So, somewhere along the line someone suggested that giving minimum wage workers a 100% raise to $15/hr would solve all their problems. Finally, they would be able to afford all the things they couldn’t buy at $7.50/hr. Their lives would magically be transformed into successful middle class lives.
Well, not so fast people. The reality is that the people that proposed this ‘raise’ are not business people. EEEWWW, nasty, mean, capitalist, greedy business people. Yes, business people did not recommend this because it won’t work. Like it or not, the people that own and run the businesses in this country have a pretty good idea what works and what doesn’t, or they don’t stay in business long.
What works? Paying people according to their ability and contribution to the company. So, someone that produces nothing for the company but performs an essential task, such as sweeping the floor is not entitled to what someone who designs and produces the product would make. Also, business people base salaries on how easy it is to replace that person. Is that person in possession of a skill set that is rare and highly desirable. A skill set that took years to develop and that may give the company and edge? Or is the skill set necessary something that virtually anybody can do and that there are a ready supply of these workers? If the answer is yes to the first question, then the salary is high. If the answer is yes to the second question, the answer is no. That is business.
Is this fair? Let’s consider this. A person with a unique skill set that spent years to develop, that can enhance the company’s income, that not everyone can do, has endeavored to be the best at whatever they do. Their ability to achieve this unique position shows a desire to excel. A desire hopefully translated into the company’s work. A person who can sweep the floor has not spent much time at all learning this skill. They don’t significantly contribute to the income of the company, they can be replaced tomorrow easily. This job can be done by a teenager. Is this person worthless? No, but they are an unknown if they just started. Are they at this level and 40 years old? Why do they not have a better skill set? Are they unreliable? Are they unstable? Did they ever stick with anything long enough to learn a unique skill set? These are all reasons to start someone out at a low pay.
Consider what offering someone top pay when they start will do. Will it actually raise this person out of poverty? Well, not likely. If the business has to double it’s cost in salaries, they will either cut payroll hours or raise prices. Either will result in someone paying the price. Salaries are not raised in a vacuum. Every expense a business has goes to the bottom line. Unprofitable businesses don’t employ anyone. If anyone thinks that the business owner is either willing or able to absorb 100% of the cost of doubling payroll, they are in dreamland.
Now, consider what this would do the best employees. The employees that do everything excellently. The employees that are loyal and have worked their way up from minimum wage. The employees that spent years acquiring skills that make them more valuable. Well, there will be less available for their pay. They may experience no or decreased raises. Of much more impact is what it will do to them psychologically. Why do a good job? Why be loyal? Why learn how to do anything? If I can sweep the floor and make the same money, why should I even try? What is the point of learning new or extra skills? It makes the good workers very angry. It may totally turn them against doing a good job. Certainly the incentive is taken away.
Consider as well what it does to those employee who are just handed top pay on day one. Where is the accomplishment? Can they be proud of this? Are they going to care at all about doing a good job? The only thing to work for is the same pay. What incentive is there to do a good job? If you double salaries, is there really an expectation that anyone will get a raise for a long, long time? These employees have no special skills still. They can still be replaced at the drop of a hat. Prices have likely been raised and they find that they are in the same situation they were before. Sure, they make more money, but their cost of living has gone up. In addition to that, their opportunity for advancement has been crippled by the effect the increased payroll has on the business. They will likely have to work twice as hard as they would have because there are less employees. They are expected to do more for this pay. With these higher expectations come increased likelihood of being released if not doing the job well. There will be plenty willing to replace them, so job security goes down.
The role of minimum wage jobs in this country has historically been for teenagers, for people starting out or as second jobs for supplemental income. These jobs were never intended for people to raise families on. People didn’t used to start families until they moved beyond these jobs. People used to strive to move beyond these jobs. Now, certain individuals think the world should accommodate their lack of ambition. They world should reward them for not wanting to better themselves. People can better themselves in this country. It is more than possible. Sure, it may be more difficult for some than others. So what? Is life equally easy for everyone? Will it ever be? Of course not. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to improve yourself. Giving people with no ambition automatic raises penalizes the ones with ambition that do try to better themselves. So, you end up rewarding mediocre individuals and discouraging ambitious people. Is this really the way to success for anyone? Beat down those that do a good job and reward those that don’t seek to ever work anywhere but McDonalds?
One of the things that has always made this country great is the ability for someone from a trailer park to rise to where ever they want to go. All you have to do is work hard. There are people in this country that hate that. They don’t want to work hard. They are jealous and bitter. They made bad decisions and now have to pay for them. They want someone else to pay for them. Instead of trying to do something to change the circumstances they find themselves in, they expect the world to come down and lift them up. Raise them to $15/hr and in a year that won’t be enough either. They will always be jealous of what others have and want it given to them. They don’t understand the value of hard work and advancement and what it does for them personally as well as financially. They feel that life is not fair to them, so they seek to make it unfair for someone else to better their situation. There is no reason whatsoever to offer today’s minimum wage workers a higher wage just because. They can raise their income simply by working hard and acquiring skills and showing loyalty. Their salary will rise, but they have to have the ambition to rise it. And when it does rise in response to their behavior, they will be proud of what they have done. They will no longer be bitter and jealous. Ask anyone who has come from nothing to tell their story and you will see the pride they have in their journey. It made them a stronger person and they will tell you that. These people don’t look at others and just wish they had what the others had, they find out how they got it and go after it!!!