Minimum Wage Increase

With Democrats now in control of Congress, they are busy trying to get the minimum wage increased. While this may seem like a good idea, in reality it is not.

Increasing the minimum wage, as well as having a minimum wage in the first place, decreases the amount of low paying, low skilled jobs there are. This is because with no minimum wage, an employer can higher someone to do the easy chores such as sweeping the floor and etc. in addition to their normal workers. But with a minimum wage, the business will not be able to support this extra worker and will have to lay him off. This will in turn mean the regular workers will have to do the grunt work in addition to their regular, skilled jobs therefore decreasing productivity. It also means that people such as students and teenagers will lose these low skilled jobs and not have a source of spending cash.

The minimum wage also raises the cost of business. In Iowa, the state increased its minimum wage. This means that in Waterloo, there will likely be a rise in the cost of city-run sports programs such as baseball and basketball. This happens because they are forced to pay their workers more. And hence they have to pass the cost on to the consumer. Therefore, it will cost more to play sports. If the cost of business goes up, then so does the cost of living.