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> But when you look at full work weeks of time, plus the costs of training the job, multiplied by all of the employees the company will hire, the difference in hourly wages emerges.

Not really. You won't train them with a $3 / hour worker. Their timesheet won't be done by a $3 / hour worker. Their workspace and equipment will cost more than $3 / hour. If they piss off a customer, or steal from the till, or break stuff, or bully other employees, or get you sued, the cost will be the same.

People in non-tech fields have to practically beg to get an internship which pays nothing. OK, internships should be about training, not work (it's the law), but we all know that's often a load of crap. That's because all staff have overhead, so even a free worker costs quite a bit.



I was hoping that was all understood in my post since it's all obvious to anyone who has been in business. If a business cannot tolerate unskilled workers or has limited hiring spots due to a limited number of machines, etc., then they need to hire skilled workers immediately and so are not part of what we are considering.

As someone who has managed a variety of budgets, I assure you that the wage portion of an employee's total cost is still meaningful.




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