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I spent two weeks delivering for Uber Eats and made $4.40 per hour

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383 points imartin2k | 4 comments | 13 May 17 10:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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cousin_it ◴[13 May 17 11:42 UTC] No.14330454[source]▶
I don't understand the libertarian argument for allowing low wages. Let's say company X is paying low wages, which allows it to sell goods for cheap. If company Y tries to enter the market and pay higher wages, they won't get any market share, because their goods will be more expensive. So wages will stay low forever. Am I missing something?
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jstanley ◴[13 May 17 12:00 UTC] No.14330505[source]▶
If company Y is producing the same quality of goods as company X but trying to charge more money, they deserve to be out-competed by company X. Do you agree?

Equally, if employee Y is producing the same quality of work as employee X but trying to charge more money, does employee Y not deserve to be out-competed by employee X?

Employment is a two-sided market too.

Nobody would advocate for a minimum price for a packet of crisps just to save the poor crisp companies from earning too little per packet. It is obvious that if crisps were too expensive, people would stop buying them. The same applies for workers.

Minimum wage is just saying "if you can't produce at least $X of value per hour, you're not allowed to work at all". That's not fair.

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1. pg314 ◴[13 May 17 12:05 UTC] No.14330520[source]▶
Except that in one case you're talking about companies and in the other about people. I have no problems with companies dying, but I have moral reservations about people dying. The free market has no such qualms, it will happily set wages at a level where people can't survive.
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2. eru ◴[13 May 17 12:17 UTC] No.14330568[source]▶
A minimum wage forbids companies from hiring workers..

What you are arguing for is a welfare state.

As an example, modern Germany had a long tradition of welfare state combined with no minimum wage.

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3. Fnoord ◴[13 May 17 19:50 UTC] No.14332653[source]▶
> As an example, modern Germany had a long tradition of welfare state combined with no minimum wage

Welfare state as in? Having social benefits and minimum wage is not mutually exclusive.

Furthermore according to Wikipedia [1] the minimum wage in Germany is 8.84 EUR. You might say, "that's Wikipedia, that's no reliable source!" No sweat, go click the link first. For this specific information (minimum wage in Germany) they provide links to an English AND German source.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_count...

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4. eru ◴[15 May 17 22:26 UTC] No.14345713{3}[source]▶
Exactly. There are two independent choices.

Yes, Germany has a minimum wage now. It's fairly recent. Hence my careful wording that Germany "had" a tradition, not "has" a tradition.