Fyi, $15/hr in 2011 dollars would have been significantly higher than the minimum wage has ever been. The highest ever US minimum wage adjusted for inflation was $1.60 in 1968 which is $10.34 in 2011, $12.18 in 2021.
You don't just adjust for inflation, you adjust for productivity growth. That being said, $15 is meant to be high. It's meant to give you the ability to pay for housing.
For amusement value: the median house price in Jan 1968 was $163K in 2020 dollars. The median house price in 2020 was $300K. So really, minimum wage should be $24 an hour to bring you into Property Purchasing Power Parity™ with 1968.
“Why doesn’t the CPI include the cost of buying and financing houses as well as property taxes and home maintenance and improvement?
Houses and other residential structures are not consumption items and, therefore, should not be CPI items. All buildings and structures are capital goods, which are items that provide a service. In the case of houses and other residential structures, that service is shelter.
Buildings and structures are also investment items, things that are bought and resold in organized markets with a potential for gain. House prices frequently appreciate; in this respect they differ from consumer durables such as vehicles.”
Maybe we just need to increase the supply of houses to drive that cost down. Raising the minimum wage doesn’t help if everyone is competing for the same limited supply.
Certain political bents like to mix "inflation" and "productivity growth" to juice the numbers. OTOH not sure I really trust inflation is balanced properly and accurately captures the cost of a certain standard of living.
pessimizer|4 years ago
For amusement value: the median house price in Jan 1968 was $163K in 2020 dollars. The median house price in 2020 was $300K. So really, minimum wage should be $24 an hour to bring you into Property Purchasing Power Parity™ with 1968.
almost_usual|4 years ago
https://www.bls.gov/cpi/factsheets/owners-equivalent-rent-an...
“Why doesn’t the CPI include the cost of buying and financing houses as well as property taxes and home maintenance and improvement?
Houses and other residential structures are not consumption items and, therefore, should not be CPI items. All buildings and structures are capital goods, which are items that provide a service. In the case of houses and other residential structures, that service is shelter.
Buildings and structures are also investment items, things that are bought and resold in organized markets with a potential for gain. House prices frequently appreciate; in this respect they differ from consumer durables such as vehicles.”
pmorici|4 years ago
coryrc|4 years ago
I believe we should focus on relieving the burden of the massive regulatory state on the poor. I.e. relax zoning and lower regressive taxes.
patentatt|4 years ago
coryrc|4 years ago
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/21/politics/minimum-wage-inflati...
CapitalistCartr|4 years ago
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/21/politics/minimum-wage-inflati...