Every one likes a raise; at least I haven’t seen anyone turn one down. Oregon is one, of at least two states, that have automatic raises built into their basic wage law. The supporters of this idea point out that people at the bottom are more deserving, then the rest of us, and need the money.
There are a few observations to make about this:
1. Employers cannot always raise prices in order to cover the added cost. More so in an economic climate where they are lowering their prices in order to attract business.
2. The last time the basic wage was raised one hundred people in Portland Oregon found them selves out of a job. Mostly restaurant workers, because the management of the various restaurants decided that they could do with one less shift. A good method of controlling cost without raising prices.
3. This year businesses are looking to lay people off rather than providing wage increases. The question, with the unemployment rate in Oregon at 8.1 percent, is how the State legislature can defend the automatic wage increase. The automatic wage increase puts people out of work.
Since the practice of raising the basic wage was instigated there have been, state wide, one thousand businesses close their doors in the state of Oregon. If the average employment by those one thousand businesses employed ten workers each, then raising the basic wage automatically has cost ten thousand people their jobs.
The final observation is simply this. Entry-level jobs, jobs that require little or no skill, will be given to illegal aliens. These people will take money under the table and then deprive the legal citizen of a job.
In my opinion, this is what happens when legislation is not thought through and then the people in power do things on a purely emotional basis.
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