When are the teenagers going to realise? When they are 21?

they want taxes raised

so they can give out them 15$

As long as you work less hours and over time is prohibited?

works in every country

if its a sharp full-dollar-mark raise, yes. but just letting wages stagnate behind productivity, GDP, and yes, inflation, isn't a solution either

as evidence by the last 40 years. and that's a lenient number

I hate to agree on this, but it is what it is.

If it's a slow uptick over time it's not unreasonable.

Though, when I was on minimum wage it was 6.50/hr.

And that was about 15 years ago.

and where were you living?

Northwest suburbs of Chicago.

were you paying rent and or bills?

Yes, barely.. and survived mostly off of the free six inch subs & ramen.

were you raising some savings or at least emergency funds?

Hah! Savings at minimum wage..

I think my point has been made

I see nothing wrong with this.

Because minimum wage should not be a resting point for an individual.

and yet most of these jobs need to be filled

Should be by teens.

Minimum wage is an entrance point and indicates the employee is high risk/low skill as a result of limited work history.

However, I will give that raising it with inflation in mind is not a bad compromise point.

lauc - could be employeer taking advantage of a skilled worker who had low self worth

The employee is responsible for moving on, then.

what if they enjoy their job? and its not about $$ for them

Then they should find one that is adequate to cover the ends.

and more to the point, what of the small business that can only afford unskilled labour

also tons of markets do employee turnaround... thus keeping costs low... example hotels and restaurants

or the hospitalities industry

as the whole thing*

Raising minimum wage hurts small biz foremost.

you know, jobs that need to be done

Which is in consideration of why I said small incremental increase over time.

exactly

I'm just leary of large increases that crush the chance for small biz.

u make it seem like small biz isnt getting annihilated anyways

like walmart moves into an area... and within a year basically any small biz that tries to compete in with anything walmart sells... have disappeared