One Comment

I am inspired by the minimum wage for unskilled workers, and I propose an extension which will eventually bring greater prosperity to every working person. It is obvious that employers have monopsony power. They have the jobs and they pay as little as possible to find workers. Workers have few choices in any activity or profession. So, a minimum wage for everyone will allow each person to capture some of the economic benefit currently denied to them because of that power imbalance.

Each month, the government will notify a different 1% of workers. They will be required by law to demand a 15% raise. There will be no requirement that the employer meet that demand, but they cannot continue in that job if the employer refuses to pay the full raise. This will put teeth into the reasonable wage demands of all workers.

People who lose their jobs cannot work in the same type of job unless they receive the higher required salary, but they can make any deal they want in a different type of job. This respects that they will be learning new skills.

My theory is that people are timid about asking for what they are worth, especially women, and employers are stingy about paying people their true value. Really, doesn’t everyone deserve a 15% raise? At worst, less than 1% of salaried workers would lose their jobs each month, and the rest of that 1% would enjoy an immediate and welcome boost in income. Tax revenues would go up.

It’s only 1% of workers each month, but the new salaries would show others what they could bargain for, and salaries would probably go up throughout the industry to meet the new standard.

( This is sarcasm, but think of it. Everyone could enjoy the possiblity of a government mandated wage requirement, not just those at the lowest wages. Do you enjoy the thought of maybe receiving that help from the government? If not, then why should the low-wage worker enjoy that supposed help? )