Increasing the Minimum Wage is Not the Answer
Before the Government introduces the new increase in minimum wage, often referred to as the ‘living wage’, they must consider the significant impact of the consequences of doing so. The increase in minimum wage has fatal consequences for the very people the government is trying to help, the poor who are affected by an unfair tax system. The introduction of this new arbitrary increase in wage will hit the poorest the hardest; the loss of jobs to automation and productivity, and, by proxy of the soon-to-be the minimum wage, the brutal effects of inflation. The opposition will claim that anyone against the new living wage is oppressing the poor, but that very same opposition fail to fully explain what the living wage is based on, except the abstract argument that it is based on basic living costs – do we all not have different living conditions? …show more content…
The increase in pay in low-skilled jobs – the jobs which are paid the minimum wage – will indirectly cause the base pay to hike for the jobs that are paid slightly more, to give the workers an incentive to stay in their current position. Therefore, this enlargement in pay will affect more than just 5% of the population, but also the workers in higher paid jobs and also the businesses who have to front the money, again, by hurting consumers by raising prices and cutting jobs which otherwise would not have been cut. This comes down to a simple question: Does the boost in the minimum wage outweigh the negatives; the people losing jobs as a result to increasing business costs; the small businesses who are harmed so much they are at risk of closing; the jobs lost to more productive workers, of which many are from overseas, and also the reduced work hours available. The obvious answer is no, absolutely
Before the Government introduces the new increase in minimum wage, often referred to as the ‘living wage’, they must consider the significant impact of the consequences of doing so. The increase in minimum wage has fatal consequences for the very people the government is trying to help, the poor who are affected by an unfair tax system. The introduction of this new arbitrary increase in wage will hit the poorest the hardest; the loss of jobs to automation and productivity, and, by proxy of the soon-to-be the minimum wage, the brutal effects of inflation. The opposition will claim that anyone against the new living wage is oppressing the poor, but that very same opposition fail to fully explain what the living wage is based on, except the abstract argument that it is based on basic living costs – do we all not have different living conditions? …show more content…
The increase in pay in low-skilled jobs – the jobs which are paid the minimum wage – will indirectly cause the base pay to hike for the jobs that are paid slightly more, to give the workers an incentive to stay in their current position. Therefore, this enlargement in pay will affect more than just 5% of the population, but also the workers in higher paid jobs and also the businesses who have to front the money, again, by hurting consumers by raising prices and cutting jobs which otherwise would not have been cut. This comes down to a simple question: Does the boost in the minimum wage outweigh the negatives; the people losing jobs as a result to increasing business costs; the small businesses who are harmed so much they are at risk of closing; the jobs lost to more productive workers, of which many are from overseas, and also the reduced work hours available. The obvious answer is no, absolutely