Minimum Wage Wars- The Motor City of Ruins

Welcome to Michigan.  The Great Lake State.  The Mitten State.  The State of the first American Ruins.  Yes, you heard correctly.  Within the state of Michigan, there is a very famous city known as Detroit.  The Motor City.  Once the third largest populated city in the US during the 1950's at about 1.8 million, the population decreased by more than 60% at around 680,000.  A decaying automotive industry that the city was founded on quickly caught up to it when the employment rates quickly plummeted, resulting in a large flight from the city to surrounding suburbs and other states.

Now what does this have to do with the minimum wage?  The better question is what does the minimum wage have to do with this?  The answer is this: the families that live off of the minimum wage the state is set at- a mere $7.40- is appalling.  The minimum wage hardly covers a household of one child and one adult, or two adults.  Adding on one child means the household is living below the poverty line.  The minimum wage even for someone living alone falls over a dollar short of a living wage.  In short, many of Detroit's residents live close to or below the poverty line.  And at an unemployment rate of 5.9%, Michigan is leaning toward the bottom of the list.

It would come as no surprise that over 1 million of the people living in Detroit during the ongoing decay period chose to leave in hopes of better standards of living.  Detroit in fact leads the country in population living in poverty, with 44% reporting such living conditions, half of which are under the age of 18.  In addition, African Americans make up more of the impoverished population in Detroit than all other ethnic groups combined.

 Hasn't Detroit suffered enough?  For now, this is D. Politopolous out.

Minimum Wage Wars- Lone Star Standing

Ah Texas.  Their state pride is like no other.  Many say that it is almost like a totally different country there (Which makes sense seeing as how they formerly were in history).  Texas being the largest continental state and second largest populated after California, they are quite the powerful state.

The largest red state in the Union, Texas boasts an enormous economy and history even before its introduction into the Union.  Its culture is rich and its money is large.  The Texas minimum wage rate is the federal standard of $7.25 per hour, therefore many of the statistics of living on this wage would be the same.  Texas has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the US at 4.3%.  That is better then both Washington and California, whom both have minimum wage rates at or above $9.00.  So what is the circumstance of the difference in unemployment between these three states?  Population?  Number of jobs available?  Losing jobs?

Many may attest this to a large number of migrant workers filing jobs that others will not take.  This theory is a bit flawed, as the number of migrant workers in Texas is half the size of California's at 375,000 against, yet California's unemployment rate is about 2.5% higher than Texas' with twice the population unemployed as well.  In addition, Texas's unemployment rate has been consistently under the national average since 2007.

More to come in the future.  Till then, D. Politopolous out.

Minimum Wage Wars- California Coasting?

When most people think of the West Coast, most people immediately think California.  They often neglect Oregon and Washington when this happens.  Well once again, California will be the focal point, this time on the Minimum Wage War.

With the largest population expanded over such a large area, California is a mixed bag unlike any other.  Many different views, many different standpoints.  California is just like any other state debate: "Minimum wage will help in this this if we raise it."  "Minimum wage will affect that if we raise it."  "How can we make people rich just by raising the wage?"  "It'll hurt the economy."  Unemployment will increase.  "Why has it not been kept up with for the past decade?"  All of the jabber is just ridiculous to hear sometimes.

To begin with, take a look at California's statistics.  Over the years since 2001, they have gradually increased the minimum wage a good step above federal standards.  During this period, they have shown to have decreased the unemployment at a pretty steady rate even with a slight fluctuation.  California has the second highest minimum wage of any state at $9.00 an hour, after Washington State at $9.47 an hour.  In contrast to this, California's large population attributes to its low rank among states in unemployment, as it is tied for 47th with Louisiana.

Suffice to say, for the state of California there has been good change in recent memory, but there is still much to be done.