and they are working 2 and 3 jobs to pay their bills. It isn't right. Pay people a living wage for working.
What don't you get? If you're a skilled welder making $20/hr and now Macdonald's pays $20/hr your value as a welder goes up. You have skills the burger kid doesn't. You should not both make the same. Now the owner of the welding company has to pay $25 to find and retain skilled workers. The cost of the metalwork is passed to the consumer.
What don't *you* get? In countries which raise the minimum wage there is very little rise in inflation, but there *is* and increase in GDP and cash flow because the poorest people have money to spend on goods and services that they otherwise couldn't afford. More people get a good education because they don't have to go into work to support their families, giving a wider skills base for future growth. Health and fitness rates increase, because people can afford healthcare and good food. Obesity rates drop, saving billions in disability care and benefits. Etc. Etc.
Load More Replies...
We all need above livable wages and not rely on tips. But, we don't have a good system to do it without inflation, so I think this could backfire. When my state raised several dollars (we have higher paying min wage than most states) mom and pops had to lower hours on the employee so take home was the same. Costs went up to pay for this raise.
I miss the Value Meal. I remember when Big Macs cost $.99 and you could get 2 apple pies for $.50. $7.25 should be a living wage. A 200 square foot apartment should cost $200 per month. Today it goes for about $900
I saw a place yesterday whose help wanted sign proclaimed "competitive wages." Competitive with what, or with whom? Are all the other employers in town competing to see how low they can keep wages?
Unfortunately wages are a band-aid-on-a-hemmoraging-wound solution. It doesn't address the existing inequity that led to wages even being a problem, that being the huge gap between the wealthy and the poor. The wealthy will inevitably find a way to make the higher wages irrelevant and/or ensure their wealth increases despite not needing any more money, thus rendering these token efforts moot.
To be rich you must have a lot of poor. What is the point of rich people again?
Load More Replies...
The employers will pay it because its a cost they have to bear until self-service ordering kiosks and robot line chiefs are brought online (and you better believe those are on the drawing board), and the customers will pay for it because they/we won't/can't give up the convenience of immediately available meals. But even if higher wages resolve the labor shortage, the housing shortage will still eat up any wage increase. The suburbs are not legally zoned and built with the high-density housing and transportation infrastructure to sustain the workforce that makes life livable for the more affluent suburbanites whose money comes from outside those suburbs.
So let me get this straight: McDonald's is FINALLY raising its salary, not just to the proposed $15/hr minimum wage people have been asking for, but OVER that to $16.50/hr, and this guy's first response is basically "Well, it's not as high as it should be or could be, but it's headed in the right direction!" Really? So, as soon as they give people what they're asking for (and not just that, but 10% over what people asked for) the first thing we're going to do is "Sorry, not good enough. We want more!"? How about give it a little time to encourage more businesses to do this before we start complaining that what we ASKED FOR isn't good enough.
I love all these people saying "get an education." That costs money. If you have no financial assistance, how are you going to afford your education? And student loans are so predatory I can understand why people want to avoid them at all costs. People need to change their mindset that minimum wage jobs are just for teens, they are for everyone. McD's can't run on 16 year olds alone!
Exactly! Also, not everyone is intellectually capable of getting a degree. We can't all be lawyers and doctors, we also need cleaners and factory workers and these people deserve to be able to feed their families and put a roof over their heads.
Load More Replies... Something occurred to me as I was reading this - the argument about cost of living. The example given quotes rental rates. They're on a supply and demand basis too - and often landlords can (and do) raise rents more to line their pockets than to cover their expenses and make a modest profit (let's face it, no landlord does it to break even). It becomes a vicious cycle - landlords work out that their tenants are earning more, so they up their rent to take more from them, pushing out potential new renters, who need to demand a higher living wage to have somewhere affordable to live. The system is broken all the way through. And the argument that this will break other small businesses - it is a cost of doing business to pay your staff sufficiently. That may mean raising your prices, or it may mean your business is no longer viable. But to keep paying a pittance just to keep your business going should never be an option.
You’re so so so so so so so so soooooooo wrong about landlords it’s not even funny. There are legitimately thousands if not millions of landlords who do it just to break even, or less. That way their mortgage is paid. Many aren’t even close to earning a real profit from rentals unless they have multiples. Only the slumlords and the landlords of nicer pricier places make a livable profit. Rent costs what the market bears, like most other things. Landlords require you to make 3x the rent. Once they know that, not a single landlord is sitting there calculating your wages. Man unchecked and unregulated capitalism makes some of you really fall into paranoid delusions. Anyway. The small business workaround is just to pay people under the table or pay them more. Either will do.
Load More Replies... I made more (including benefits) working as a janitor than I did using my degree. And I barely made ends meet with either. Stop accepting garbage pay. We deserve to live not just survive from our meager wages.
I work in a job that pays about twice what my degree-specific profession would pay. The job doesn't draw on anything I learnt in my studies (you can train almost anyone to do it) but the business wouldn't hire anyone without a degree.
Load More Replies... The GOP has a simple solution: Just cut all financial support to poor people so they have no other option than to work as an underpaid wage slave. That's how you fix the economy.... Remember this when you're voting in 2024.
UK minimum wage is US$12. You will pay ZERO income tax on that amount. Statutory paid leave is 28 days per year, statutory paid sick leave is 6 months, statutory paid maternity leave is 39 weeks. A McDonalds cheesburger.... costs US$1.42 ...
$1.42 price (£0.99) INCLUDES the 20% sales tax. McDonalds in the UK only reduced the price of some of their products due to the temporary hospitality tax cut. The "99p cheeseburger" has been that price for years. Either way, you're talking about pennies difference in price even when the company has to pay their staff almost DOUBLE the USA's minimum wage over here.
Load More Replies... Them: "It was never supposed to be a living wage!" FDR when he established Federal Minimum Wage: "It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country...and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level. I mean the wages of decent living."
Why do I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't care how much fast food costs? It's garbage. If you eat so much fast food that you get jacked about the cost of a McMuffin, maybe you should learn how to use a microwave, because you can get that junk in the frozen food aisle at the supermarket. I make my own coffee. And my own sandwiches. I don't rely on fast food, and have no need for companies to lowball their employees with the threat of inflated prices to the public. Go ahead and pay the workers a living wage. On the occasion that I want a hamburger and am feeling too lazy to make it myself, I'll pay the going rate for it.
I love the people saying EVERYTHING will go up with prices. People were being exploited and things were going up anyways while people were earning the same. Since 2009 or so? That's not right. $7.25 per hour is nothing close to trying to live on it. That's the problem. For years people worked on the same wage while cost of living was and still is going up. Wages should keep up with raising prices of living.
Worth mentioning, most people also seem to associate working for minimum wage or close to it with fast food. More than half (about 60%) the jobs in the US pay $20 or less. And the majority also have no more than the minimum paid benefits. "Getting a better job" means getting a better job than half of America, not just the 5 people at a roofing company or the staff at McDonalds.
UGGGGHHH the people saying "get a skill set and a better job!!!" are hurting my brain. PEOPLE ARE DOING THIS. So there is a shortage of low-wage workers. So now what, Einstein?! F*****g ay, why are people against other people living decently? Not rolling in cash, just DECENTLY. If you don't want your fellow humans to thrive you're a monster.
Because they're bitter and terrified of change, even if the change is overall positive.
Load More Replies... 1. The people talking about 'getting an education' sound a bit silly - a nurse is an example of a job that requires qualifications and long unsociable hours but doesn't pay much, same with being a car mechanic. We can't all be CEOs/tech workers or investment bankers. This is before we even get to the point that not everyone is capable of doing a degree (either because of financial implications or simply aptitude). Do these people not deserve a living? 2. The roofing company argument only makes sense if we knew what the owner makes in relation to his workers. If he takes home 150k while the workers get paid peanuts, then he can afford to pay the 5 workers 10k more and still take 100k home. Different if he's barely breaking even and genuinely can't afford to pay his workers...
The argument by the roofing company...a person working for $7.25/hr has zero money to spend on fixing a roof or shopping at any small business. When people start earning a living wage, they will put more money back into the economy, including being able to hire roofers to fix their homes, so the roofer will be able to pay his employees more. And then his employees will in turn be able to shop at other small businesses.
People are so dramatic. "Enjoy your $20 Big Mac meal" is not an effective counterpoint, it just shows there's yet another person who isn't interested in facts and data.
Going back to the plague every mass illness has caused a major step forward in worker rights
Conservatives: "we hate the liberal elite and their stupid college educations". Also conservatives: "gO To sChoOL"
The big mac index of Denmark is wrong it's 4,9$ for Denmark and 5,66$ in the US based on 2020 index But the rest is right. But it's only the basic salary there are supplement for working after 19 at night more after midnight ex double for working Sunday/holiday after 19. And the tax is 39% (include full Heath Care and free college for kids) and there are obvious also tax deduction so it more like 34- 35% tax. Ohh I forgot 8% in private pension to. So being in a union don't seem that bad does it? MC D have been that since the mid 80's in Denmark
Another thing, when your wages increases, food stamps decrease and income based rent increases.
Hired all unpaid interns, think of the profit! Would the prices of the burgers reflect the low wages? Will everything else lower in cost?
Denis Tymulis comes off like a shitbag for including all that anti-living-wage bullshît at the end there. Why include obviously wrong talking points? So you can “both sides” something that doesn’t have two sides! FOH
They have nonchoice... If they don't act and raise it now, they'll be swept away. See? Solidary CAN make a change...
Funny how this is happening right as 17 states and counting are eliminating unemployment benefits and replacing it with employment incentives. Like it or not, most of these jobs are going to be self checkout and order kiosks in the near future. So do yourselves a favor and start working on plan b.
You think a self checkout machine is going to fry a burger in the kitchen?
Load More Replies... This is excellent, I'm a health care aide and my wages are really low
So much weird reasoing in some posts. I don't know abou the US but a roofer is a skilled worker, over here. He costs a fortune.
The problem with jacking up wages this high, in one go, is that companies are going to jack up prices on everything to compensate...........so you aren't any better off than you were making the previous wages. This country is already seeing prices jacked up to ridiculous amounts as it is. In order for people to actually MAKE more money, the government would have to put a 5 year price freeze on EVERYTHING in this country!
I loved the comment "Don't like working at McD's, then get an education. Why should they be paid $18/hour and make me wait 10 minutes for cold food." Well, dear commenter, how about YOU get an education and a higher paying job so you can eat at 4-star Michelin restaurants, not at a fast food place?
fastfood is a career path, where do you think their managers, general managers, regional mangers, etc come from?? in some area, those also the only jobs available.
dumb ass people, prices have been increasing forever, cost of living has increased multiple time, minimum wage has never changed. it has nothing to do with price of your food, it has to do with giving the owners smaller profits.
In a perfect world, everybody would earn the same, working in an area they like. If you spent more for education then ofc you should earn a bit more until you hit the break-even point. But everythin else is just made up stuff which needs to be addressed. Summes up: Eight hours of my time cant be worth more then anybody elses time. Period
The movement should demand a LIVING wage, not a number. Greedy corporations want to seem like they're "with the people" by raising the wage, and then they raise costs, and everything else goes up, and we're right back where we started. The goal should be that if you're working, you should be able to pay your bills and provide for your family. Period.
I hope for every $1 they increase wages, they make it 5x easier to fire slackers. You want the money, earn it.
I ran a small business and did most of it myself until I could afford to hire. Work your way up isn't an employee responsibility it is also the employers responsibility to build their business to AFFORD employees
Regarding the Buc-ee's sign, that's been their policy for a LONG time. From everything I've heard about working there, though, you start with a high rate, but raises and promotions are next to impossible to get. Can't say it stopped me from applying multiple times when I was unemployed. Also, Buc-ee's is amazing! Cleanest public loos ever!
I get it, when fast food boomed in the 70's it was mostly teenagers working part time jobs for spending money so who cared if they made $2.75 per hour? Now, it isn't teenagers working part time for spending money. They are adults with families and they are working 2 and 3 jobs to pay their bills. It isn't right. Pay people a living wage for working.
What don't you get? If you're a skilled welder making $20/hr and now Macdonald's pays $20/hr your value as a welder goes up. You have skills the burger kid doesn't. You should not both make the same. Now the owner of the welding company has to pay $25 to find and retain skilled workers. The cost of the metalwork is passed to the consumer.
What don't *you* get? In countries which raise the minimum wage there is very little rise in inflation, but there *is* and increase in GDP and cash flow because the poorest people have money to spend on goods and services that they otherwise couldn't afford. More people get a good education because they don't have to go into work to support their families, giving a wider skills base for future growth. Health and fitness rates increase, because people can afford healthcare and good food. Obesity rates drop, saving billions in disability care and benefits. Etc. Etc.
Load More Replies... We all need above livable wages and not rely on tips. But, we don't have a good system to do it without inflation, so I think this could backfire. When my state raised several dollars (we have higher paying min wage than most states) mom and pops had to lower hours on the employee so take home was the same. Costs went up to pay for this raise.
I miss the Value Meal. I remember when Big Macs cost $.99 and you could get 2 apple pies for $.50. $7.25 should be a living wage. A 200 square foot apartment should cost $200 per month. Today it goes for about $900
I saw a place yesterday whose help wanted sign proclaimed "competitive wages." Competitive with what, or with whom? Are all the other employers in town competing to see how low they can keep wages?
Unfortunately wages are a band-aid-on-a-hemmoraging-wound solution. It doesn't address the existing inequity that led to wages even being a problem, that being the huge gap between the wealthy and the poor. The wealthy will inevitably find a way to make the higher wages irrelevant and/or ensure their wealth increases despite not needing any more money, thus rendering these token efforts moot.
To be rich you must have a lot of poor. What is the point of rich people again?
Load More Replies... The employers will pay it because its a cost they have to bear until self-service ordering kiosks and robot line chiefs are brought online (and you better believe those are on the drawing board), and the customers will pay for it because they/we won't/can't give up the convenience of immediately available meals. But even if higher wages resolve the labor shortage, the housing shortage will still eat up any wage increase. The suburbs are not legally zoned and built with the high-density housing and transportation infrastructure to sustain the workforce that makes life livable for the more affluent suburbanites whose money comes from outside those suburbs.
So let me get this straight: McDonald's is FINALLY raising its salary, not just to the proposed $15/hr minimum wage people have been asking for, but OVER that to $16.50/hr, and this guy's first response is basically "Well, it's not as high as it should be or could be, but it's headed in the right direction!" Really? So, as soon as they give people what they're asking for (and not just that, but 10% over what people asked for) the first thing we're going to do is "Sorry, not good enough. We want more!"? How about give it a little time to encourage more businesses to do this before we start complaining that what we ASKED FOR isn't good enough.
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