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Minimum Wage Legislation
I am going to pose the question to you the students of Sir Sandford Fleming
College, do you really want the minimum wage legislation left in affect? As
college students you are not benefiting or gaining anything from minimum wage
legislation. The minimum wage legislation requires all employees to be paid at
least some fixed given dollar amount per hour. This sounds good, but it isn't
all that it seems!
Minimum wage is an example of government intervention. The government has put a
minimum on the dollar amount that employers can pay their employees.
Unfortunately when we implement solutions like the minimum wage, it is too late
to actually fix the problem, so in most cases it has effects that we cannot
foresee as it is a reaction instead of a prevention method. Minimum wage
actually helps very few people. The only ones that benefit from minimum wage are
those unskilled workers who are currently employed. Minimum wage restricts
employment opportunities for the young, unexperienced, and those people with
educational disadvantages. They will continue to find themselves handicapped in
the job market as long as the minimum wage legislation remains in affect. In
society today the demand for "unskilled" workers is low and the supply is high,
therefore there is a surplus of unskilled workers in the job market. The effect
of a surplus drives down an individuals reservation wage, as they are willing to
do and take anything for work. Minimum wage only makes this fact more severe, as
it increases the supply of workers.
Minimum wage increases the cost of doing business, and unfortunately in today's
economic conditions ...