The Effects of Florida’s Rising Minimum Wage
A year ago, a supermajority of Floridian voters voted in favor of an amendment that would raise the minimum wage; on September 30th, this law first came into effect, raising the minimum wage to 10 dollars an hour. Many business owners, small and large, continue to support the change, along with the wage workers the change intends to benefit the most. The primary goal of the amendment was to attract Floridians to work without forcing those working low paying jobs to take multiple. However, wage raises can give way to negative consequences as well. Key among them is wage increases forcing small business owners to cut corners by hiring less, causing increased unemployment. There is also the potential for wage-push inflation: inflation caused by general wage increases. It is still early to predict how this law could change the Floridian economy, but it is worth observing some early effects to see what may be to come.
To see the smaller scale effect, I interviewed a Senior and wage worker at Nease: Elisha Evans. Eli is a manager at a local McDonalds. Eli was already aware of the Amendment and McDonalds had already taken action to match the growing minimum wage. “[the amendment] made the food prices go up.” Eli thinks that the wage alterations negatively affected the store. “You make 12 dollars an hour now, but the meal costs 8 dollars. Back then it would cost 5.” Says Eli. Overall, he feels that, although the increased pay was nice, the effect on the store itself may have been disastrous in the long run.
To get a better idea of the large scale effect, I interviewed an economics teacher at Nease, Mrs. Grady. “As incomes go up, prices go up” Mrs. Grady says, “I worry about people’s hours getting cut”. Mrs. Grady echoes the issue of wage price spiral (another term for wage-push inflation), specifically the fact that more money being available to low-paying jobs may actually lower the buying power of the middle class. Mrs. Grady put it best when she said: “everybody always ends up at the exact same place”, illustrating that this issue’s complexity may be somewhat beyond the changing of just one number.
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/state/floridas-minimum-wage-increases-to-10-on-thursday
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/052815/does-raising-minimum-wage-increase-inflation.asp
By: Arda Can Utkan
