Saturday, April 13, 2013

The McDonald's minimum wage story

This story happened when I was abroad ... but since it's new to me, I'll still post here.

A falsely listed ad led to these stories ... McDonald's requires college degree to be a cashier.  Another story here.

It turns out it's false and it was just an error in the listing.

I still think this story is interesting.  This is easily something you could see in the near future, given the left's hope to increase minimum wages.   If there was no minimum wage, then low-skilled workers might be able to better obtain this job by offering to work for lower wages.

In Massachusetts  however, the minimum wage is $8/hour.  Obama wants to raise the national minimum wage to $9/hour  How will lower-skilled workers be able to compete when a firm could hire a college graduate for just slightly more?


2 comments:

  1. I always keep on hearing the same old story when it comes to teen employment or a lack their of. The reason for the high teen unemployment rate is blamed on minimum wage. First and foremost a teenager today is going to be educated to a fair degree most teenagers can read and wright are well spoken and very computer literate which is very important especially in a retail store if their going to be using a computerized cash register. Its not just all about stocking the shelf anymore like it was in the old days. Often the reason that teenagers are not hired as often as their older counterparts is because their not as reliable and dependable. As far as ability goes theirs not a whole lot of difference between a twentyfive year old and a sixteen year old. For example if a twentyfive year old and a sixteen year old both work in a retail specialty store they both need good communication skills that is they must both have good language skills they must both know how to read and wright and be computer literate. Theirs one other thing they both have the same level of intelligence intelligence peaks at about fourteen that is it does not increase after that. As far as to why a company would decide to hire someone a little older than say sixteen or seventeen theirs lots of reasons and many of them have absolutely nothing at all to do with minimum wage the twentyfive year old is more likely to show up everyday for work not so much so for the sixteen year old. Sexual harassment laws and restrictions on the hours teens may work when their in school they cannot work in jobs that pose a serious risk to their health and safety. I believe these laws will discourage many companies from hiring anyone under eightteen. One must also remember teenagers do not have to be employed many parents would just prefer they studied more rather than go out and get a job. And if teenagers want to get experience they can still do volunteer work.

    Let me pose this question how is it that so many less educated citizens many of whom speak little or no english do not know how to read english and most likely have never used a computer work in very large numbers in the food service business. Based on their qualifications they should be far less employable than teenagers yet in some food service businesses thats all that you see.

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  2. Jim ... great question at the end. You asked why firms may hire less-educated citizens in the food service business than teenagers. That's a good question that I honestly can't answer for certain. (Given I'm not the one hiring for food service industries.)

    Clearly, however, these firms are trying to maximize their profits. Therefore, they are going to hire the workers they think will provide the most value for them. It could be that teenagers, on average, aren't as dependable. Or that the work experience matters significantly. Or something else.

    Regardless of the reason, if the amount teenagers could receive was lowered, you'd expect more teenagers to be hired.

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