Would it be more fair if the minimum wages were based on profession and need?

A professor can pretty much demand their own salary, so minimum wage doesn’t really apply to him. Personally I feel the only thing that should be required of the minimum wage is that it allow a person to reasonably live (to maintain housing, basic utilities, food, and so on) without having to work multiple jobs.

@Darth_Algar How about a guaranteed yearly income?

@talljasperman I meant a set wage for each profession and craft. We have that loosely in Occupational information.

To allow a person to live on a minimum wage job in the US today would require $18 –
$25 per hour. And no family or children to speak of.
Forcing minimum wage to rise should be on the employees/employers and they should bargain for wages on a yearly basis.

Setting a wage by profession might put some professions in jeopardy (not the game).

@Dan_Lyons Sports has a salary cap. Why not other trades?

Well, it was just a theory, but if you limit salaries for cooks to less than what a pool cleaner makes, you may wind up with far less cooks and far more pool cleaners. That sort of thing.

@talljasperman

Yes, I actually quite like the idea of an unconditional basic income.

@talljasperman “Sports has a salary cap. Why not other trades?”

Well sports leagues salary caps are for team-wide salaries, not for individual players. The idea being that salary caps increase parity between teams and thus make smaller teams more competitive. In practice this does not turn out to be the case (compare, say, the NBA, which does have a salary cap, to MLB, which does not have a salary cap).

The idea is that if the guy at Pizza Pizza was getting 15 a hour the Professor could negotiate for a higher wage. As I have said many times I have seen our (state) minimum wage more than double but my rent is pretty much the same since I started renting in 1996. I just don’t have to live with a roommate now.

I can still get a burger at the DQ for a buck. Just like 1996. The market (what I will pay compared to what they sell for) seems mostly unchanged. I’m not seeing longer lines. Just the owners are making less but still profitable and that works for me.

@johnpowell So if one gets a raise than everyone else wants one too… their is no getting ahead unless you get a bigger raise than everyone else.

Actually, the only solution is to lower the cost of living.

Yes, skilled people such as doctors, nurses, scientists, police, military personnel, tradesmen, engineers and others who are responsible for keeping society moving and protecting/saving others should be paid more money than celebrities, politicians, socialites, mooches and sports figures.

@Paradox25

Is that an argument that doctors, police, military, etc should be paid more than athletes and movie stars are now? Or is it an argument that athletes and movie stars should be paid little? In ether case why?

@Darth_Algar I don’t think celebrities should get paid more, let alone so much more, than people who have more important and productive professions. It was fairly obvious what I meant so I don’t understand your reply.

@Paradox25

It wasn’t obvious, hence why I asked for clarification. But why shouldn’t athletes and entertainers be paid more? That their profession might not be as “important” as a doctor or police officer I don’t see why that’s reason to limit the salaries they can make. These folks generate a lot of money for their employers, why should they not be compensated to a level commensurate with that?

@Darth_Algar :-) Don’t most employees generate a great deal of money for their employers?

@Paradox25

Individually, not so much. Yes, wealth is created through labor, but nobody buys a car because John Everyman popped in some of the rivets at the factory. Nor does anyone pay to come and watch John Everyman do his job. On the other hand millions of people pay good money to come and watch Derek Jeter or Tom Cruise do their jobs.

Standardization of wages vs cost of living should be started.
That way everyone prospers.