Is the minimum wage a good thing or a bad thing? There are definitely two camps for this argument. Both sides have very solid arguments. The minimum wage prevents exploitation.
On the other side of this is that a minimum wage increases the cost of production. This then increases the cost of goods. One would hope that the wages that were being made by the worker would return to the company in some way, with sales, but it doesn’t always work that way. In this modern society, with NAFTA and free trade, I would argue that a high minimum wage is actually hurting job creation.
Due to the minimum wage we have in the United States companies began to move their production facilities overseas in the 1990s. This wasn’t a huge problem in many places. Consumers began to enjoy lower cost goods. I know you could give me a list of places that international trade was a problem–starting with the entire state of Michigan. These low cost goods created a problem: Americans expect low-cost goods in an economy without many service jobs. Workers haveminimum wage, but if we begin moving manufacturing into the United States, costs would go up. That minimum wage wouldn’t go as far then. Basically, the cost of everything would have to become lower for manufacturing with a decent minimum wage to work–from the materials to the people. I guess we shall see, but I don’t see any way anything will change.
