Saturday, December 21, 2013

The Unintended Consequences of Raising the Minimum Wage

Economics 101: Minimum Wage  Simple supply and demand.
... "A decrease in the demand for workers (aka: more unemployment). For anyone who has taken an economics class, you know that when demand for something goes down, supply increases. In laymen’s terms: when businesses can’t afford to pay workers, the demand for them decreases, leaving a great number of people unemployed (greater supply). According to an article by Linda Gorman, a senior fellow at the Independence Institute, a “10 percent in crease in the minimum wage would decrease employment of low-skilled workers by 1 or 2 percent.” Pretty self explanatory."
Supply & Demand in Labor Chart
The writer lists these consequences, which liberals do not seem to comprehend:
 
Decreased Numbers of Full-Time Jobs. For those who are lucky enough to keep their jobs, they can expect their number of hours to sink. Because employers can’t pay the increased hourly wage, employers will be relegated to giving employees less hours in an attempt to not pay as much, consequently creating more part-time employment.
Decreased Fringe Benefits. Because employers are now concerned with meeting minimum wage standards, they will be unable to afford fringe benefits on which many employers depend (Insurance, on-the-job training, vacations, etc.). Since many employers would have to transition to part-time employment, employees would not only get fewer hours but also not receive expensive insurance benefits.
Across-The-Board Increased Prices of Goods. Wages are considered an input price, or something that goes into the development/ manufacturing of the product. If wages are higher, the amount of money it costs to manufacture some good increases. In order to close the profit-loss gap, industry will be forced to raise the prices on goods in order to cover their costs. Or, of course, they can cut labor and mechanize which brings us back to the issue of further unemployment.

Hat tip to College Insurrection

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