Perhaps, if someone finds themselves earning minimum wage, they focus on the reason why.
Do they not posses marketable skills? Are they unwilling to take a higher paying position due to hours, location etc?
I was paid minimum wage for approximately 4 months of my life when I was 16 and got my first job. Fast forward 14 years and I own a rather profitable business... The problem isn't minimum wage, but rather, people are willing to be paid it while blaming someone else for their low income.
Thanks for your comment @crachau.
100% agreed the problem isn't minimum wage. Minimum wage jobs should be used as stepping stones to your next opportunity. What we are seeing today is far too many adults working for minimum wage which really messes up the youth job market because now we have to compete with people with degrees and years of experience for a minimum wage job.
The question, then, I suppose is how do we compel people to move off of minimum wage?
Most people on minimum wage also receive some sort of government assistance, and if they increased their income, then they'd lose said government benefits... Once the flow of free money has started, it's hard to stop it!
Great question. I think people need to start learning skills that are in high demand in today's economy. With everyone now going to higher education focusing on the highest paid fields; with only a limited amount of those positions available a large gap is created. technology and globalization has shifted the landscape into the higher educated economy. Machines and cheap labour are picking up the slack. 2/3 of people working minimum wage are over the age of 25. These are the people that are struggling to make it in the higher educated economy.
To compel people to move off minimum wage a few things need to happen:
And yes. most people on minimum wage also receive some sort of government assistance. This is another reason for big corporations to stop relying on a low wage work force. Wxx-Mart for example say they help the local economy by adding jobs. These jobs are low quality jobs with very low pay destroying small businesses around these big corporations. basically we the taxpayers are subsidizing Wxx-Mart for their decision to hire a low wage workforce.