Unemployment is only at around 4% right now, extremely low. Want to take a huge bite out of poverty? raise the minimum wage and increase benefits so that folks don't need to work three jobs just to pay their rent. no AI robots needed. just garden variety wealth redistribution that's sorely needed.
raise the minimum wage and increase benefits so that folks don't need to work three jobs just to pay their rent.
No. Offer actual affordable housing. New housing has more than doubled in size since the 1950s, plus we have largely eliminated small, cheap housing alternatives, such as SROs* and boarding houses. There is no end to how much we can grow houses and inflate the cost associated with not being homeless. If we don't deal with housing, no amount of raising wages fixes this problem.
Though I agree that we need to provide universal health care.
Lots of evidence that minimum-wage laws reduce employment opportunities for the young and the unskilled of any age.
High MW legislates them out of jobs.
If people on minimum wage can not make ends meet any way then why have the job? It's being subsidised by the government already via food stamps and other welfare so why not cut out the middle man?
Additionally if the unemployment is 4% then raising it slightly isn't a problem. 0% unemployment is bad for an economy and the US has safely hovered between 4-6% which is needed to let businesses be able to hire when more workers are needed
Why keep putting it off? Isn't this the whole point of technology? So that humans will no longer have to do these jobs? Lets just have it happen and deal with the consequences. Why keep kicking the can down the road?
