A.D. Cantelmo Property Management
Our Business is Property Management in Orange County California
The minimum wage is the wrong issue
We have been hearing a lot about raising the minimum wage
and how we need to bring people out of poverty. This is the wrong issue and the
politicians who push this stuff do the people they say they are fighting for a
huge disservice.
As all of us know when we are young and looking to work, we
start at a very low wage, sometimes even lower than the minimum wage. I started
mowing lawns and I did not make minimum wage, but I was happy to work and have
a few bucks in my pocket. I still have that first dollar earned. If I were to
still be making the same amount I started with a year later, then I was bad at
my job.
The starter job is not meant to be a career.
Now there are some starter jobs that do turn into a career. Let’s
say you started a McDonalds as a teen and started at minimum wage, but now a
few years later you still work at McDonalds, but you manage the place, and
maybe in a few years you own the place. That’s what the starter job is about,
you should not think that the minimum wage job is going to allow you to raise a
family and making the minimum wage so high that it is not a starter wage for
the first time worker, will be very harmful to those who just want to get a
start in the working world.
Always remember that the vast majority of jobs out there are
from small businesses and those businesses are great for the first time worker.
But those businesses are also the most vulnerable to labor costs and they
survive on a very small margin. If you raise the minimum wage they will cut
hours and jobs just to survive and many of the starter jobs that they have like
cleaning or stocking shelves are not worth $15 per hour and the small business
owner will do it themselves.
People say that are willing to pay more for a burger to help
with higher wages, but are they? Every small business owner knows the
complaints they get any time they raise their prices no matter how small. There
is a breaking point for what people will pay for a burger. Why do you think
that fast food places have dollar menus, the reason is simple, people want to
pay as little as possible. Telling a pollster they are willing to pay more for
a burger is much different than paying more for the burger. Talk is very cheap.
In my business of Property Management in Anaheim Ca. I see
Tenants who are stuck in low wage jobs for many reasons. If they
received more money for their low wage job then the incentive for them to
better themselves would be lost and they will be stuck in their life forever.
The big picture is instead of telling these people who at 30
are making minimum wage that they can do no better in life is a huge mistake.
Attack the problems at its core and don’t try and sugar coat the issues.
Personal responsibility is a great place to start.
A.D. Cantelmo Property
Management Specializes in Property Management in Orange County
Ca.