This lack of utility is a key reason for why the territory is facing such economic distress. Consider that Puerto Rico must follow Federal labor laws, which include a mandated minimum-wage. While this is not, on the face of it, a bad thing, what it does is put the territory’s employers in an awkward spot insofar as those that might otherwise gain employment choose not to do so. For example, a worker making minimum wage (a rate which is itself eight times higher than within the states) would stand to earn $1159 per month, but because of a variety of means-of-assistance (including subsidies for food, housing, utilities, and health-care), those unemployed stand to make an aggregated $1743 (2015). Put in this context, there is little desire for the average person to desire to work for a living, since they can do relatively (and realistically) better when not working. Putting aside the psychosocial benefits of working to earn recompense, receiving the staples of life (namely: sustenance, housing, and medical care) will outweigh morality or ethicality more often than
This lack of utility is a key reason for why the territory is facing such economic distress. Consider that Puerto Rico must follow Federal labor laws, which include a mandated minimum-wage. While this is not, on the face of it, a bad thing, what it does is put the territory’s employers in an awkward spot insofar as those that might otherwise gain employment choose not to do so. For example, a worker making minimum wage (a rate which is itself eight times higher than within the states) would stand to earn $1159 per month, but because of a variety of means-of-assistance (including subsidies for food, housing, utilities, and health-care), those unemployed stand to make an aggregated $1743 (2015). Put in this context, there is little desire for the average person to desire to work for a living, since they can do relatively (and realistically) better when not working. Putting aside the psychosocial benefits of working to earn recompense, receiving the staples of life (namely: sustenance, housing, and medical care) will outweigh morality or ethicality more often than