Starting January 1st, 2017, Washington State will be raising their minimum wage from $9.47 an hour to $11. There are those in favor of the vote, and those strongly opposed.
I, for one, have a very complex view on how this whole thing is going to work. For starters, I have been working at a minimum-wage job since I was 16 years old, so for almost six years now. And I, for one, voted 'yes' on the bill that increased our minimum wage. Here is why I voted 'yes': I was tired of working every year at the same company and getting a raise that would barely meet the new minimum wage standard each year.
I never really rose above that level, and it was frustrating. (Enter counter-argument one.) “Minimum wage is just that for a reason, because the skills are not worthy of getting great raises.” Well, for that I have to say, why should I be penalized for trying to work while going to college and trying to better myself in the long run? I am not asking for a large raise, but loyalty is not honored much in today’s society. That is why I voted 'yes,' because a living baseline is only fair, and we should be angry at companies and corporations not paying to keep low-level workers content.
This is where it gets troubling. I would be infuriated if I spent a considerable amount of time at a company only to see my accrued raises get closer to minimum. Someone who is close to me just had this happen to them. They have spent 12 years working at the same company and stayed for loyalty. They make $12.75 an hour, which before 2017 would be very hard to walk away from because the floor was $9.47. Now they are pursuing other jobs because the company said they were not going to compensate raises for long-term employees. Also, it makes me cringe that high school kids who are very limited in their range of ability make the same as someone who has earned a high school diploma. It’s a foggy argument, but is still frustrating for loyal workers.
Now, onto the companies. In particular, the small business owners that struggle to make ends meet. I feel for the small business owners that have to struggle with extra money they may not be able to scrape up. But in theory, the rise in minimum wage should work. If there is more money to spend (before inflation adjusts), then there should be more money pooled into our economy. But this issue is so much more than finite little quips from the internet, such as, “Why should a burger-flipper make $15 an hour?” or “If you don’t like it, then find a better paying job.” That is a very brash way to think about the new fight for raising the floor.
I know this is a complicated argument that will take trials over years to figure out, but I leave you with this: How would you feel if you worked multiple years at a company only to have someone come in and make close to what you make, or even more? The companies should start to look at their loyal employees rather than complain about having to pay them.
