It will definitely have an impact, though there is very little chance it will be anything positive. Like most liberal sentiments minimum wage knowledge is clouded by ignorance, here I will go through the facts and common sense on them.
To tear apart the myth of minimum wage I could quote economic studies showing it increases the unemployment rate, or reference the 90% of economists who believe it is harmful to workers, but none of this is necessary, because I can easily explain the negatives with common sense.
I used to work at KFC, so I'll use my story as an example.
I moved to Utah when I was 15, before I moved I worked for a movie theatre for five months (where coincidentally I was never paid minimum wage and received two raises based on performance before leaving).
After arriving to Utah I was unable to get a job because of strict labor laws (which are for a different day), but I applied in the month of my birthday and interviewed a few weeks before to allow my first day of work to be the day I turned 18.
I was hired for $5.50 per hour, already more than the minimum wage based on my five months of experience at an only partly-related job.
Within six months I was up to $6.70 and was on the verge of beginning management classes.
In total I worked there for a year and a half, in that time I learned how to do all positions (cook, register, pack food, shift supervisor), took two courses on management and as a result ended up with an $8.50 per hour wage before leaving to focus on school in the fourth term of my senior year.
I achieved this through hard work, the simple virtue which most liberals despise.
I was literally never late for work; I took only one sick day when it could not be avoided because I worked in a restaurant; I was never disrespectful to a person in a position of authority (or any others for that matter); I took every opportunity to further my knowledge of my work and move-up; and regardless of the situation I always worked hard and never asked for a break or sat-down.
I view the ability I had to achieve this when I was 16-17 years-old as proof that any semi-competent worker who cannot earn minimum wage is a loser, and save for any medical problems, has no excuses.
For those who disagree, there was a woman who worked at KFC at the same time I did.
She had three kids with her boyfriend who was addicted to drugs. She usually showed up 15 minutes late for work, smelling like smoke and complained her whole shift, begging for a break.
Though she was an obviously bad employee she still made $8 per hour simply because people who could work during the day were in demand. This is called Capitalism and is the result of the Free Market.
I believe I have sufficiently proved minimum wage is unnecessary, now let's go through some logic to prove it hurts the economy.
- 1. It is common sense every business is run to make a profit, if it didn't it would no longer be a going concern.
2. 2. So, employers can only pay employees the value of their work, if they paid more they would be unprofitable and go out of business.
3. 3. Since employers can logically only pay the value of the employees work, the minimum wage causes them to lay-off employees whose work is worth less then minimum wage, usually those who just started working.
4. 4. As employers nationwide lay-off employees who they can't afford to pay the unemployment rate goes up (the employees who make themselves worth more to the employer are usually kept).
1.
If there were no minimum wage, employers would have the ability to hire people for below the minimum wage, and allow them to prove themselves to earn a higher wage (The vast majority of people who earn the minimum wage get a raise within a year and 40% get one within four months). As the employee made himself valuable to the employer he would either be forced to pay the employee more, or watch him go elsewhere to make more. Either way the employee ends up with a relatively good wage, without the government's help.
Finally, it's necessary to show that upping the minimum wage does not turbo-charge the economy.
The liberal argument is that when employees make more they will have more money, which will allow them to spend more helping the economy (this sounds very similar to trickle-down economics, but not related to tax cuts).
It's true that people who make minimum wage (or something tied to it which many union workers make) will be able to spend more. But, that money has to come from somewhere.
Businesses can't just print new cash (though the fed seems to be unable to learn this simple fact), so to pay some workers more they will have to lay-off others and raise the prices of the things they sell.
Let's look at a simple pencil, if the minimum wage goes up the company that cuts down the trees will have to cut workers and raise the price of the wood, as will the:
- Company that mines the graphite for the 'lead'
- Mines the metal to put on the eraser
- Makes the eraser
- Puts it all together and makes the pencil
- And sells it at the retail level
Even this is an overly simplified example, there are many more possibilities, but the end result is the same: the prices will rise!
Now to use a little more logic, if a lot of people lose their jobs and the prices of goods rise, the economy will go down!
Wow! Revolutionary.
Roark is the pseudonym of an 18 year-old writer based in Utah. He remains surprised at the ignorance of most politicians, related to many other areas than Minimum Wage. For more on him visit our About Page.
For more on kinimum wage see: Somebody's Gotta Say It
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