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Before Jan. 1, protestors were holding signs saying, “We can’t survive on minimum wage.” This month, 13 states raised their levels of minimum wage, and Senate Democrats are aiming to raise the federal level to $10.10 per hour. The country is cheering—at least most of us. But with all this celebration, no one is seeing the big picture of how minimum wage will actually lose jobs.
In a USA Today study, 13 states raised their levels of minimum wage to the following statistics: Arizona ($7.90), Colorado ($8.00), Connecticut ($8.00), Florida ($7.93), Missouri ($7.50), Montana ($7.90), New Jersey ($8.25), New York ($8.00), Ohio ($7.95), Oregon ($9.10), Rhode Island ($8.00), Vermont ($8.73) and Washington ($9.32).
Four states were shown to have minimum wage lower than that of the federal level: Minnesota ($6.15), Wyoming ($5.15), Arkansas ($6.25) and Georgia ($5.15).
The federal government wants to raise minimum wage to eliminate poverty and help workers sustain themselves on a better income. While the intent is good, the truth is that inflation has already swelled the price of living and has cost people their jobs. Employees might be able to pay more for their expenses, but businesses will have to pay more for their goods and ultimately fire a few employees to survive.
Forbes illustrated this economical dip by saying that a typical company would lose 40 percent of its profits and fire one employee just to make ends meet. Even if the company raised its employees’ wages from $7 to $8 (assuming the company made $360,000 per year and earned only $50,000 in profits), that company would lose $20,000 per year just because of the minimum wage increase.
Forbes said that in 2009, Congress raised the minimum wage by 10.6 percent, but 600,000 teen jobs were lost even when the economy grew by 4 percent. UPI listed that because of Congress’ latest wage decision, an estimated 300,000 jobs would be lost per year. If that happens, our national economic output will lower by $40 billion each year.
Yet according to a Pew Research Center survey, 75 percent of the 1,504 queried adults voted for an increase of the federal minimum wage to $10.10. Of these 1,504 adults, 54 percent said that the government ought to raise the minimum wage to eliminate poverty, yet 44 percent said that any sort of governmental handout would make citizens rely on the government too much.
The choice belongs to us as citizens to decide whether we want more bucks per hour or more workers having jobs for their families. Minimum wage is given mainly to teenagers or students looking for income during the summer or after graduation, and these are the ones who will lose jobs or never gain them because of this increase in minimum wage.
Minimum wage should not be increased. If it does, we will see more posters, more demonstrators and more employees fighting for better wages—all because of the mess this increase would have made.
Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
