A splashy front-page article appeared in today’s’ Albuquerque Journal indicating that raising the minimum wage is going to be considered during the 2015 legislative session despite Republicans having taken over the House (and holding the Governor’s mansion).
Even if, defying basic economics, raising the minimum wage doesn’t result in job losses, raising the wage is NOT going to do anything positive for New Mexico’s economy. Republicans should be focused on policy reforms that WILL result in economic improvement. The reality, of course, is that raising the minimum wage results in lost jobs as the Congressional Budget Office pointed out earlier this year.
Polling shows that Americans support raising the minimum wage, but that support evaporates if it kills jobs:
All of this strongly points to Republicans NOT raising the minimum wage. But it could, as Rep. Varela noted, be a point of compromise. And that is where a hike in the minimum wage could be tolerable. It should be big though. Right to Work or elimination of Davis-Bacon prevailing wage laws. I can’t really think of another compromise that would make sense for Republicans to take the politically-foolhardy and economically problematic step of raising the minimum wage, but it could exist.
An interesting article, Paul. I will post it. I particularly like the charts because they graphically show pro and con. Good woork. Thank you for it.
The argument that politicians have no right to force employers to pay salaries they, the politicians, decide upon, falls on deaf ears. Whether the wage is set at “a certain point” on not.
Politicians ignore individual rights. They ignore business budgets. They ignore the fact that “salaries” do not grow on trees, which they can pick at will and arbitrarily throw about as if the money belonged to them.
Salaries are payments in exchange for work in a particular context in a certain type of business that is shaped by a certain number of facts of reality. One ignores this at one’s peril. The peril in this case is loss of jobs, loss of quality service, loss of products and services, loss of business expansion and lost of businesses and higher prices.
But I advise you not to even try to tell a political this. They don’t get it because they do not choose to get it. They will compromise, appease and vote New Mexico’s creators of values into the condition right-less slaves for the sake of a smile from their Progressive cohorts.
What happens when these pitiful creatures we call our “representatives” force the creators to pack up and move out?
I say let us stop supporting all such creatures. I can think of little else than their attitude toward business people and their regard for “minimum wage” that so well demonstrates the need to stop all future campaign donations, volunteer work and all other support — including votes — of such “Republicans.”
Messing about in the rights of business owners is not the way to restore the Republic.
My simple little mind computes it like this: John makes the minimum wage of $7.25/hr at the XYZ store. He’s a clerk and just started there recently. Mike is also a clerk who has worked there 6 years and has added some extra responsibilities to his job. He makes $5 more an hour than John. Steve is the assistant manager and is making $10 more an hour than John. If/when an increase in the minimum wage is effective, John’s salary jumps up to $10.25 or a $3/hour increase. Mike and Steve need their salary increased also and EVEN IF they get a $3/hr increase they are percentage-wise making less than before compared to John. John’s salary goes up 41%, Mike’s $3/hr increase is a 24% increase, and Steve’s $3/hr increase amounts to a 17% increase in salary. There has to be this trickle up effect to keep everyone happy and the best case scenario for the boss is that everyone gets a bump of $3/hr. If everyone gets a 41% increase like John did, it will cost the boss even more. Either way, all wages go up for the boss and where is he to get the money for that? From his customers or in other words YOU! Therefore prices must increase and as they do, John discovers that his new extra $3/hr is not going as far as he thought it would because now the price of everything has gone up. Granted, there will be a small time-lapse for this to occur, but end result will be the same, So, John is still at the bottom and actually Mike and Steve aren’t as well off as before either. A minimum wage should be set by the marketplace and these STARTING position wages aren’t meant to be a LIVING WAGE, rather a learning, training, intern, apprentice-type wage. Key word here is STARTING, wages go up with time, work experience, increased responsibility and increased skills.
That compromise would be barely tolerable only if the new minimum was NOT tied to an inflation index! An indexed minimum wage would be truly and continually damaging. The reason our economy has survived many periodic minimum wage hikes over the years is that the least possible wage any worker can accept rises steadily through the years and overtakes the statutory minimum. As Ms. Aske pointed out, in part, new minimum wage thresholds inevitably get inflated away, and this mitigates their adverse impact over time.