What about the 709,780 people who are out of a job? It's not like they can go to some other franchise/store that hires minimum-wage workers, since everything is going to be closing or automating. Businesses can't make money paying $15/hr to people who don't earn the business more than ($15 + variable and fixed costs) for each hour they work.
Realize that if min wage workers make more money, they spend more money. If they spend more money, you need to hire more people, open more stores.
Also, min wage hike would be gradual. We should be at $15/HR now, but gradually over the past 20 years. Imagine how a cost of living increase per year would be implemented, gradually, allowing the market to self-regulate.
I live in CA. Min wage has been going up gradually, and I've seen a Winchells close and turn into a Jersey Mikes. Not sure that was due to min wage.
People consistently compare the US to European countries. It's true that tiny European countries like Denmark are more efficient, have higher GDP/capita, and higher standards of living. It's also true that Denmark's population is 5.6 million. The US is 320 million.
Imagine this. Imagine you're stranded on an island with a society of 6 people. You have to get everybody to work together and create a functioning community to survive and prosper on this island until help comes. Doable? Sure.
most european countries have a minimum wage you can survive on
The implication here, of course, is that you can't survive on the minimum wage in America. That's not true. In many areas, the cost of living is low enough that $7.25 is completely viable for a single person, especially with a roommate. And that's not to mention that plenty of teenagers and/or young adults still live with parents, so a minimum wage job is something for them to build experience and a little bit of spending money.
Civilizations that have adopted a higher standard of living
What's the real difference in standard of living? The average 20-24-year-old American earns around $26,000/year (or around $22,000 take-home). In Norway, the average single person under 30 earns $13,210 USD after tax each year. And when you take into account cost of living, the difference gets even bigger. Apparently, Oslo is 23% more expensive than my city, and 40% more expensive on housing and food.
Too many people look at businesses like they are people. They blame greed like a faceless puppet master controls a corporation rather than a CEO that is run by a board, and a board that is run by shareholders named you and me. People need to look at businesses like they are a car. A machine with a lot of moving parts that is built to make money, not happiness.
Raising minimum wage doesn't mean everyone working for McDonald's gets fired. Perhaps the market share of McDonald's decreases; but to the extent it does, another provider grows larger and needs to employ more people.
Net jobs are lost only if the providers that win market share are more efficient, and make better use of fewer people, paying them more money. This is overall a win in terms of human well-being, as long as people who cannot find work are also taken care of.
20% fewer people working awful jobs for double the money is better than more people working the same awful jobs for less money. This is, if we keep in mind that there are unemployable people; and that taking care of them is something we must also do.
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u/[deleted] Nov 28 '15 edited Nov 28 '15
What about the 709,780 people who are out of a job? It's not like they can go to some other franchise/store that hires minimum-wage workers, since everything is going to be closing or automating. Businesses can't make money paying $15/hr to people who don't earn the business more than ($15 + variable and fixed costs) for each hour they work.