It's Time To Abolish The Minimum Wage
A non-subtle solution that would actually leave everyone better off.
Missourians voted for yet another minimum-wage increase last week.
Bad idea. Should have abolished it instead.
This is the second minimum-wage increase approved by voters in six years, and while I'm sure folks who voted for it mean well, good intentions ain't putting food on anyone's table.
In fact, this minimum wage increase is a step backwards in an economy that could really use some forward motion.
Here are three reasons why.
1. Minimum wage doesn't mean everybody makes more money; it means fewer people make money, and many people make less than they deserve.
This is hard to accept, but it's true. An example.
I have a son who is eagerly awaiting his 14th birthday next year, so he can get a job. He's homeschooled, so his schedule is flexible, and his list of "needs" is never-ending (custom batting gloves for a 13-year-old... gosh) so he's ready for income. The kid would happily take a $10/hr job, doing menial work for 20 hours a week and pulling down $800 a month (I can't wait until he finds out about Social Security and Medicare).
Paying my son $10/hr would allow his employer to pay some of its other, more qualified employees much more than that. But requiring a business to pay him $16/hr means that business might only have the margin to pay a much-more-qualified employee a similar hourly rate. (If this sounds like communism to you, you're catching on.)
Or they might have to forego more significant raises for employees.
Ultimately, as minimum wage goes up, some businesses have no choice but to cut lower-paying jobs altogether (see: self-serve ordering-boards and robots at fast food joints).
Remember that most businesses are small businesses, and most small business owners aren't Scrooge McDucks swimming in piles of gold. Raising the cost of labor for them means forcing them into terrible choices that doesn't leave anyone better.
2. 'Low wages' aren't the problem: inflation is.
The reason wage-based employees are struggling (and many truly are) is not because suddenly employers became meanies and cut their wages. Rather, the government watered down the value of our dollars through everything from Federal Reserve money-printing policies to the idiotic stimmie checks of the Covid era.
When businesses' costs (payroll) go up, prices usually follow.
Forced wage-increases don't make anyone wealthier. They're just another way government destroys everyone's wealth.
3. Many employers can't find good workers anyways; making them pay more isn't going to help that.
Lots of low-skill, entry-level jobs don't deserve $15/hr. But ask any local small business if they'd love to pay somebody more than $15/hr for some job they've got available right now... you'll get a lot of "yes"es. More of them are hiring old folks, because they can't find more traditional-aged laborers who'll... show up... pass a drug test... or even respond to a job offer!
So America's labor force is actually getting older.
For all the flak the Boomers get, they're the ones who're keeping the country's economy afloat: more than twice as many Americans over age 65 are working, compared with 30 years ago.
For many of the employers I talk to, the problem ain't the pay, the problem is finding people who even want to work at all.
Bonus Reason, #4:
It's none of anyone else's business what kind of wage arrangement two free people want to make. The free market will set wages for various jobs, without any help from a minimum wage law. Now more than ever, workers can easily job-hunt for other options if they don't like what they're being paid: hop on Indeed.com and start searching! The more valuable a person's labor is to a business, the more that business will be willing to pay them (of course, nothing wrong with negotiating the best wage you can get!)
Missourians/Americans must stop piling more burdens on small businesses' backs. Enough minimum wage increases. For maximum freedom, we must abolish the minimum wage.