For the past few months, and especially over Christmas break, I have been continually doing double-takes each time I walk into a familiar coffee shop. When I frequent a caf� enough, I know exactly how much money I need to carry with me in order to get a medium cup of coffee to sate my growing, yet pleasant, addiction; however, I am rapidly discovering that the price of a cup of coffee, both at my local independent coffee shops as well as chains like Panera Bread, is going up. Of course, I politely ask why this is happening (in the same style as a young child asking his parents about death). The answer I get is one I should have expected, one I warned folks about, and now one I have to live with: the minimum wage has been increased.
By Mike Rubino,
Senior Staff Writer
For the past few months, and especially over Christmas break, I have been continually doing double-takes each time I walk into a familiar coffee shop. When I frequent a caf� enough, I know exactly how much money I need to carry with me in order to get a medium cup of coffee to sate my growing, yet pleasant, addiction; however, I am rapidly discovering that the price of a cup of coffee, both at my local independent coffee shops as well as chains like Panera Bread, is going up. Of course, I politely ask why this is happening (in the same style as a young child asking his parents about death). The answer I get is one I should have expected, one I warned folks about, and now one I have to live with: the minimum wage has been increased.
State legislators, in a vain attempt to get re-elected last November, raised the minimum wage over the summer. It’s going up in increments, but the end result will be $7.15. For students working part-time jobs, and high schoolers working afternoon shifts at McDonald�s, this is fabulous news. You get to make more money for doing the same work you�ve been doing! The lawmakers weren’tthinking of you when they passed this piece of legislation; they also weren’tthinking about the small businesses who have to hire less employees, cut hours, or raise prices to meet the wage hike. State politicians especially weren’tthinking of Seton Hill University (SHU), and other private institutions, when they decided to give workers more money.
If you are at a work study job on campus this semester, you probably saw firsthand how raising the minimum wage so drastically can change things. Some students are now working less hours on campus, but making the same amount of money. This doesn’treally matter to the student, however the services that this person would be supplying are getting hurt. Institutions like SHU have their budgets planned out ahead of time, they have to, and when the wage laws are increased as dramatically as they have been, extra money has to be found or kids just work less.
So if raising the minimum wage isn’tabout students, small businesses, or universities, who is it about? The poor. Lawmakers have constantly used the idea of raising wages to reduce the poverty level for decades. It’s an easy fix, right? Just throw money at the problem and it will go away-even if the money isn’tcoming from the government, but businesses. The only problem is that raising the minimum wage doesn’thelp the poor. Studies by the Employment Policy Institute (EPI) have proven that there is no evidence that poverty has been reduced by raising the wage-mainly because the majority of people working minimum wage jobs aren’tpoor, they�re teenagers and retired workers.
Even more unsettling is the study that EPI did in 2005 on the proposed Pennsylvania minimum wage increase – the increase that was just passed. They came to five conclusions in their study: 1. Employees affected by the increase are younger and less educated than the average Pennsylvanian. 2. Only a tenth of the people collecting minimum wage are breadwinners for their families. 3. Four-fifths of the income gains will go to families above the poverty line. 4. The increase will cause a projected 10,027 people to lose their jobs. 5. It will end up costing businesses $262.7 million per year in labor costs. It’s no wonder why we are seeing sudden jumps in prices-and if you don’twork on the minimum wage scale you won’thave the extra money to adjust to those increases.
This doesn’tmean that we shouldn’traise the minimum wage-but raising it two dollars isn’tgoing to help anyone except kids working part-time jobs. Adjusting the wage to meet inflation is understandable, and arguably necessary. I can only hope that someday our legislators will look at studies done by EPI and others that prove raising the wage doesn’thelp the poor. Heck, it’s not even helping this poor college student.
View this writer’s profile.