There is not a state in the union where a minimum wage worker working a 40 hour week can afford a two bedroom apartment.
Does the minimum wage need to be high enough so that a worker can afford a two bedroom apartment? Does every job have to pay a "living wage"? Does a high school kid working at McDonalds or stalking shelves at Target need to make enough to afford a two bedroom apartment?
Rather than raising the minimum wage so that a 24 year-old with a kid or two can afford that two bedroom apartment I would prefer that the government provide some job training and child care assistance so that they can find a higher value job and be able to afford to that apartment based on market wages. The job training and child care assistance need to have a time limit on them to encourage the 24 year-old to get out and improve his or her own lot in life.
And to OLFU's point, we need to take a look at the formulas. We need to encourage people to better themselves rather than encouraging them to stay with the status quo.
Those are different questions, amigo, and not to the point I was trying to make, which was that there could be a clue in there about why people aren't flocking to these jobs that our free market warriors keep insisting are going begging.
You matter. Unless you multiply yourself by c squared. Then you energy.
"I really love America. I just don't know how to get there anymore."John Prine
Exactly.
Those are different questions, amigo, and not to the point I was trying to make, which was that there could be a clue in there about why people aren't flocking to these jobs that our free market warriors keep insisting are going begging. 