Posted on 07/06/2016 5:19:36 PM PDT by Kaslin
Many Americans are campaigning for a raise in the minimum wage. Even more Americans are struggling just to find jobs at any wage.
Yup -- those two news items are related.
While trying to present a case for the Massachusetts state legislature to approve a program that provides summer jobs to teens at non-profits and government agencies, an editorial at the Boston Globe accidentally explained why artificially imposed minimum wages kill job opportunities.
I don’t think the Globe even realized it, either:
The program provides money for YouthWorks, which pays the wages of 4,400 low-income teens in eligible cities who work for nonprofits or local government agencies in the summer. The Senate originally proposed the same funding amount as last year, $11.5 million. Level-funding actually means 600 fewer positions, though, because of the rise in the state’s minimum-wage increase to $10 per hour this year and $11 per hour next year.
Maintaining the number of positions would take $13.34 million. But the compromise budget bill lawmakers filed Wednesday night included $10.2 million for the program, which translates into about 1,000 jobs lost.
The editorial correctly notes that an increase in the minimum wage means anything with a set amount of funding for payroll will -- of course -- have to cut jobs.
In this case, a government-funded program with the same funding levels will be unable to hire nearly as many workers as it could before a state minimum wage increase kicked in.
This is also what happens in private business.
A store can attempt to increase the prices of its products to cover a mandated increase in payroll, but unless the store had been charging too little to begin with, increased prices translate to decreased revenue as customers seek lower-cost alternatives.
Business owners are left with no good choices other than cutting payroll. For businesses with minimum wage workers, that means layoffs or fewer new hires.
"But people can't live on minimum wage," they argue.
You know what's even harder to live on?
No wage.
Those who are fighting for an increased minimum wage ignore the simple economics of running a company. Businesses only have so much money available to pay people. The difference between YouthWorks and private business is that only one gets to vote on how much they have available.
But yeah, that money comes from private business -- in the form of taxes -- too.
You can't just mess with the supply/demand curve without causing unintended outcomes. Let employers and job-seekers figure out beneficial arrangements on their own -- they are the only ones who can.
Hey Liberals, there’s a real economic world out there not just a touchy-feely one.
How did this get by the editor?
Good question
Fools and idiots. They come out of liberal-controlled schools that way. It is what the libs want for their electorate which they buy with other people’s money and freedoms.
Total liberal, short-sighted insanity. People should wise up. They probably will when their jobs go overseas or disappear totally.
Indeed. How dare they report the truth. Next thing you know, they might actually regain the trust of the people or something.
No harm done. Those of us with the attention span to remember they said it already know that. The people they’d worry about learning it will forget by American Idol, assuming they even read and understand it.
Maybe he/she/it was high?
No, a minimum wage job should NOT be enough to support a family on.
No, everyone who works 40 hours should not automatically make enough to support a family on.
No, because you work for minimum wage you should not be "entitled" to food stamps to support a family.
Minimum wage jobs are for people starting out. Like teenagers, who need work experience.
If you are 35 with kids, working a minimum wage job certainly stinks.
But it is not up to everyone else to subsidize your life.
You work UP the ladder, get an education, maybe become a manager, THEN you get paid.
When I worked for Taco Bell at age 16, it would be unthinkable to EXPECT them to pay me as much as the general manager, who did have kids.
And she was "old", at least to me, at 23.
But she made a living by working her way up to that position.
$15 per hour means an employer cannot use an illegal for cheaper labor, right?
>>There’s No Other Way to Say It: Minimum Wage Laws Are Racist<<
Liberals’ unstated but clear wet dream. Pretend to help minorities but keep them down (and needy) and WAY the heck out of MY (said liberals) neighborhood.
went to Wally's tonight and they now have four self checkout stations for twenty items or less... it's coming
Our local Kroger has three self-service checkouts but have never seen a lot of people use them. Manager always makes sure there are enough people he can call on to handle any register that has a line forming. One of the younger Black employees was complaining about all the people in line at her station and guy behind me reminded her that she should be happy to see them as it was job security for her. Her response, “I don’t understand that”. Young man who was sacking for her station obviously has a learning disability but is extremely friendly with everyone and a very hard worker said, “Even I understand that”.
and there it is... even the challenged are smarter than the professional victims
Even a blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn.....
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