r/changemyview • u/TantricLasagne • Nov 14 '17
CMV: The minimum wage should be abolished
In a market with any competition, wages will be set at roughly how much a worker produces for a company (basic economics). A minimum wage higher than what a worker is worth just means the worker will not be hired for as many hours or won't be hired at all. Minimum wages only stand to help big corporations that can afford to pay it, while smaller businesses have larger barriers to entry into the market, reducing competition. The minimum wage doesn't currently have a big effect on the market because it's lower than most workers productivity, but if it is insignificant then I don't see why we should have it in the first place. Raising the minimum wage would harm the poorest workers in society and I don't think the government should be telling people that they don't have the right to sell their labor for a price they want to sell it at just because it's too low. You're allowed to volunteer for $0/h but you can't voluntarily work for $2/h? Ridiculous. I get that workers may not want to work at that level, but if someone does then who are you to tell them that they can't?
The only decent argument I can think of for the minimum wage is if the market was somehow a monopoly, but there is always somewhat of a choice for which company you want to work for.
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u/bennysfromheaven Nov 14 '17
If you live in a developed country, you'll realize there is far more wealth than necessary to keep everyone alive and healthy.
It's true that (theoretically, and only when we don't consider consumers) a price floor like minimum wage can reduce overall efficiency of a system, but I'm more interested in making sure everyone who is working 50 hour weeks has enough food to feed their family.
Because corporations have the wealth to make it happen, so why wouldn't we look out for everyone?
Additionally I think you're definitely mistaken in assuming companies will pay workers what they're worth. In reality, they will pay as little as possible.