KILL THE MINIMUM WAGE

Last year, Florida voters approved to raising the minimum wage from the current $10 to up to $15 by 2026.

IMPACT ON SMALL BUSINESSES

This coercive law forces businesses to raise their production costs even after taking so many blows during the pandemic. According to an article published by the Washington post dating back to may 2020, more than 100,000 small businesses closed down forever. In September, Yelp gave us data showing that 60 percent of those business closures were permanent, 60 percent meaning 97,966 businesses.

Whatever small businesses remained were forced by government officials to scale back operating capacity, raise costs for sanitation equipment, adapt to the swift and changeable consumer behavior, AND/OR...remain closed for extended periods of time. All in all, this resulted in a major decrease in both revenue and profits. Not only that, you have these very same politicians that want to raise the cost of production for these struggling businesses by raising the cost of labor to a minimum of $15/hour.

THE “INCREASE” IN WAGES

It's argued that the minimum wage will increase wages. Which can only be true for those who can KEEP their jobs. However, the opposite is true for those who've been layed off OR who couldn't get a job in the FIRST place. In other words, the gains only come from the difference made out of those the minimum wage eliminates from ever EARNING them. Now those who're fortunate enough to keep their jobs, we have to consider the reduced hours they'll actually be working depending on the sector.

While they "may" get a raise in hourly wages, there Is NO guarantee that they'll see a significant increase in money once they get their paychecks. To quote an article from U.S. NEWS.com:

“MORE THAN three-quarters of restaurants in New York City have reduced employee hours since the minimum wage was increased to $15 per hour.

In a survey by The NYC Hospitality Alliance, 76.5 percent of full-service restaurant respondents said they had to reduce employee hours and 36 percent said they eliminated jobs in 2018 in response to the mandated wage increase.”

The reality I want to illustrate, is that the smallest increases in the minimum wage increases the COST OF DISCRIMINATION against the most marginalized workers – those with little to no education, no work experience, and no real job skills.

As presented in these two charts from the Bureau of labor statistics from 1975-2012. Then ANOTHER from the year 2016.