Minimum Wage Increase USA

[Cal]

So I would like to hear everyone's opinion. The US is currently about to send a bill (Covid Relief) to the senate where a minimum wage increase to 15 USD per hour will be voted on. Do you agree or disagree with the move?

I personally disagree with it. Coming from a rural county I understand how much it will hurt our local economy. Instead of lowering the poverty rate where I live it will drag down the current middle class. Obviously I think overall it will be helpful because in places where the standard of living is higher people need to be more fairly compensated (large cities where the minimum wage is only 7.55 per hour). Unfortunately in my town where there are no greedy corporations it will only hurt all of our small businesses where the owners make less than 6 figures a year already.


Your thoughts?

[Guest]

I will personally benefit from this greatly, since I am autistic and I have worked at a minimum wage job for three years and plan to go back to it soon. However, I also disagree with it being a good decision for the United States as a whole.

[+ Ginyu]

Here's the thing. Small businesses are everywhere and large businesses are everywhere. It's strange that you have the idea that big corporations are only in cities. Their HQs maybe, but in rural areas of the U.S. the largest employers are still big companies like Walmart and McDonald's. In fact, they're larger in a bigger degree compared to cities. Urban people have a higher chance of working for a small business than rural people do.

The town you're talking about must be a really remote rural area for there to be no big employers. At that point I just kind of shrug unfortunately, we're talking about such a small percentage of the population. The minimum wage issues in America have been procrastinated on for so long, this has unfortunately become a necessary evil.

[Cal]

Here's the thing. Small businesses are everywhere and large businesses are everywhere. It's strange that you have the idea that big corporations are only in cities. Their HQs maybe, but in rural areas of the U.S. the largest employers are still big companies like Walmart and McDonald's. In fact, they're larger in a bigger degree compared to cities. Urban people have a higher chance of working for a small business than rural people do.

The town you're talking about must be a really remote rural area for there to be no big employers. At that point I just kind of shrug unfortunately, we're talking about such a small percentage of the population. The minimum wage issues in America have been procrastinated on for so long, this has unfortunately become a necessary evil.

I will point out that in small communities places like McDonalds, Sonic, etc are not owned by the franchise. They are locally owned by individuals from the community. What this means is that someone buys the rights to have the franchise and to use their products but they are not entitled to the corporate benefits (which means they don't have a surplus of billions of dollars). They invest their own money and make their own money. When you talk of larger cities they have (a small portion) regional managers that go through corporate all the way up to the CEO (different businesses have different platforms for franchise vs non-franchise businesses). Outside of this in Urban centers even if they're not owned by the franchise most of these owners are life long business people who own multiple ventures.

In a small town thought you are asking a local person to own these places and invest their livelihood into one place.

I do think though the majority of people will benefit for it because the majority of people are in large urban centers. However, it does suck for small communities like mine.

[+ Ginyu]

I will point out that in small communities places like McDonalds, Sonic, etc are not owned by the franchise. They are locally owned by individuals from the community. What this means is that someone buys the rights to have the franchise and to use their products but they are not entitled to the corporate benefits (which means they don't have a surplus of billions of dollars). They invest their own money and make their own money. When you talk of larger cities they have (a small portion) regional managers that go through corporate all the way up to the CEO (different businesses have different platforms for franchise vs non-franchise businesses). Outside of this in Urban centers even if they're not owned by the franchise most of these owners are life long business people who own multiple ventures.

In a small town thought you are asking a local person to own these places and invest their livelihood into one place.

I do think though the majority of people will benefit for it because the majority of people are in large urban centers. However, it does suck for small communities like mine.

The bigger corporations are still hugely incentivized to keep those small businesses afloat. Sure McDonald's acts like they have a system where each restaurant is their own, barely affiliated. They still have huge benefits in the spread of their company name. Though one location might not turn a profit, having a location everywhere is still hugely advantageous.

It'll take time for the regularity of a 15 dollar minimum wage to settle in, but I doubt it'll be disastrous. It has worked just fine in countries like Norway and New Zealand. They too have isolated small communities. I don't think companies are doomed to fail because some of the staff now has to get paid adequately. If you can't turn an hour's worth of work into a 15 dollar profit, does your company even deserve to exist?