President Joe Biden has already cost America plenty of jobs with his radical climate policies. Now his proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour is set to add even more job losses.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the proposed wage increase would cause a net loss of 1.4 million jobs. It’s likely that those 1.4 million people would rather make $7.25 an hour than nothing at all.
To increase the minimum wage during our current pandemic will sound a death knell to even more small businesses. The proposal is highly inflationary. Employees who are now above the $15 floor will now demand more wages, creating a wage spiral.
President Biden’s minimum wage proposal hurts the very people he is trying to help: the minority worker. Low-paying jobs can serve as an entry point for unskilled workers to develop the work habits and skills necessary to command a higher wage. The lessons that can be taught by a job, any job, are important life lessons.
When entry-level and minority job hunters are able to find work, they earn more than just a paycheck. They learn valuable life skills like the importance of meeting deadlines, how to report to a manager and how to get along with coworkers.
These are lessons that are not taught in a classroom setting, and the job experience young employees acquire sets them up for future success with promotions and raises well beyond the minimum wage. Flipping burgers or mopping the floor at your local Wendy’s is not supposed to be a career choice.
The proposed policy is particularly bone-headed due to its universality. Most states have already increased their wages well above the $7.25 federal level. For example, many locations in California are now above $15 an hour.
Let every state set its own minimum wage level. Economic conditions in New York or California are much different than those of small mid-western states.
Let the individual states make this decision – not the mindless federal elites.
John Hammerel
Santa Barbara
