The Wage Hike affects Everyone, Mostly Young People


For the past 5 years or more, the talk about the “fight for 15” has been constantly circulating the web and news sources. More recently, the Disney union has joined the leftist-centered campaign. The concept, that all minimum wage workers are entitled to a $15 an hour minimum wage has become amassed with a great fondness by the millennial and younger generations. On paper, the approach seems modest and brimming with admirable intentions, and it led to a large population of young adults to support former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. However, in order to fully grasp one of the core tenets of Bernie Sander’s campaign, one has to delve more in the realm of economics to see the full complexity of this issue.
I start with what can be considered as basic economics, and that higher wages for marginal employees will lead to higher prices on products. This is one of the most elementary concepts of economics, to which a business owner must pay his or her workers more, ultimately leading to an increase to his or her expenses and they must cover that cost by raising the prices of their product to everybody. This in turn, creates a ripple effect. How? Well, when a business that pays minimum wage now has to pay the aforementioned $15 an hour, they must raise their prices to cover that expense thus raising prices on millions of Americans. Not only will the business owner see the increased expenses, but they will hire less workers. A business owner is now hesitant to hire that extra worker due to the expense he or she will cost him, or they will slash their workforce leading to a substantial increase in the unemployment rate.
This vehemently discriminates against young workers trying to find their first or second jobs. The minimum wage was instilled so that people lacking in skills could get the job experience to move on to higher positions in the workplace, and making this starting wage so high will only force employers to look for more efficient and skilled workers to fill the position so that they can maximize profits. We cannot forget that the reason it is called a business and not a charity is that the business is in the market to produce a profit at the end of the day. It’s also highly unlikely to say that this won’t increase the wages of people who don’t work minimum wage either. A person who was originally paid $15 an hour for a job as a medical assistant will now request a higher wage due to the person believing they are more valuable than a McDonalds worker.
To extend this ripple affect beyond the discrimination of young people, we can check the implications this has more economically. This dilutes the buying power of the dollar. Let’s say I am the landlord to a large apartment complex. Knowing that this law will take into effect, what is stopping me from raising prices on my rent now that I know my renters will be making more money to spend? In short, the point I’m making here is whenever you raise or lower the minimum wage, you affect the buying power of people’s money. To say this won’t also affect small business is rather ignorant in its entirety. There is a specific reason the Walton family, owners of the Wal-Mart Corporation is lobbying so hard for this to pass, and that’s to try and run out small business! Large suppliers can increase wages without fear of closing their doors as they already produce an inconceivable amount of profit, however smaller businesses already scrape by with how they’re doing now. The question here is how can one expect the backbone of American jobs, the small business, to survive among the likes of Wal-Mart, Target and Gap while this wage hike is instilled? It’s simple, you can’t!
What some people forget, including myself in some cases is a hidden evil behind the “Fight for $15”: Automation. Pushing for a higher minimum wage not only helps out big business, but to further profits, places like Wal-Mart and McDonalds can automate! McDonald’s already is rolling out cashier stations that are a big screen and do everything a cashier can do. Businesses will soon realize that the money they are spending on workers now can be used for robots: robots that don’t need time off, get sick or quit. Ultimately this will result in the loss of numerous jobs that are valuable to younger people to give them the job experience they need! In this case, if you are worried about inflation, don’t fight for $15. If you are worried about unemployment, then don’t fight for $15 either.
To put this article in short, there are four main points I am providing here. It’s that 1. This wage hike causes a ripple effect in the economy, making businesses less likely to hire young, unskilled workers, as well as more likely to slash their workforce entirely. Secondly, that this increase in wage for unskilled workers ultimately effects the buying power of everyone else’s dollar as well, therefore negating the effect it has for the people working for minimum wage. Then, the businesses that higher the most young people, as well as people in general, small business will struggle and hurt more than ever before as it will have a hard time to cover the increased expenses this bill causes. Lastly, this will only push for more and more automation, increasing unemployment within younger generations especially.
If you want a better understanding of this topic, I recommend watching PragerU’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-t_D_R08eU
I thank you for taking the time to read this article — Ryon Seekins













