[Arcenal813]

I know it sounds good on paper, but the reality of it is, many won’t be able to afford this. Think your local lube shop that hires college kids for $9/hr to change your oil. The owner of a small, locally-owned shop isn’t taking in big bucks. He is lucky if he even sees a $90k/year salary. If he employs a small staff of 6 guys for $9/hr, and their salaries are forced to be bumped to $15/hr, that’s an added $75k/yr expense. For a staff of 6. You think this guy will keep his shop open? Where is this money going to come from, to keep operations going?
What about small businesses who hire more than 6 workers?
What about businesses who currently pay tenured employees $15/hr? Pretty sure they will also want a salary increase of similar rate (nearly 100% increase over the next 6 years.) who is paying for this?

I have a feeling this isn’t going to last. If it does, I expect many businesses to just shut their doors.

[cfenn006]

Companies will be forced to adjust or shut down.
It's not the taxpayers responsibility to subsidize their employees wages in the form of welfare like is currently going on now.



Employees will probably be forced to work reduced hours, but many of them are working 2 jobs anyway so it's not a big shake up for them. It's more of a wake up call to those making $12 per hour and thought they weren't living in poverty.



Florida is not the first state to pass this change. The states that have didnt collapse like the critics were crying about.

[Arcenal813]

Do any of the states that successfully passed this law have as high a rate of low-wage jobs (hospitality, tourism, service industry) as Florida?
A popcorn stand worker at Fun Spot is going to earn $15/hr? Or will the stand be shut down, and popcorn be served from automatic machines instead?

“Bob’s lube shop” is going to be shut down, but hey, I guess we can all fatten Walmart’s corporate pockets and get our cars serviced there instead.

[ram2]

McDonalds installed the automated cashiers in Seattle stores when the minimum wage was hiked there. And several businesses moved out of that city.

[BNBR]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

Do any of the states that successfully passed this law have as high a rate of low-wage jobs (hospitality, tourism, service industry) as Florida?
A popcorn stand worker at Fun Spot is going to earn $15/hr? Or will the stand be shut down, and popcorn be served from automatic machines instead?

“Bob’s lube shop” is going to be shut down, but hey, I guess we can all fatten Walmart’s corporate pockets and get our cars serviced there instead.

Exactly. This was a terrible amendment. It's just going to equal a reduction in staff, which also means a reduction in the quality of service you'll receive when you go places. $15/hr might sound reasonable in Miami, but what about Sebring or the Panhandle? That's insane. Small offices which hire at $11/hr or so for helpers. Those jobs will be gone. Restaurants won't be able to just pay everyone that, either. Less workers at the local hardware store. 1 cashier instead of 2, etc.

Manufacturing companies have an easy solution... Just leave the State. What about all the farm jobs? Sugar? Etc.

[NorthofHere]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

I know it sounds good on paper, but the reality of it is, many won’t be able to afford this. Think your local lube shop that hires college kids for $9/hr to change your oil. The owner of a small, locally-owned shop isn’t taking in big bucks. He is lucky if he even sees a $90k/year salary. If he employs a small staff of 6 guys for $9/hr, and their salaries are forced to be bumped to $15/hr, that’s an added $75k/yr expense. For a staff of 6. You think this guy will keep his shop open? Where is this money going to come from, to keep operations going?
What about small businesses who hire more than 6 workers?
What about businesses who currently pay tenured employees $15/hr? Pretty sure they will also want a salary increase of similar rate (nearly 100% increase over the next 6 years.) who is paying for this?

I have a feeling this isn’t going to last. If it does, I expect many businesses to just shut their doors.

There are several scenarios. You cut your staff and make those remaining do more. You raise your prices to compensate. You go out of business.

The first two are probably more what will occur, especially the second of raising prices. This in effect just eliminates the value of the raise in salary as every business will raise their prices to compensate. The first scenario of cutting staff will mean that some are now not able to find a job at any wage.

There is no guarantee that anyone already making above $15 will ever see an increase in salary. They will lose all around with increase in prices.

The best way for increase in wages is low unemployment. More competition amongst employers for employees mean they have to offer something better.

[JM1822]

Actually, I'm thinking of it from kind of a different angle. Florida is one of those "small government" states. It has the lowest state employee to citizen ratio in the country. It's a low wage employer, unlike government work in other places in the country where government jobs are typically higher paying. Florida is also a place with a pretty open government so it's easy to find out how much state employees make. There are over 23,000 of them that make less than 15 dollars an hour. There are 14,000 that make $9.25 an hour. Just raising the $9.25 employees salary to 15 dollars is going to cost the state $66,500 per HOUR, or, a half a million dollars per day. So, where is that money going to come from? If I was a State employee, I'd probably be pretty nervous about my job. Making up that amount of money can only come from a few places and, in my opinion will result in large scale lay offs and budget cuts.

[kyle19125]

The current system isn't sustainable and as pointed out if the business model can't support the increase not deserving probably of staying open. The federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 an hour since 2009, and the only reason it has gone up at all in many areas is due to competition for the better employees. Some companies have already made the move to $15 an hour. Amazon, Wells Fargo, Costco, Starbucks (most locations) and McDonalds (some locations) are among the first. Target, WalMart, Chipotle, Whole Foods, Aldi, Trader Joe's, Home Depot, Lowe's and other retailers already pay $12 an hour or more. The stragglers paying less than $10 an hour either need to up the ante to compete or fail. That's part of the free market capitalist society we are so in love with...

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

I know it sounds good on paper, but the reality of it is, many won’t be able to afford this. Think your local lube shop that hires college kids for $9/hr to change your oil. The owner of a small, locally-owned shop isn’t taking in big bucks. He is lucky if he even sees a $90k/year salary. If he employs a small staff of 6 guys for $9/hr, and their salaries are forced to be bumped to $15/hr, that’s an added $75k/yr expense. For a staff of 6. You think this guy will keep his shop open? Where is this money going to come from, to keep operations going?
What about small businesses who hire more than 6 workers?
What about businesses who currently pay tenured employees $15/hr? Pretty sure they will also want a salary increase of similar rate (nearly 100% increase over the next 6 years.) who is paying for this?

I have a feeling this isn’t going to last. If it does, I expect many businesses to just shut their doors.

I've lived in many areas with higher minimum wage and prices for common goods and food are the same as here. There will be a lot more money being circulated into our economy. It will raise incomes on all levels as well over-time too. One of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco is this small hole in the wall place where my average bill is $10 and it's a lot of food. Rents are crazy high in San Francisco and so are wages, etc. I was working on the home loan for the owners son, so I got their financials and their taxable net income was over $1 million from this small restaurant that was always busy. Higher wages doesn't mean higher prices, etc. I used to live in Australia and once again, prices weren't noticeably different, yet minimum wage there is around $20. Minimum wage employees pretty much spend 100% of their paychecks, that is great for businesses.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Rents are crazy high in San Francisco and so are wages

Not true. The starting salary for an engineer fresh from college is the same in the Bay Area as it is in the Midwest.