tandempower

What if minimum wage was set as an LCF wage and driving expenses were subsidized for those who could demonstrate need? That would mean employers could save money on wages and this would incentivize job-creation in areas/locations that are positioned to attract more LCF applicants, e.g. because they are near residential areas and/or transit lines.

Driving expenses could be reimbursed with a tax credit and/or required to be paid by employers in areas deemed LCF-untenable. This would be acceptable because of the money employers would be saving by setting minimum wage at a car-free level.

For 'us LCFers,' it would mean giving up the extra pay we get by saving on driving expenses while being paid equally to everyone who drives. But in return, an incentive would be created for employers to create jobs where more LCF applicants will apply.

Sorry that this topic is political, but I think it's worth considering how LCF-oriented wage laws could benefit both LCFers and businesses, while also ultimately costing us a little in lost wages. Would it be a worthwhile investment in winning over job-creators to LCF or would you prefer to keep living car-free at income levels set to pay employees to drive? (not that everyone is paid at a level that affords driving)

350htrr

Around here there already IS a thing similar to that... If a company wants/needs you to be at a certain place at a certain time, it the company vehicle that people drive. Doesn't matter if you have a vehicle or not, everyone gets to use the company vehicle...

Machka 

A) I haven't had a minimum wage job since ... um ... let me think ... have I ever had a minimum wage job? Oh, I must have ... maybe when I was a teenager.

B) When I was "Living Car Free", which I did for a number of years when I lived in Manitoba, one of the incentives for me to be car free then was that I was getting paid a decent wage, and saving the money I might have spent on a motor vehicle so that I could travel. I would NOT have been happy if my employer had informed me that they were going to lower my wage because I didn't have motor vehicle expenses!!

C) This ...

Plus if there isn't a company vehicle, and for some reason you have to use your own vehicle to get to the symposium in the next town, or to meet with a client across town, or to do a site visit, the company will reimburse your vehicle expenses for those trips. You submit your fuel slips etc., you get reimbursed. Happens all the time. Companies prefer that you use the company vehicle, of course, because it is just simpler.

tandempower

I haven't said anything about employers not paying people to save up money for the future, for vacations and/or otherwise. What I am talking about is the fact that many people are pushing for a 'living wage' these days, and the argument against it is that it raises business costs for employers, provokes inflation, etc. My point is that it would be a good compromise to having an LCF-wage instead of a 'living wage' and then employees and/or tax credits can subsidize driving for those who can demonstrate a need to drive. That way the people who really need to drive don't have to suffer in other areas, i.e. they get a 'living wage,' while employers are stimulated to create more jobs in LCF-friendly areas because they don't have to pay driving-subsidies there.

This says nothing about higher-than-minimum wages, except maybe that where there are more minimum-wage jobs, there are more higher paying jobs as well, typically, because managers are paid more and incentive pay is used to attract and retain employees who are valued more than their minimum wage counterparts.

unterhausen

you know, there is a clause in the FAQ about politics going in the P&R forum, and this thread is purely about politics in the sense that it's talking about government policy, laws, and regulations. I'm sorry, but this forum is about living car free and there is another forum for threads like this. I'm closing it, and if there are more threads or posts about this subject we can revoke the poster's privilege to post in this forum. Thanks for your consideration