Thoughts I Have Every Time Next Year's Minimum Wage Comes Up
Every year around this time, articles about the minimum wage pour out, but I feel like we don't hear much about what's actually happening on the ground.
From working part-time jobs, I've noticed that when the hourly wage goes up, employers cut staff or split shifts. The total payroll stays the same, but the work gets concentrated.
Of course, I agree that it should be raised. But it's also true that raising it alone doesn't solve much.
I don't know what the answer is. It's just something I've been thinking about a lot lately.
3 answers
So true—when hourly wages go up, they really do split the hours. I totally get that...
I worked at a convenience store for two years, and every time the minimum wage rose, the owner started covering nights alone and only hiring part-timers on weekends. In the end, my monthly pay either stayed the same or went down. I think the real problem isn't the hourly wage itself, but 'splitting hours within the total labor cost.'
Well, that's a bit... Aren't you just accepting the employer's logic wholesale when you say they cut staff because of the minimum wage hike? Cutting staff is something they were already doing, and when wages rise, isn't it normal to offset that through prices or sales? I think it's a bit risky to generalize from just a few experiences on the ground.