USA vs Canada - Minimum Wage...

[declansdad]

Doens't it kind of even out in taxes though? A person making minimum wage here pays way less in taxes than a person making minimum wage in Canada. Don't you guys pay something like 40% in income taxes? A person here probably effectively pays 0 in income taxes.

A person working for minimum wage would probably have deduction totaling no more than 25%.

 

[bdoyledimou]

Minimum wages are nothing more than a governmental feel good measure, and in fact, a raise in minimum wage may result in LOWER spending power.

For example, a company that traditionally pays minimum wage (coffee shop?) now has to either raise their prices or lay off a person to meet the new wages requirments. People who were paid $1 more thant minimim wage are now paid only 50 cents more than minimum (you don't think they will automatically get a raise now do you)..


Since prices went up, or they lost their job, that raise just disaappeared... poof.


As to the OP, the difference between the US and Canada in terms of cost of living, taxes, and other amenities makes a major difference.
I am a Canadian employee of a US company.. in My company the Canadian employees are paid 20% below their US counterparts in exactly the same job.

 

[tinkerbell_xo]

Yes. Our employees get it taken out here but if they are making minimum wage the probably get most, if not all, of it back.

BTW, how much do you think an unskilled dishwasher should make?

I personally think everyone should make more than minimum wage hahahaaa unless they truly show minimal effort. And I think $10/hour should be minimum wage clear across the states.

And as far as taxes go, I know when I was working 1 full time job and 1 part time job at 18, making minimum wage, working 40-70 hours a week, and income tax time came I had to pay over $600, which isn't a lot but I had no idea it was coming and I was on my own and making just enough to get by.

I just looked at an old pay stub from one part time job where I was getting paid minimum wage. In 2 weeks I had worked 50.75 hours and made $482.13. Only $3.41 was taken off of that in taxes. $17.20 for the Canadian Pension Plan and $8.34 for Employment Insurance.

So only $3.41 in taxes, doesn't seem like much to me.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Minimum wages are nothing more than a governmental feel good measure, and in fact, a raise in minimum wage may result in LOWER spending power.

For example, a company that traditionally pays minimum wage (coffee shop?) now has to either raise their prices or lay off a person to meet the new wages requirments. People who were paid $1 more thant minimim wage are now paid only 50 cents more than minimum (you don't think they will automatically get a raise now do you)..

Were you in my economics class at UF? We had this wonderful professor who did a lecture on minimum wage and why it was actually bad. It was rather fascinating. I can only remember the overall picture--but he defended his thesis rathe well. Sort of like what you just did.

 

[tinkerbell_xo]

People who were paid $1 more than minimim wage are now paid only 50 cents more than minimum (you don't think they will automatically get a raise now do you)..

As to the OP, the difference between the US and Canada in terms of cost of living, taxes, and other amenities makes a major difference.
I am a Canadian employee of a US company.. in My company the Canadian employees are paid 20% below their US counterparts in exactly the same job.

I've had that happen to me. Definitely doesn't seem right.

And being paid 20% less than people doing the same job also sucks.

 

[wvjules]

Minimum wages are nothing more than a governmental feel good measure, and in fact, a raise in minimum wage may result in LOWER spending power.

For example, a company that traditionally pays minimum wage (coffee shop?) now has to either raise their prices or lay off a person to meet the new wages requirments. People who were paid $1 more thant minimim wage are now paid only 50 cents more than minimum (you don't think they will automatically get a raise now do you)..


Since prices went up, or they lost their job, that raise just disaappeared... poof.


As to the OP, the difference between the US and Canada in terms of cost of living, taxes, and other amenities makes a major difference.
I am a Canadian employee of a US company.. in My company the Canadian employees are paid 20% below their US counterparts in exactly the same job.

I have an econ paper due on Sunday, want to write it for me? (I'm kidding!)

 

[tinkerbell_xo]

Oh and I wanted to add, when minimum wage goes up hours are usually cut, like the pp said. What a WORLD!

 

[DawnCt1]

I saw on the DIS unplugged podcast thread that WDW is hiring, so out of curiousty I took a look at the available jobs.

And I was shocked.

These are the available positions and hourly rate:
food & beverage - quick-service -> $7.95/hour
food & beverage - dishwasher -> $7.70/hour
housekeeping -> $8.25/hour
custodial -> $7.70-$8.70/hour
lifeguard -> $8.20-$9.15/hour
recreation/slide operations -> $7.70/hour

Minimum wage where I live (Ontario, Canada) is $10.25/hour.
The CDN/USD is at par right now.
I don't know how people survive off $7.70.hour, that's just not nice.

CANADA

Those are entry level jobs and hopefully, people will move on to better jobs and better careers. The higher the wages, the higher the cost for the consumer, or the fewer available jobs resulting in poorer customer service. If it is a job seeker's market, than businesses will and do pay more to attract workers. It is what the market will bear. When we were in Hawaii one year, the job market was so tight that McDonald's was paying $15 per hour and Papa Ginos was flying workers over to the Big Island to serve pizza.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I've never really understood minimum wage laws. If a company has a position that is worth less than the minimum wage to fill and someone wants to do the job for less than the minimum wage, it seems to me that they should be able to do that.

I heard recently that they may be cracking down on non-government unpaid internships because of minimum wage laws. These are situations where people feel the experience is so valuable that they will do the work for free but they are being told that they aren't allowed. Why not just let people pick the jobs that they want?

Is Disney having trouble finding quality people that want the job at the current pay rate? I don't think that they are. That tells me that the overall benefits of the job (the pay, work environment, experience, etc) are sufficient.

Personally, I never worked for minimum wage. Back in my day it was so low that even high school kids could easily find jobs above the minimum wage. Now it is so high relative to the market rates that teen unemployment is sky high.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Don't forget that is COL.

While I don't pretend that I could survive on those wages....

Places like NYC have higher minimum wages. There is a federal minimum, some states have their own minimums that are higher--and perhaps even some municipalities set even higher wages as minimum. Not sure though.

Living in Orlando costs less than living in Canada.

You can't lump all of Canada together like that. I'm sure living in Toronto costs way more than living in Orlando but not necessarily rural ares in the Prairies.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

...Personally, I never worked for minimum wage...

I began working at 12. My first two jobs paid $3.15/hr - 31 years ago...

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

You can't lump all of Canada together like that. I'm sure living in Toronto costs way more than living in Orlando but not necessarily rural ares in the Prairies.

Good point.

 

[bdoyledimou]

Were you in my economics class at UF? We had this wonderful professor who did a lecture on minimum wage and why it was actually bad. It was rather fascinating. I can only remember the overall picture--but he defended his thesis rathe well. Sort of like what you just did.

Sadly no.. maybe importantly no though.. that this should be base common sense. Unfortunatly, those that get paid minimum wage are usually thankfull for seeing the extra $30 on their paycheque and not thinking about the broader costs involved.

I am an IT executive, and I manage a human resource budget of close to $1 million a month.
And i see things in terms of wage disparagy that makes my head spin.

Same job, same company, same customer, same experience and same tenure, with Resource A getting paid 50% less than Resource B. When digging into this issue i found that Resource A asked for more than B, and got it.

Lesson learned, and which should be shared with the world, rather than live off a minimum wage, set a worth for yourself, and find a job that you love that pays what you are worth. If you are realistic, you should be able to find that balance.

My Mother has worked in a factory for the last 20 years. She has been paid $11 an hour for ALL of those 20 years.. of course 20 years ago she was paid double the minimum wage. Now she is only has50 cents more.. (which is where my original response came from).. i have told her how wrong that is, and i know that if she had changed companies, she would have gotten a much higher starting wage, but in her mind, her job is worth $440 a week and thats what she gets paid, and she is happy with it so ...



I am sure that if we weren't buffered by a minimum wage, poeple would be paid BETTER in terms of cost of living. The worker would sell their services to the company at a fair market value that they could sustain themselves on, everyone would be happy, and costs would be much lower. (IMO)

 

[LuvBaloo]

I agree and disagree that you can't lump all of Canada together.
Wages and cost of living vary across the country and even within provinces.
Minimum wage in BC = $8/hr (lowest in Canada)
vs in Ontario $10.25 (highest in Canada)
Cost of living in Toronto/Vancouver is much higher than in smaller centers.

Overall I do think the average cost of living in Canada is higher. We generally pay more in taxes (I consider EI, CPP all part of taxes).

 

[merryweather20]

Yes. Our employees get it taken out here but if they are making minimum wage the probably get most, if not all, of it back.

BTW, how much do you think an unskilled dishwasher should make?

If they were making $10.25 full-time they would be making $18,655 for the full year (say 5 days a week) and assume paying $200 per month in rent

They would pay:
Pension $750
Unemployment $325
Tax $-
Refund on Filing ($115)
GST pd 1/4ly ($380)
Net $580

So they'd have deductions of $1,075 over 12 months. Receive $115 in refundable credits when they file their yearly tax return and another $95 each quarter. They would only pay about $600 in pension and unemployment for the whole year after it nets out. . That doesn't sound so bad, especially considering the minimum wage differential.

 

[minnie56]

It does even out..I have lived in Florida and of course here in Canada.
Property taxes are less here...a house worth a 1/3 of mine in Florida pays almost as must as 3x the property taxes. I know..I owned one.
Owned 2 actually--but one was on the beach so that factored in to those exorbinant taxes!

 

[dicar123]

I don't know how people survive off $7.70.hour, that's just not nice.

CANADA

Minimum wage implies minimal skills and minimal work history. It is basically a training wage. In this economy, all bets are off, but generally these positions have been worked by people not trying to support themselves (teens, mothers supplementing a husband's income, older people supplementing a pension and so forth).

The goal, of course, is to get some skills under your belt before you strike out on your own to support yourself.

When it comes right down to it, minimum wage laws hurt the very people they are supposed to help. More workers can be hired at $5-6 dollars an hour than they can at $9-10 dollars an hour. If you can afford to hire 15 people, you can be less choosy. Lots of workers means you can afford for one or two to be slower, less efficient, less skilled. If you can only afford to hire 5 people, you're going to hire the very best you can get your hands on.

So, maybe you'll hire the middle class mom who wants to work a few hours on Saturday instead of the teenager or the young man from the inner city. It is the latter two who are most in need of those beginner skills (showing up regularly, dressing appropriately, taking direction and criticism, people skills, etc).

 

[teskak]

Australia's minimum wage is $14.31 / hr

 

[Planogirl]

I have mixed feelings when it comes to minimum wage. I understand that as costs increase that job openings at these levels tend to drop in number but I can't wrap my mind around starting salaries never increasing as prices go up on a constant basis. Companies will take advantage of the workplace in any way they can just to save money and with the job market being poor, I can imagine a lot of that.

 

[Tiger926]

You are all talking about big companies in terms of paying minimum wage. People always make the statement that minimum wage should be higher, but someone has to pay that minimum wage, and so for small businesses each and everytime the minimum wage is raised, it could be one step closer to closing up shop.

Tiger