Why is the minimum wage in the US so low?

Question

A pittiful $5.15 an hour or about £2.60

compared to the UK which has a whooping £5.73 an hour?

Answer 1

Yes but we pay DOUBLE the price for everything and have hidden taxes along with the regular taxes.

Actually ma I just add to that-I'm on £2-£2.50 an hour before deductions and before you say it,yes it is legal I've checked with the CAB the government get around it!!!! I am on duty 24/7 as a carer.

Beastie:

They're only evaluating the family carer wage,not the professional,also the minimum wage varies all over he USA,some are alot higher and some have none.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.h...

Answer 2

Why should Govt mandate a base pay from private industry?  I wish the Min.Wage was even lower..

Labor is a commodity and bottom of the barrel wages should be whatever the market is willing to pay. If labor is tight, wages rise. If labor is plentiful, wages drop. If people don't like the minimum wage being paid, they have the freedom to seek out opportunity elsewhere. Or they are motived to get educated and improve their lot in life.. But mandating a wage that a private employer must pay is hurtful to the economy.

Mandating a wage limit only ends up taxing the people. Because that money isn't coming out of the business's profits. Its just going to be tacked onto the prices you pay for the widgets the business is selling.  So technically, you end up paying the cost of whatever the government mandates..

Socialism Doesn't Work.. Let Free Markets Reign.

Answer 3

That's just how inflexible the unskilled labourer's wage is. By the way, the minimum wage in Tokyo Japan is about 10000 yen (about US$9.60).

Answer 4

The UK and US systems are so different that it's like comparing chalk with cheese.

The UK didn't even have a minimum wage until a few years ago (National Minimum Wage Act 1998). But it has always had a much better social security system than the US.

The current national minimum wage in the UK for 22+ year olds is £5.22, but it will rise to £5.73 in October.

Answer 5

It is based on two (somewhat flawed) Labour economic theories.

One is the widely discredited "text-book model" of the minimum wage: i.e. you set wages at a level above market price you reduce employment.

Whilst this is true in perfect markets, few exist. In fact increases in the federal minimum wage in the US (1990 and 1991) and the introduction and subsequent increases of UK NMW have not had any noticeable impact on employment.

Card & Kreuger found that in the New Jersey when minimum wages were increased employment in the fast food industry went up compared with Pensylvania, where employment remained the same.

There is very little evidence indeed that falls in the wage level stimulate employment.

The second misconception is that free markets are necessarily more efficient. The thing is this is a more popular opinion in the US. Nevermind that powerful employers could be s******g over their workers. The thing is if markets were perfectly competitive free markets would be the best solution, but they are an exception and not the rule.

Answer 6

Probably because the US gives even less of a S**t about the poor than the UK does. The minimum wage in the UK is, in truth, higher because the cost of living is higher (we're paying more per litre of petrol than they're paying for a gallon, for example) but the poor in the US are effectively an underclass.

For the lass moaning about getting c**p money for being a carer, I take your point about it being c**p, but it is being challenged at the moment and I sincerely hope you get proper dosh out of that. God knows you will be working harder more than a h**l of a lot of people. You should be paid accordingly.

Answer 7

UK's cost of living is also double.

You wana make more than 5.15 an hour? Do good in school, go to college and get a good job. Quit blaming the government because you don't make 50k a year flipping burgers at MacDonald's.