One of the first acts of the 110th United States Congress was to raise the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.85, $6.55, and finally $7.25 on March 11, 2009.
As a note, the state of Washington has the highest minimum wage in all of the land, at $7.93, just raised this past week from $7.63.
This is not just a bad idea. This is crippling to small business, inviting illegal immigrants to stay here, and encourages people to suckle at the government teat for as long as possible, coming to trust the government to provide everything for them.
Small businesses (such as small retailers, service companies and others) live and die by their profit margin. Every time the minimum wage increases, they have two choices: increase prices and potentially drive away customers, or eat the difference.
Immigrants who come here for their piece of the American Dream don't do the kind of work that you would be paid $20 an hour to do. They're picking fruit and things like that.
A wage is your reward for a job performed. People should earn an amount of money similar to the amount of skill or experience it takes to do the job. You do not need life skills to stack boxes, pick fruit or assemble widgets on an assembly line. Those are the stepping stone jobs that you take in order to earn pocket money and experience. Those jobs should pay $5 and $6 an hour. If that, really. There's no reason that running a cash register should be worth $10 an hour to a teenager. But the government thinks it's what's right, so they're going to crush small businesses left and right just because they can.
Finally, and most importantly, if people rely on the government to provide a living wage, it's no stretch to ask the government to provide health care, car insurance, and all sorts of other stuff. We'll become peons at their whimsy. (Of course, some people are already there, and they won't know the difference.)
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6 comments:
There has not been a cost of living increase in the minimum wage in 10 years. In that ten years, the cost of living has absolutely gone up. You can't live off $5.15 an hour, and even $7.25 an hour is pushing it.
And what about protecting the people who are working for these small businesses? If they're already paying employees fairly, the raise in the wage doesn't affect them at all. I have no pity at all for any business that's driven out because of a minimum wage hike. They should have been paying their employees more in the first place. If they can't pay their people a decent wage and stay afloat...well, why should the government "subsidize" them by allowing them to pay employees at less than a poverty rate?
I suggest you do some research on the labor movement in this country and find out some of the reasons these protections are in place before you claim government is screwing over businesses. If businesses had their way, you probably wouldn't be able to afford the electricity you used to power your computer, let alone the computer itself.
I totally agree with you! Ohio just raised it's minium wage in the Nov. elections from $5something to $6.85. While I voted against it (Steve and I believe that raising the minimum wage amounts to raised prices on everything and nobody getting any extra income), it actually worked out nice for me so far. I wasn't being paid minimum wage before, but I am now! Another bump in the minimum wage means another raise!
But the funny thing was, right after I started getting paid more, my employer raised the membership rates to compensate (I work for the YMCA and I pay a greatly reduced rate to have my family be members). Their letter to the members specifically blamed the minimum wage hike for the rate increase. I liked being proved right!
Prices have gone up for the past 10 years without minimum wage hikes. It's just a convenient excuse for employers to explain this year's price jump.
There has not been a cost of living increase in the minimum wage in 10 years. In that ten years, the cost of living has absolutely gone up. You can't live off $5.15 an hour, and even $7.25 an hour is pushing it.
There's a difference between a living wage and minimum wage. The government wants to make them the same, and that absolutely crushes businesses. A 16-year-old stockboy doesn't need to earn a living wage; he just needs money for gas and car insurance.
People who are trying to make a living from minimum wage need to improve their job skills.
Well, why not have a lower minimum wage for minors? That was the case in Massachusetts. And I do agree with it...if you just have a part-time job or a supplemental job, you should be able to pay a lower wage.
If your job is your family's major source of income, however, then I disagree. Your job should then provide a living wage. If you work 40 hours a week at a job, you should be bringing home enough for food and rent without needing welfare assistance.
Personally, I'd rather workers get the money from their jobs than from my taxes. And I still think any place I would do business with wouldn't be affected by this at all...they're already paying well above the minimum wage.
As for "improving your job skills"...well, that takes time and money one doesn't always have when you're the only income, and living on minimum wage. It also assumes better paying jobs are open in your field. Things aren't always as easy as they appear to be.
just wanted to comment on the min wage being highest in WA
a small quibble that that is not technically true
check out the law in santa fe, nm
it's now $9.50 for businesses with 25 or more employees, and will be going up to $10.50 in January '08
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