Minimum Wage, not all that it seems

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA-, October 1996

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Minimum Wage Legislation

I am going to pose the question to you the students of Sir Sandford Fleming College, do you really want the minimum wage legislation left in affect? As college students you are not benefiting or gaining anything from minimum wage legislation. The minimum wage legislation requires all employees to be paid at least some fixed given dollar amount per hour. This sounds good, but it isn't all that it seems!

Minimum wage is an example of government intervention. The government has put a minimum on the dollar amount that employers can pay their employees. Unfortunately when we implement solutions like the minimum wage, it is too late to actually fix the problem, so in most cases it has effects that we cannot foresee as it is a reaction instead of a prevention method. Minimum wage actually helps very few people. The only ones that benefit from minimum wage are those unskilled workers who are currently employed.

Minimum wage restricts employment opportunities for the young, unexperienced, and those people with educational disadvantages. They will continue to find themselves handicapped in the job market as long as the minimum wage legislation remains in affect. In society today the demand for 'unskilled' workers is low and the supply is high, therefore there is a surplus of unskilled workers in the job market. The effect of a surplus drives down an individuals reservation wage, as they are willing to do and take anything for work. Minimum wage only makes this fact more severe, as it increases the supply of workers.

Minimum wage increases the cost of doing business, and unfortunately in today's economic conditions employers are not able to pass on the extra costs to the consumer. Minimum wage is not helping workers, it is hurting businesses, and...