Though undiscussed, it is a very common issue in TV, with unions and other labor groups all over the country clamoring for a huge jump in increasing minimum wage. It pits the government in between employees and employers, on one side they cry for a "living wage", and on the other side survival of business. everytime this happens, the government imposes a level as a compromise between the two sides, far below from the employee side, but still artificially prohibitive for many small time businesses...

Minimum wage is often called a living wage by its advocates, appealing to a sense of compassion towards providing a wage enough to sustain a certain standard of living. but of course, government is not about compassion, they will threaten businesses who will not or cannot comply. Many businesses defend their opposition to minimum wage because of their concerns on their bottom lines, profit. Profit is such a dirty word for many of nonbusiness owners, but there would be no business without a prospect of getting a satisfying profit.

According to Dr. Thomas Sowell, the real minimum wage is zero. Why? Because minimum wage destroys jobs. Wage is set based productivity, not on CPI. To illustrate, Juan produces 5 pesos an hour, 40 pesos after 8 hours. His wage is 3 pesos an hour, or labor cost of 24 pesos, with a gross potential profit of 16 pesos. If a minimum wage of 6 pesos an hour is enforced, his employer would stand to lose 8 pesos if Juan keeps his job at that level. So, juan gets replaced,fired, or the business closes....

Dr. Sowell further expounds that imstead of improving the life of those who really need it, it robs them of the opportunity for entry level opportunities. These are the uneducated, unskilled, and unconnected individuals in the lowest sector of society, thereby increasing unemployment rate.

I remember riding a taxi years ago, the old driver shared a story abput his employment in a furniture company which was unionized. He said, his colleagues held a strike to imcrease their wages. He never supported his colleagues because he feared they will lose jobs instead. And true enough, the furniture closed down, and the owner went overseas. It didnt seem clear to me before why he was cpunter intuitive regarding that issue because i assumed all workers always wants a higher wage. It made me remember this incident because of how the Swiss majority, rejected minimum wage by a 76.3% vote in their country, including the people who earned less than the proposed minimum wage.

What do you think? Do you support minimum wage still?