Freelance Workers - Exploited and Stupid

Question time. Do minimum wage laws apply to freelance gigs? Nope. Why not? Stupid question. It's free market enterprise at it's worst - And best. Worst because it screws everyone, white or black, male or female, out of anything resembling a decent wage. Best because the online freelance market makes no differentiation based on the color of your skin or sex or any of the other factors normally applicable in a job market.

So here's a suggestion for the powers-that-be on Craigslist and other online job markets. Implement a minimum wage structure before it's forced on you. Make it mandatory for employers to pay a minimum level of pay. And if you want to argue about free enterprise or fiddling with market forces, I refer you to the minimum wage bill, which, after having cruised through the House, is now scheduled for debate in the U.S. Senate.

Craigslist has always been a trailblazing center for online entrepreneurs. I would like to see them kick off something like a minimum wage model for online workers, which could then spread across the internet.

You can poke your head into a hole in the sand and pretend that nothing's happening, but nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. And the time to implement an online minimum wage model is now.