Join the new world

Agreed I have put out 3 offers for entry level jobs and they were taken with in 3 min.

The same thing happened about 2 months ago maybe...The next morning there were plenty of offers on the market. It may not repeat though.

Even so Q1 food is going at 1.75 currently. Current jobs on the HR screen are paying well below that.

Would you say that Q1 food price should = minimum wage?

Or would that only exacerbate the problem in the long term?

I've opened up several Level 0 jobs - even in a couple of Q2 companies. The sad thing is either they go inactive or quit about the time they finally start producing before I even have time to give them a raise. Also I start them at 4 USD which I feel is quite generous for that Skill Level.

We need to to something so that people do not get to frustrated and plain just give up.

One way would be a Welcome wagon that tells them about things. Perhaps clues them in on work, their temporary status as a "non-producer". Plus employers should contact their new people. That last one I admit I have been lax in doing.

Great article... voted.

How about the govt file lawsuit against businesses that do not have atleast one 0, 1, and 2 skill level worker.

The crime: Worker Discrimination

Might make people think twice about over paying their workers.

as a nearly new player (been here 4 days) i think that this is a great idea, and i've done a bit of math, assuming a 0 skill person works everyday, doesn't get a job until day 3 of being there, at minimum wage they'd only be able to support themselves for 4 days total... however, if they get a job on day 1-2, then they'd be able to survive a few more days... and even if they only get a job on day 3, on day 4, which they wouldn't be able to pay for food on, they'd be skill lvl 1, which means they'd probably be able to get a wage... anything higher than $1.20 would support that person another day, by which time they'd be able to resign, and get a better paying job in the 1-1.99 skill market...

if they couldn't get a job in the 3 days or don't work everyday, then they are screwed is what it comes down too... a little charity could change that

Voted!

sorry for long post above, but wait! there's more!

someone above said reduce food to minimum wage, so even at minimum wage you could get Q1 food everyday... but that would only worsen the economy by an enormous amount. why? Q1 foods would make negative profit, wouldn't be able to pay ANY employee and shut down or upgrade to a higher Q, at which point 0 skills are not productive enough to make profit, so then the Q1 grain companies would have to sell for less, eventually making no profit, starting a domino effect that causes the Q1 food AND grain industry to collapse, hundred of 0 skill jobs disappearing, and no Q1 food on the market to sustain any newcomers to eUSA...

it would be an utter disaster, the best solution i can think of Q1 food-wise, is lower it to $1.75, because with that, the poor guy in the secnario above would be able to last that 4th day without the $.20 raise in daily wages...

again sorry for very long posts...

This is a very important issue to address. However, just creating the jobs will not fix everything. As of now I cannot buy enough food with my salary to have a net positive wealth. The minimum wage should be raised significantly and any maximum that might exist should be raised a smaller amount.

@pyroelectricity: Do you not think that 6 USD/day is enough for Skill of 2.2? That is almost 3 x your skill level. There are some that recommend only 1.5 x skill level.

ah but you must look at the bigger picture...
if minimum wage was raised than some companies wouldn't be willing to hire people with 0 skill because they wouldn't make a profit while paying them more than $1.00... so bear with it until you have 1-1.99 or 2-2.99 to get a higher waged job...

if you raise minimum wage a whole bunch of buisnesses would lcose because they can't make profit from them... would you take a dollare a day, or unemployment with no money and no skill raise each day?

and i just noticed that Q1 food already is at $1.75, i did the math assuming $1.80, so the guy in the above posts is perfectly fine on minimum wage if he's smart and active...

@FoeFighter: I never pay less than 4 USD/day to even Skill level 0 but I try to maintain enough higher employees to ensure I can stay in business. My pay rates are (roughly)

Skill 0 - 4
Skill 1 - 5
Skill 2 - 6
Skill 3 - 9
Skill 4 - 12

Of course all are modified for in between levels and profit margins.

I'm a believer in the "Trickle Up" Theory of Cost Reduction. The basic trouble behind the high cost of Food and Weapons is the high cost of raw materials. But as an Iron Producer, I am finding that it is difficult to keep costs low when trying to pay your employees a competative wage. Basically, the trouble is we pay farmers and miners too much. And that's for all skill levels.

I think all resource companies need to lower their employees' salaries. I know this is going to hurt people in the short run. I hope everyone has some extra cash stashed away, because we're all going to have to dig into it before we feel the effects of the Trickle Up. For those new players who don't have any savings, there will need to be soup kitchens set up to feed the needy with cheap imported food.

But as soon as Resource Companies feel the reduction in their costs, they can afford to drop their prices. Then the Manufacturing Companies will see a reduction in their costs, ontop of what they see by reducing the wages they pay their workers. They then can afford to sell at a lower price. Eventually things will then balance out at a lower cost and that bitter taste of having your wages slashed will pass.

lol i wasn't implying that everyone pays minimum wage for 0 skill people, i was just showing that even at minimum wage a person new to eRepublik could survive for long enough to get a better job as things are now...

but while thing could vastly improve, they could also crash twice as much, so we must think of the small picture as well as the big one to make sure what we do now will help our economy in the long run, even if it hurts now... by putting the now above the soon to be that soon to be will become very miserable and twice as hard to fix...

BTW i only get $3 a day and im skill 2, but i just got at 2 today so hopefully ill get a raise... Im only in his job cause of my loyalty to my friends that run the company

Good plan, Rocco. God knows we can't keep fighting between parties and fix anything.

Monolith has jobs for skill level 0.

helping the newer players will be a top priority for me in congress.

good article. voted

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/-attn-west-virginia-dasmoe-for-congress-check-it-out-711328/1

the struggles of newer players is a major issue. whenever i found employment and got my skil up a bit the company ran out of resources and i was forced to move on as i can afford no reserves of food. i bounced around jobd every day or 2 until i was offered a steady job in thailand. i had to take it or i would have died. you must fix this issue. i did not want to leave but i had no choice. you must fix this issue or there will be many more people dealing with my situation.

Full of yourself (err.. and of hot air).

What can I say that hasn't already been said? ..Sat here and edited my comment 342843 times, haha.

Voted. Supported.

I was just discussing something similar to this on a topic about the war and the changes in economy that come from that.

Knowledge is our biggest enemy. One of the points that I want to make in my run for Congress *hint, hint, nudge, nudge eArkansas* is that Congressmen should be the welcome wagon for their state. It is the responsibility of an elected official to make sure that they know what is happening in their state. It doesn't take too long to check out when new people arrive in your state, just a bit of organization upfront. These elected officials can then offer a welcom and advice right up front, with a personal touch that should get the message out better than automated systems or expected a new player to randomly search through forums or article archives.

Flooding the market with food, or requiring increases in the minimum wage don't actually fix the long term problem. Increases in Government controls on the economy only buffer citizens from issues that sooner or later will have to be fixed. The free market will do this with some help. Government contracted Q1 companies, made available and advertised to new players would open up more jobs, have set wages and prices for goods, and allow new players to gain experience and then set out on their own. Consider them "Training Academies". This also allows for another person (the GM) to be able to assist new players acclimating to eRepublik.

i think at the beginning of that, you mean "IGNORANCE is our biggest enemy."

with knowledge as your enemy you'd want to know as little as possible, so given the context of the rest of that paragraph i'm fairly sure you meant ignorance...

Lsten baldelli we cant get our economy back on its feet if we are still at war! We are already spending so much money on it!

First, I'd like to mention how funny it is that a level two character is telling us how the economy is going, because of this or that thing we're doing that's spending way too much money. Good show.

Secondly, I would like to say that I have been helping to fight this problem already, by accepting a salary of FIVE (V, 5, cinco, 4+1, sqrt25, 2.236^2) dollars a day with a skill of over 4.5 at Emerick's Put My Wood in your Company Q1 Wood company. Not a grain industry, but still a step to keep prices low for raw materials. If only other players could be so selfless, we could nip this problem in the bud straight away.

Third, I want to commend Rocco Baldelli for committing to a SOCIAL program for aide, rather than a government program. It is an excellent way to have citizens help those around them, and I'm willing to go one step further:

IF you are below level 7 (hence, no party affiliations, not enough time to get high skills), you may message me once per day, and I will send you a Q1 food, no questions asked. I will accept messages from ANYONE level 6 or below, and send the aide on its way. Please only message if you need the food, but if you feel like being greedy, I can't stop you.

Rocco...if you need anything...let me know. I've been wanting to get in on something like this for a while now. Just let me know what I can do.

Im new to this game.. and I got to say that I was lucky to find a job.. I only got payed a dollar each day. now its three dollars, but Im at about 40 wellness and still losing wellness everyday because Q1 food does nothing! and I cant buy Q2 food because I it cost about 8 USD. Im heading no where at the moment.

I think abolishing the minimum wage would be a step forward to making the dollar stronger and lowering the food prices. Not kidding.

@Geno

Great minds think alike. Up until a few days ago, I worked Q1 diamonds for $4.5 a day for close to a month. Only stepped up so I could afford more gifts/food. I agree with the selfless thing.

After Christmas, I plan on starting a much more organized Food Bank, with similar standards to the one's you mentioned.

agreed.

We need to setup beneficial trade with other countries, we should eliminate tariffs on essential goods and we should eliminate the minimum wage in order to entice companies to offer more low paying jobs. I personally think that it should be the responsibility of the higher level players to do some charity for the active lower-level players. I still don't have a home, I am slowly losing health, and due to cost of housing, I'm not sure when I'll get a house.

voted

I'd love to join!

"Changing the Focus Towards Fixing eUSA"

Step 1) Elect a New President
Step 2) Elect new members of Congress
Step 3) Implement Change.

Changing the status quo doesn't happen when the folks who
implemented the status quo remain in office.

I consider myself to be fairly lucky. On Day 1 I found job making $5/day. I praise that company. Regardless, it is very difficult to maintain proper wellness levels if you do not have the funds to afford appropriate quality foods. I just reached skill of 4 in my current job, but even with my pay AND Q1 house I can barely afford the quality food needed to maintain my wellness. Selling gold and fighting in war is how I've survived...

hi im a noob i started last night i wont be able to get on for a while because im moving and my internet will be down for a bit.we should have a government supported program that gives people a certain amount of food if they are not going to have access to a computer for a while.what about that?

Minimum wage should be set so that

Minimum_Wage * 3 + Starting_Money >= 3 * Q1_Food_Price

It's fine to make a loss for the first three days until you can switch to a higher paying, higher skill job as long as you don't starve. The minimum wage is currently unnecessarily high. It should be about 0.1 USD. That would allow people to make a profit off low skill workers and create more opportunities for people to increase their skill.

This could be potentially demoralising for new citizens to make a loss, so the welcome message to new citizens should make it clear that they shouldn't worry about losing money for the first 3 days.

Perfect! Great opportunity for a new business!

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/is-the-war-over--712306/1

Perfect! Go Rocco!

Your salaries havent adjusted to the new value of USD, I'd say. Currently, 1 USD isnt worth anything. Even younger players should be getting 2 USD, but considering you already have people charging 1.75 for Q1 food, I'd say you're in a bit of a pickle.

Nice article though.

If you got STEAM and wanna buy Gold contact me.

Voted! Low level job are vital to any economy. Without them new citizen will have a hard time. On a seperate topic, I'm running for congress just check it out.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/newspaper/edward-r-murrow-press-153741/1

helping the newer players will be a top priority for me in congress.


http://www.erepublik.com/en/a[..]328/1

What dishmcds is saying is that if raise minimum wage, the food prices will not go up. That's what you call bull crap.

I don't view the problem as being high prices for Q1 food, I believe min wage should be raised to 2 dollars. That would solve the problem, as long as there are jobs available, since MOST people make way more than that anyway. The new citizen fee is an aid in this situation, but still, it's so low since most people are like, "What's this like?" and two days later, "Oh, I thought this was something else, this is boring, I'm not playing any more." and they quit, with that new citizen fee going down the drain. If I were in congress(which I hope to be soon), I'd vote for a $2 mininum wage. Also, whoever out there who owns a company and doesn't want lvl 0 people working there, you know, they DO level up fast, and it's not like you have to pay them as much as more skilled people...