Minimum Wage

Here in many of the state elections, the ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to something like $6.75 (or something) seems to be passing.

On the surface, this would appears like the right, decent thing to do.

But here's the rub: I could walk into any McDonald's and get hired for between $7.50 and $9.00 an hour. That's well above the minimum wage.

So who earns minimum wage? Those not qualified to do work such as offered by McDonalds.

In other words, extremely low-skilled positions.

Raising the minimum wage brings pressure on employers to give serious consideration to whether the job itself is worth keeping around. That's basic economics. Drive the cost of something above its worth, and there'll be no more buyers.

So the effect of such ballot initiatives will have two effects:

1. Make those who vote for the minimum wage feel like they're helping the low and unfortunate, and
2. Eliminating the very jobs the low and unfortunate might otherwise have used to gain a toehold in the employment market to move up to better paying jobs

I live in a fickle country.