Currently, the topic on every citizens mind seems to be the recent rise in minimum wage. Certain groups are very much in support of the wage increase, arguing that climbing wages will put more money in the hands of consumers, in turn leading to a rise in the economy. Along with this, these escalating wages will significantly add to the gross domestic income. As a result, people who normally would be saving every penny, now how excess money to potentially put back into the economy. Despite the obvious positives of increasing the minimum wage, I still find myself skeptical that it will benefit the social welfare of Canadians over all. Though employees who are currently earning minimum wage will be more than satisfied, recent hires or those looking to be hired will likely not show as much support for the change. For many companies, a direct result of the hike in minimum wage will be making less hires. Instead of hiring ten people at $10.00’s an hour they’ll hire nine people at $11.00 an hour. Therefore their profit margins will not take any sort of hit. Unfortunately, I see this bringing forth not only a higher unemployment rate, but also more work for employees to compensate for the lost set of hands. Even though the goal of raising minimum wage was to allow for people to flourish in society, the result is actually going to be a higher unemployment rate. People who could have been struggling to make money could now be making no money at all. Another question that I’ve considered is in regards to the increase of all wages, not just minimum wage. Will companies raise their wages for all workers, or will they pay the same for a minimum wage job that they do for a higher up position. If workers in promoted positions earn the same amount as everyone else, they may begin to question why they even put effort into getting promoted. Inevitably this could lead to a lack of incentive in the workforce as well. In conclusion, it may be best to simply leave the minimum wage as it is, to avoid risking the many negatives that could surface from raising it.
https://mises.ca/posts/blog/the-world-view-behind-minimum-wage-advocacy/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/five-provinces-hike-minimum-wage/article26618941/