Minimum Wage

There's talk in Indiana of raising the minimum wage. People are complaining that it is impossible to survive on the current minimum wage. I agree. It's tough to have a good life when you aren't making enough money to buy what you need. Yes, I agree. Minimum wage is designed for unskilled labor.

People who make minimum wage are of minimum importance to the company because they can be replaced easily.

Let's say that you own a business. It's a car wash and you employ 7 people. Each person is paid $7 an hour. You are paying $49 per hour in wages. Let's say that the minimum wage increases to $10 per hour. Your hourly wage total increases to $70. That's an extra $21 per hour or $168 per 8 hour workday. Where are you going to come up with the money to pay for this increase? You can try to raise your prices. If you do, you'll lose some business and you still won't be able to come up with the extra $168 per day to pay the new minimum wage. So, you layoff two people. That way you are paying 5 people, $10 per hour. Here's what happens. The 5 people are now doing the work of 7 people. Customers are forced to wait. You will lose some business and your workers will complain about their work load. This example is for a small business. Let's say that you own a factory and that you employ 700 people and that the new minimum wage forces you to layoff 200 people!

It happens. Businesses of all sizes go out of business every year, every month, every weekand every day. Macy's, and J.C. Penny are closing many of their retail stores. Why? EXPENSE. It's cheaper to sell theirstuff on the internet. Think about this. Think about it before you go to Amazon.com. Think about it before you decide to drop out of school for that minimum wage job. 

The solution is simple. Do these things, in this order! Stay in school. Get an education. Learn a trade. Get a job with a future. Get married. Have kids. Simple, right?

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