Montgmery County approves $15 an hour. Does this = ByeBye to reliabe hours for part timers (my kids)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not worried about teens. I’m worried about single adults trying to afford a one bedroom apartment on 40 hours a week, so they have time to go to MC or a training school. I’m worried about the young married couple with a baby trying to afford an apartment, daycare, diapers, and formula with both parents working only 40 hours a week. Those folks need $15/hour.

Their hours are about to get cut drastically. From 40 to 20.

No, they won’t. Quit being Chicken Little.

I don't think hours will be cut so much as positions eliminated especially in smaller stores. The higher wages attract better workers. Better workers mean less workers needed to do the same jobs. Chains and larger stores will simply move to automated systems on their stores. The majority of people who couldn't make it before on minimum wage jobs are actually likely to be worse off because limited jobs in the market to begin with.

I've stopped going to the McDonalds in Sterling. They got rid of their cashiers and have a single kiosk. People don't know how to use it - you have to work through six screens before you get to the payout screen - and it slows everything down.

I also see this at Panera in Reston. They've put in ordering kiosks, but still have a person working the cash register. If FFX increases the minimum wage, goodbye cashier.

I also see this at the grocery store. Sometimes there are two full-service registers open, with half-a-dozen self-service kiosks. If the minimum goes up, say goodbye to at least one of the full-service cashiers.

Things are so automated as is that I can leave the house, do a ton of errands involving purchases, and never interact with a single human being. Pretty soon, all the low-level jobs will be fully automated, and the increase in minimum wage will only hasten the day.

Things could be way more automated right now if consumers wanted. It will continue to move towards automation as the generations who didn't grow up with technology die off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the rite of passage for teens working all summer to save up for a used car?

Gas money?

Money to go out with their friends?

Money for clothes?

Does the bank of mom & dad now have to cover these expenses as well?

Newsflash: Babysitting.

We pay our teenage sitter $15/hour cash. We use a handful of neighborhood teens as after school sitters. They make great money.
Boys can babysit, too. Our friends hired a neighborhood teen boy to hang out with their son after school and do homework.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious: a teen can earn far more babysitting for cash than working at McDonalds. And let's face it: your teen was never going to work at McDonalds.

All of the summer jobs currently held by teens will still be available (pools, camps, etc.). And the reality is that pools have been importing workers from Eastern Europe for years...because your teens didn't want those crummy, low paying jobs. Ditto for most seasonal beach towns.

Newsflash: hiring an occasional babysitter is far different than employing a person in a business

[Anonymous]

$15 an hour to work at Baskin Robbins would have been my dream job as a teen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teenager works full-time in the summers at a private school camp in DC and makes $15/hour. The OP's concerns will go the way of the "Ohmigod, the plastic bag tax will mean that DC residents will never grocery shop again!" and "Ohmigod, the smoking ban will mean that all bars and restaurants in DC will close!"

That is just for a few weeks.

What about year round at $15 an hour full time workers?

Yup. Good way to drive small businesses out of business or employees out of jobs.

You think the guy who pushes the mail cart around at the office should get $30,000 a year? What will happen is that the mail guy is fired, and employees pick up their own mail in the mail room.

Also, everywhere I've ever worked, the mail delivery guy is mentally challenged. But he's being productive, building his self-esteem, and enjoying the camaraderie of his office mates. Better that he should do that at $9 to $10 an hour than be let go because $30,000 a year, plus health insurance, is just not worth it to an employer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Also, everywhere I've ever worked, the mail delivery guy is mentally challenged. But he's being productive, building his self-esteem, and enjoying the camaraderie of his office mates. Better that he should do that at $9 to $10 an hour than be let go because $30,000 a year, plus health insurance, is just not worth it to an employer.

That's another part of the millions this will cost the county. The developmentally disabled have special job programs and they're allowed to be paid lower wages (even per-piece wages if it's assembly work) given the special situation that they can't be as productive due to their disability. Now they'll be forced to be paid minimum wage. Since many of these programs are run by the County, they'll be paying for it. In other cases, the jobs will just disappear since the non-profits can't afford that.

People in that situation (my brother is one of them) don't actually need the money as they already receive social security, housing, etc through other programs, as they are a ward of the state essentially. What they do need is the work experience and self-esteem.

[Anonymous]

Newsflash: Montgomery County's minimum wage is already $11.50 an hour. We're talking five+ years out for $15. I don't think it's that big a stretch to make that happen.

Why would businesses cut their work forces in half, unless they are greedy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teenager works full-time in the summers at a private school camp in DC and makes $15/hour. The OP's concerns will go the way of the "Ohmigod, the plastic bag tax will mean that DC residents will never grocery shop again!" and "Ohmigod, the smoking ban will mean that all bars and restaurants in DC will close!"

That is just for a few weeks.

What about year round at $15 an hour full time workers?

The OP's question was about her teenagers' ability to get part-time jobs. My teen, referenced above at $15/hour, worked 40 hours/week for 11 weeks this summer =440 hours. The average teenager who works during the school year works about the same number of hours, at 10 hours/week for say 48-50 weeks, - 480-500 hours. Not a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teenager works full-time in the summers at a private school camp in DC and makes $15/hour. The OP's concerns will go the way of the "Ohmigod, the plastic bag tax will mean that DC residents will never grocery shop again!" and "Ohmigod, the smoking ban will mean that all bars and restaurants in DC will close!"

+1. My 16 yo made the DC minimum wage last summer.

How much does that camp charge? look at your typical small business, they are year round, pay year round employees, have slow times of the year and have to pay rent and other operating costs. A camp is 8-10 weeks long, do you think that same business or camp would pay your kid or anyone $15 an hour for 2080 hours? no not a chance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Also, everywhere I've ever worked, the mail delivery guy is mentally challenged. But he's being productive, building his self-esteem, and enjoying the camaraderie of his office mates. Better that he should do that at $9 to $10 an hour than be let go because $30,000 a year, plus health insurance, is just not worth it to an employer.

That's another part of the millions this will cost the county. The developmentally disabled have special job programs and they're allowed to be paid lower wages (even per-piece wages if it's assembly work) given the special situation that they can't be as productive due to their disability. Now they'll be forced to be paid minimum wage. Since many of these programs are run by the County, they'll be paying for it. In other cases, the jobs will just disappear since the non-profits can't afford that.

People in that situation (my brother is one of them) don't actually need the money as they already receive social security, housing, etc through other programs, as they are a ward of the state essentially. What they do need is the work experience and self-esteem.

No, disabled people with "lower productivity" are exempt from minimum wage laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teenager works full-time in the summers at a private school camp in DC and makes $15/hour. The OP's concerns will go the way of the "Ohmigod, the plastic bag tax will mean that DC residents will never grocery shop again!" and "Ohmigod, the smoking ban will mean that all bars and restaurants in DC will close!"

+1. My 16 yo made the DC minimum wage last summer.

How much does that camp charge? look at your typical small business, they are year round, pay year round employees, have slow times of the year and have to pay rent and other operating costs. A camp is 8-10 weeks long, do you think that same business or camp would pay your kid or anyone $15 an hour for 2080 hours? no not a chance.

Teens who do not work 90 consecutive days are exempt from minimum wage laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$15 an hour to work at Baskin Robbins would have been my dream job as a teen.

You've clearly never worked in an ice cream shop. While it's easier than picking fruit in a hot field, I and other coworkers had terrible hand cramping by the end of the summer from scooping.

[Anonymous]

$15 per hour is not good pay or a living wage for anyone around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the rite of passage for teens working all summer to save up for a used car?

Gas money?

Money to go out with their friends?

Money for clothes?

Does the bank of mom & dad now have to cover these expenses as well?

Newsflash: Babysitting.

We pay our teenage sitter $15/hour cash. We use a handful of neighborhood teens as after school sitters. They make great money.
Boys can babysit, too. Our friends hired a neighborhood teen boy to hang out with their son after school and do homework.


At the risk of pointing out the obvious: a teen can earn far more babysitting for cash than working at McDonalds. And let's face it: your teen was never going to work at McDonalds.

All of the summer jobs currently held by teens will still be available (pools, camps, etc.). And the reality is that pools have been importing workers from Eastern Europe for years...because your teens didn't want those crummy, low paying jobs. Ditto for most seasonal beach towns.

Newsflash: hiring an occasional babysitter is far different than employing a person in a business

You wouldn't pay a babysitter (diff. than a professional nanny) $15 for 40 hours a week of work.

[Anonymous]

Except prices will go up to compensate for this. The mother making $15 an hour will suddenly have to pay her daycare more because those workers all needed a raise to $15 an hour as well. In the end, it's a wash. Minimum wage jobs are meant to be stepping stones, not a permanent career.

[Anonymous]

Seasonal business are exempt from the minimum wage laws.

Small businesses with <$500,000 gross sales are exempt from minimum wage laws.