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cymru3 t1_j2pyhoo wrote

Reply to comment by kdall7 in Massachusetts laws that go into effect in 2023 by ak47workaccnt

I’m all for raising the minimum wage. The problem is with jobs that paid over minimum wage anyway. Let’s say someone was earning $16 an hour. Before the new law started to take effect, they would have been earning $704 gross per week (32 hours at $16, 8 hours at $24). That person wouldn’t benefit from the minimum wage increase because they already earn over that amount. Now, that same worker would be earning $640 a week.

I know the math isn’t perfect because that worker would have been given raises (likely in the realm of 20c a year or so) during that time, but it gives you an idea of why some people are unhappy about it.

I’m a salaried M-F type, but my husband is an hourly retail manager and a lot of the folks he works with right on that minimum wage cusp have found it really tough to slowly lose their Sunday/holiday pay.

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kdall7 t1_j2qd9xq wrote

This is all disregarding taxes & other withholdings-

If you worked every Sunday in a year at 1.5* premium, you would earn $9,360 when making $15/hr. Now, you earn 1* on Sundays, equaling $6,240 per year, with a diffence of $3,120.

If you worked every Holiday in a year at 1.5* premium (with 9 Holidays) you would earn $1,620 when making $15/hr. Now, you earn 1* on Holidays, equaling $1,080 per year, with a difference of $540.

Together, this is a loss of $3,660.

Minimum wage in 2018 was $11/hr.

Minimum wage in 2023 is $15/hr.

Annually, income was $25,564 in 2018 if you worked every Sunday and every Holiday.

Annually, income is $31,200 in 2023 across the board.

Even if you subtract the $3,660 “loss” from the minimum annual earnings in 2023, the difference is still a gain of $1,976 for all minimum wage earners.

Furthermore, when taking inflation into account, $1 in 2018 is equivalent to $1.19 in 2023. In 2018, $25,564 would be equal to $30,324.12 today, meaning that an annual minimum income of $31,200 is more than keeping up with inflation.

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kdall7 t1_j2qejl7 wrote

I totally understand how this doesn’t benefit those making above minimum wage and actually is decreasing their annual earnings by eliminating Sunday and Holiday pay. That’s part of the reason why they called the bill the “Great Bargain,” it’s a balancing act and they’re hoping that the wage increases will trickle up and be reflected across the board over time.

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cymru3 t1_j2r6pq2 wrote

Right, this second post is what I was getting at. It’s why not everyone is happy with the change. Some workers are actually earning LESS under the guise of progress. So in response to your initial post, some people are in fact losing it.

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