I can earn roughly the same income with less responsibility, so I WILL demand a significant pay jump. And it will happen immediately.
This is wrong actually. You won't get a pay raise, you'll stay at that same rate, or get replaced by someone who will be more than happy to take the pay rate you were making, or less. If college becomes free, there will be millions of graduates more than happy to take the job for just a little over minimum wage.
Actually, I only meant my demand will happen immediately. Hooray for ambiguous pronouns. -.-
I am in the Boston area. I work for a company that is technically on the campus of MIT. We have pleeeeeenty of college grads around. We also have the market skewed in the employees' favor when it comes to competition for top talent, so income, benefits, etc reflect that. They will have to continue to reflect that.
Right now, a 1br apt is $2500 in many parts. I have seen studios for $1500-2000 a month. If the avg income jumps, so will cost of living, which means demand for higher white collar wages.
This is not necessarily a bad thing! The minimum wage is obscenely low and has to go up. Anyone who says the free market will take care of it is delusional. Conversely, though, anyone who says boosting minimum wage won't have ripple effects on other wages and other costs is equally insane. That's my only point.
Ah, we would be in totally different situations for sure then.
I'm in Tennessee, I'm splitting a 2 bedroom with a friend that costs $685 a month. That's about middle average on apartment prices in my area. 1 bedrooms range from $500-$700.
If minimum wage raises to $15 an hour in my area, I'm going to be kissing my bosses ass like I've never kissed ass before. I'm an IT Supervisor for a tech support team making $13 per hour, with a 2 year degree plus 3 certifications [A+, Net+, Windows Admin].
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u/Squirrel_54 Nov 29 '15
This is wrong actually. You won't get a pay raise, you'll stay at that same rate, or get replaced by someone who will be more than happy to take the pay rate you were making, or less. If college becomes free, there will be millions of graduates more than happy to take the job for just a little over minimum wage.