Minimum Wage for SoWal???

[Paula]

I agree that people often have to leave their communities to find jobs that fit their education. The American way of traveling to find jobs is both a good thing (people get to use their education and skills) and a bad thing (you may have to move and leave your family and friends to use your education). In our town, we have many college grads serving Starbucks because they don't want to leave the area. It's still good to promote opportunities for higher education: "According to the Census Bureau, over an adult's working life, high school graduates earn an average of $1.2 million; associate's degree holders earn about $1.6 million; and bachelor's degree holders earn about $2.1 million (Day and Newburger, 2002)." I would think that raising the quality of life for people in the areas outside of SoWal would be good for SoWal.

twt512: You are right. Focus is a good idea (I have a problem with losing focus myself, otherwise I wouldn't spend so much time on this message board...). How does one figure out the appropriate "minimum living wage" for service workers in an area like SoWal? Economists and people who study economics probably know how to systematically figure this out. Shelly, I think you may have mentioned on another thread that you have an area that you are studying -- is it economics? If so, can you identify a specific "minimum living wage" using some sort of data that's considered appropriate/rigorous by economists? There may be other economists on this board as well. Identifying an "acceptable minimum wage" based on data would be considered a "small win". Business owners would have a number for an appropriate minimum wage number to use if they wanted to.

 

[Rita]

......The problem is when someone finishes their degree, they either end up leaving the area or going back to their old job because of the lack of middle income white collar jobs in the area. ..........

This, as I'm sure you are aware, fits much of "small-town" USA. Where I grew up, a small midwest farming community, we referred to it as "brain drain" (many of the college educated went to where the jobs were upon finishing school.)

 

[Uncle Timmy]

twt512: You are right. Focus is a good idea (I have a problem with losing focus myself, otherwise I wouldn't spend so much time on this message board...). How does one figure out the appropriate "minimum living wage" for service workers in an area like SoWal? Economists and people who study economics probably know how to systematically figure this out. Shelly, I think you may have mentioned on another thread that you have an area that you are studying -- is it economics? If so, can you identify a specific "minimum living wage" using some sort of data that's considered appropriate/rigorous by economists? There may be other economists on this board as well. Identifying an "acceptable minimum wage" based on data would be considered a "small win". Business owners would have a number for an appropriate minimum wage to use if they wanted to.

I think you made my point better than I did. (Thanks)

 

[Paula]

Thanks. Data is a good thing.

Someone please stop me from checking this thread. It's so interesting, but I'm supposed to be grading papers (unfortunately for this thread, they're not economics papers....)

 

[SHELLY]

It may shock you to know that I do indeed know many of the folks who are bussing the tables and serving the drinks. Just as I am also friends with several small business owners in the area who employ them.
FOCUS!

OK...great. Now we've established a starting point. Since you know these folks personally what are they saying?

Are the table bussers and barkeeps happy with the wages they're making?

Are the business owners happy with quality and quantity of folks they're getting for the wages they're paying?

If they are, then:

(1) there really is no problem
OR
(2) there is no problem in your area that needs addressing

If they're NOT happy...what do THEY want?

Seems like you're the guy on the ground...let us know what "real world" research you've collected and we can start from there. I'm ready to focus!

 

[SHELLY]

The problem is when someone finishes their degree, they either end up leaving the area or going back to their old job because of the lack of middle income white collar jobs in the area. There is a huge underemployment problem in the area, which means that the white collar jobs in a pleasant environment in many cases pay utter shyte, even by Southern standards.

Mouse,
I hear ya talkin', that will always be a problem--even more so now that we can outsource anything from accounting to engineering via the internet to cheap labor in far-off lands.

The problem with the economy on the panhandle is that it is trying to become a upscale resort community that has essentially drained the fuel (services workers) need to make the economic engine run. We've put long-range community and economic planning on the back burner in favor of near-term huge profits for a selected few.

There will be some relief down the road as the real estate frenzy wears down and becomes a local source of additional service labor...but will the $12.50 be enough to support their lifestyle? And will there be enough in the area to take on the number of jobs coming on line? Time will tell.

 

[Paula]

Yes, the people who know (or who are) waiters and business owners could get some answers about what it's like to do service work in the area if they want to spend some time doing so (Kimmifunn gave her first-hand opinion). And the people who state their position in economic terms (e.g., minimum wage) can get some useful data, too, based on more general economic trends if they want to spend some time doing so. Both strategies would be useful -- it's called systematic research. But it looks like we are not likely to do either through this message board (Heck, I'm not going to) because the board is in large part entertainment. So (1) we should remember that many of our comments are based on opinion rooted in our own view of the world rather than any real research -- for whatever reasons some of us want to promote an "it's going to crash" view of SoWal and others want to promote a "what a great place to be" view of SoWal (both, of course, are simplistic views, though they each promote different kinds of behaviors and solutions to problems), and (2) that's why we need to do what we can in small ways as individuals to make SoWal better for business owners, workers, guests, owners, etc. -- at least until someone gets some data (and it probably should be long-term data).

SJ or someone: Can you pull me out of the sandbox... turn my attention back to the food thread? I can't seem to stop myself.

 

[Smiling JOe]

I posted this a year ago from an article I saw. Has anyone heard any more about it?

Affordable housing coming to Walton County

I heard that Dewey Wilson, the owner of Regional Utilities, put that project on hold for the moment. I did not hear why.

 

[Kurt]

Doesn't a local market usually settle in to a local minimum wage? With some variations and some back and forth?

 

[Smiling JOe]

Doesn't a local market usually settle in to a local minimum wage? With some variations and some back and forth?

I think you are correct, Kurt. If an employer want employees, he better be paying the going rate or be willing to work all by his lonesome. Several employers such as Seaside and WaterColor apparently are not willing to pay employees, so they are paying the Walton Sun et al to run ads year round. I guess with WaterColor, it could also be that in order to get cheaper liability insurance, they drug screen ther employee applicants for illegal drugs, which many people feel invades their privacy.