> I personally don't believe that an unskilled worker in the US deserves to be paid 10X...
A full-time worker deserves to be paid enough to live, period. Unskilled or not. They deserve a roof over their head, food on the table, and basic healthcare. Cost of living varies greatly based on locale, and comparing that number to the poverty wage in Bangladesh is what the invisible hand does, yes, but it's absolutely not what's fair or what's deserved.
Ah yes, a common refrain these days! It feels nice, but as I think carefully about it there are problems. The biggest one is: what's "enough to live"? Enough so you don't die of deprivation of something? That's not enough. But people in America would claim that millions and millions of Americans don't have "enough to live". And yet, I promise you they do. Our poor are fat.
I think the basic issue is: people will disagree vehemently about what "enough to live is", and so your sentiment, while well-meaning, becomes an empty platitude in public discourse.
> What's "enough to live"? Enough so you don't die of deprivation of something? That's not enough.
It'd be a decent start. Yes, America's destitute have enough food, and yes, the "enough-to live" line is arbitrary: if you're poor in France, the government will provide you with a computer and an internet connection. I'd be happy to have a debate about whether we as a society want to pay for something like that.
But providing all citizens with basic shelter and healthcare should be non-negotiable in the richest nation on earth.
No - that type of job shouldn't exist. Automate them, offshore them, let the business models that depend on this type of exploitive labor fail. Eventually, this sort of job is going to disappear anyway.
If paired with robust social safety nets, we can absolutely require jobs to pay a living wage.
There are people willing to take those jobs. You would be taking a job away from a willing worker and doing what? Tell them to take welfare? Not everyone in the workforce is a sole breadwinner for their family. Regulating those jobs makes all of those workers worse off and is an economic loss to the system.
They're willing to take the jobs because that's (presumably) all they can do now. The social safety safety nets I'm proposing would include robust access to quality education for the economically displaced.
I firmly believe that any currently "unskilled" worker can re-tool and become much more productive if given the opportunity.
A full-time worker deserves to be paid enough to live, period. Unskilled or not. They deserve a roof over their head, food on the table, and basic healthcare. Cost of living varies greatly based on locale, and comparing that number to the poverty wage in Bangladesh is what the invisible hand does, yes, but it's absolutely not what's fair or what's deserved.