What Will Raising Minimum Wage Actually Do?

If minimum wage is raised from $7.25 to $15.00 an hour, then what?  Seattle, Washington is apparently the trend setter in this notion, and the increase is slated to take place over the next three years.  Right now, according to this website, the current minimum wage in Seattle is $11.00 an hour.  While the wages increase annually toward $15.00, what will the cost of living do?  If we can learn anything from history at all, the cost of living will probably increase right along with or just ahead of the wage increase.  The wealth war between minimum wage and the elite will not be resolved by increasing minimum wage.

A part time job, even a full time job making $15.00 an hour will not close the wealth gap.  What it will do, however; is decrease the buying power of all those currently making between $10 and $30 an hour.  Even if minimum wage is doubled, we have to consider the fact that the earnings of most positions presently above minimum wage, will not be doubled.  This will negatively impact most of what's left of the Middle Class, as the pay scale for most nonfarm employment falls between $10 and $30 an hour.

It's time to wrap our mind around a simple fact.  Those earning the lowest income are always going to struggle, economically.  If minimum wage is raised to $50.00 an hour, the cost of bare basics will be commensurate with that figure.  There is no one who will be impacted positively by doubling the minimum wage.  What happens to those who are now earning less than $15.00 and hour but more than minimum wage?  Did you know beginning salary in some areas for firefighters is $11.00 an hour?  How will cities, which are already on the brink of bankruptcy, double their salary?  Surely no one believes a firefighter should be paid less than those flipping burgers.  Pharmacy Technicians earn an average of $11.86 an hour, which is an annual salary under $25,000.  Forty hours a week at $15.00 an hour amounts to $31,200.

 We also have to consider the number of people on fixed incomes and how that would compare to a doubled minimum wage.  There are also many state and health workers who are not earning $15.00 an hour.  Patient Care Technicians average about the same as Pharmacy technicians and we need to face facts, health care is huge in this country.  There are a number of people making less than $15.00 an hour taking care of people on fixed incomes that are nowhere near $30,000 a year.  

The entire concept of entry level positions and counter help making $15.00 an hour is simply ludicrous.  The economy would be shifted off center, with no stabilizing foundation.  The two things it would accomplish, is the absolute final destruction of the Middle Class, and fully impoverish those dependent upon government provision.