http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2014/01/minimum_wage_increase_effective_jan_1_2014.html
New Jersey increased their minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour effective 2014. This will impact almost a quarter of a million workers in the state. The article said that people who were against the raise cited their beliefs that small business owners would have to cut employee hours or hire less employees due to the increase in the minimum wage. But the New Jersey Policy Perspective said the increase will actually add hundred's of millions of dollars into the general economy. Low wage earners will get an additional $922 dollars a year.
I believe that small increases to the minimum wage, like this one, are essential for people to maintain a basic standard of living. It must be very hard for people working minimum wage jobs to afford the basics. This will help them afford more and perhaps it will bump up their income so they no longer have to rely on welfare as well. I think that Pennsylvania should follow New Jersey's example and bump up our minimum wage at least by 50 cents.
Previously when there was talk of the minimum wage rate being increased to approximately $10.00 an hour, I wasn't positive that that would be in our country's best interest. However, I don't see, at least for now, that a dollar increase in minimum wage can be a bad thing. Hopefully, it works out that this will be a good thing. We should be seeing follow up stories about this in the newspaper, and maybe then we will understand the pros and cons of increasing the minimum wage, in a real life example.
ReplyDeleteIt's a terrible time to bump up minimum wage. The economy isn't doing so great therefore wage increases shouldn't be taken into consideration; ceteris parabus. This will kill small businesses, causing them to fire employees, cut hours, raise prices, and lose business if the prices are raised too dramatically.
ReplyDeleteWe should wait and see what happens in Jersey before we do anything of the sort, but I agree that a small hike shouldn't cause too much trouble. I do believe, however, that raising the minimum wage to $10 would mean hours cut and maybe even some people getting laid off. A hike of that magnitude would be counterproductive, and wouldn't help the economy very much.
ReplyDeleteAlways remember that a raise in the minimum wage usually leads to a higher unemployment rate. Naturally, corporations need to keep their costs low in order to remain profitable so giving everyone a raise can be quite a costly matter for some companies, who will thereby lay off workers as a result.
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