OT anyone have any idea if the $15/hour minimum wage will impact our DIY hobby?

[AcidWash]

• $15/hour federal minimum wage — more than double the current minimum.

Saw this in the news, just wondering how much of an impact this will make on our little speaker building hobby?

[fpitas]

Unless it applies in China...not likely. Seriously, I doubt the quality companies here (Eminence, for example) pay that little to start with.

[billfitzmaurice]

If anything it will boost the economy in general. Henry Ford proved that over 100 years ago. Where our hobby is concerned it might help more people take it up.

[Unbiasedsound]

Prices keep rising while the minimum wage stays the same for a long time. Doubling the minimum wage is nothing if prices keep increasing every 3-4 months.

[billfitzmaurice]

Prices have not been increasing significantly as a result of inflation, which has averaged under 2% annually for the last ten years. Recent price increases over and above the inflation rate can be directly attributed to tariffs, which were instituted to pay for the tax cuts of 2017. It's a safe bet that those tariffs will go away in short order. Still, if the minimum wage was tied to the rate of inflation it would have gone up multiple times since it was set at $7.25 in 2009.

[scholl]

Back in 1980 I made $3.65 an hour. Adjusted for inflation would be $12-13. I had Bose 601 speakers, A kenwood KA601 amp with Denon DP1200 TT. In 82 built a Dynaudio two way set. I paid my $150.00 rent and food and bills while in collage. Also had a Columbus frame road bike. Good luck doing that on $15.

[fpitas]

I doubt anyone making minimum wage will suddenly have plenty of money to spend on DIY speakers after this. But, I hope they do.

[LOUT]

I think some states have already had minimum wage increased to $10-14 for some time now.
I honestly didn't realize so many places still had a $7 minimum since all the fastfood places and small shops in my area (back when they were all hiring a couple years ago) were advertising starting wages in the $10-12 range.


Question for anyone living in a $7 minimum wage state; is a BigMac combo meal around $7 like it is here or does it cost a lot less?
Is PE a minimum wage job?
It looks like Ohio minimum wage is a little under $9 both lastyear and this year after a 10cent raise.

[a4eaudio]

Prices have not been increasing significantly as a result of inflation, which has averaged under 2% annually for the last ten years.

And you don't need to limit the argument to the latest 10 years. Inflation had not been a (real) concern since the late 1970s. Inflation has only exceeded 3% seven times since 1991.

[tvrgeek]

When I take a break and go get a Whopper, it may be a little more expensive. So be it.
Inflation rates are bogus as single numbers. Real inflation is highly dependent on your situation. For instance, house sales prices are irrelevant if you already own your house. I can assure you, my actual cost of living, making basically no changes as I am retired, exceeds the 1.3% I just got from my Federal pension. Food and utilities have gone up at a higher rate. Fuel prices do trickle down. but pump prices for gas do not effect my costs.

Minimum wage was $1.35 when I was in school. I do not have the factual calculations, but I have read the equivalent now would be around $26/hour. ( 50 years) I guess looking back, although I thought my GS salary was a lot of money, I know my contractors made over twice what I made. My pension is not really much above the official poverty level which works out to roughly $12/hr.

[Regore]

Raising the minimum wage to $15 will affect every area of our economy. Food, gas, taxes, rents, medical and even Whoppers.
I'm a Big Mac guy myself but used to buy Whoppers every Wednesday for $.99. My first job payed the minimum $ .75 per hour.
I was 15 and a busboy at the local pancake house in Milwaukee circa 1962. In 1974 electronic techs made about $3.50 / hour.
Part time high school kids won't find much work if they're required to be paid $15/ hour. Minimum wage is entry level pay, not a
living wage ! Never was intended to be.

[Geoff Millar]

Minimum wage in Oz is $19.84 per hour, or $753 per week for 38 hour week: not a lot to cover food, bills, rent or mortgage payments, etc. To give some sort of perspective, a litre of standard petrol is about $1.20 and a decent loaf of bread, $5.

For those on the minimum wage or aged pension (at $430 per week, even less than the minimum wage) their level of discretionary spending is b - - -r all.

However, most workers are covered by an award, depending on the industry, so most people receive more than the minimum - although sometimes, not much more. As Bill observes below, CEO and similar salaries have grown exponentially here. I doubt whether many of those people DIY....

Geoff

[billfitzmaurice]

Minimum wage is entry level pay, not a living wage ! Never was intended to be.

True, but now there are jobs that pay minimum wage period, with little to no opportunity for a raise. That applies mainly to service industries, and service industries now dominate. The larger problem is that CEO pay has gone from 33 times worker pay in 1980 to 276 times worker pay in 2015, with upper management not lagging far behind. That's good for sellers of big ticket items, like mansions, yachts, Armani suits, Hermes purses, high end cars and private aircraft, but the economy in general suffers when workers have no disposable income to afford more than the bare necessities.

[djg]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2019/07/10/the-unintended-consequences-of-the-15-minimum-wage/?sh=2f41af57e4a7

[a4eaudio]

The CBO does good work, read the actual CBO study linked in the 2nd paragraph. Beginning at the 4th paragraph with "Raising the minimum wage has a number of serious and negative unintended consequences..." the Forbes article basically becomes an opinion piece by the author and doesn't rely on actual empirical results.

[Steve Lee]

There is no inflation which is why we have a $15/hr min wage.

Keep telling yourselves that . . .

[djg]

Fill up the Datsun 510 for $2.50 and a 35 cent pack of cigarettes, good for a Saturday night.

[CJB67]

I remember the cigarette vending machine on the sidewalk outside The Jamaican Hotel in Myrtle Beach back in the early 80's. 75 cents a pack and that was highway robbery. But I was 14. And could buy cigarettes. From a vending machine. On the sidewalk.

[tvrgeek]

Raising the minimum wage to $15 will affect every area of our economy. Food, gas, taxes, rents, medical and even Whoppers.
I'm a Big Mac guy myself but used to buy Whoppers every Wednesday for $.99. My first job payed the minimum $ .75 per hour.
I was 15 and a busboy at the local pancake house in Milwaukee circa 1962. In 1974 electronic techs made about $3.50 / hour.
Part time high school kids won't find much work if they're required to be paid $15/ hour. Minimum wage is entry level pay, not a
living wage ! Never was intended to be.

A valid argument, but only if there is a path from entry to living. Unfortunately, a significant portion of our entire economy is minimum wage with no upward path. If I had an answer, I would shout it out, but I don't.
There is also no easy mapping for local COL. $15 an hour in Arkansas is not the same as $15 in NYC. We also have the double hit employers use by only giving 35 hours so they are not full time and don't have to give MW or benefits. On the other end is the switch of higher hourly level jobs to salary so they can force as much OT as they can for free. I know several who declined promotion to Senior Executive Service because when they were GS15's, they worked 40 hours a week, but our SES averaged more like 60.

Fun site. https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1970 I am not sure I believe the calculation. It suggests 1970 MW (1.35) is $9 today. Again, inflation is too simplistic and does not always track actual COL.
I know when I had some "idiot stick" work to be done, I drove by the folks sitting on the curb at HD and offered $25/hr and was cussed at.

[djg]

Move the Dept. of Labor to Arkansas.