RE: "They'll just raise prices if thy raise the minimum wage."
April 15, 2014 at 11:00 am
(This post was last modified: April 15, 2014 at 11:06 am by Mister Agenda.)
My personal experience as a minumum wage worker who went through two minimum wage hikes in the eighties was that my wage increase was completely eaten by the following hike in prices a couple of weeks later, both times. Food and clothing involve a lot of minimum wage workers, and at the time, those things took up a much bigger percentage of my budget than they do now.
That said, the takeway might be that if you want the minimum wage raised, be smart about it: smaller, more frequent increases rather than spaced-out dramatic ones. Timing it for periods of strong economic growth and low inflation should magnify any benefits and minimize any harmful consequences.
An alternative to minimum wages would be subsidized wages: If we think the minimum wage should be ten dollars, we can make up the difference between people's current wages and the new wage by reimbursing employers the difference with tax money.
That said, the takeway might be that if you want the minimum wage raised, be smart about it: smaller, more frequent increases rather than spaced-out dramatic ones. Timing it for periods of strong economic growth and low inflation should magnify any benefits and minimize any harmful consequences.
An alternative to minimum wages would be subsidized wages: If we think the minimum wage should be ten dollars, we can make up the difference between people's current wages and the new wage by reimbursing employers the difference with tax money.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
