Working as a farmhand was my first job as a teenager. I made minimum wage, but had no problem with that. Quite frankly, I was probably overpaid given my skill set at the time. Eventually, after my first summer on the farm I was given a promotion, driving tractors, making slightly more money. This entry level job allowed me to finally put something on my resume under the ‘Work Experience’ section, which helped me get my next job at a golf course making $10 per hour (at the time that was $2.50 more than minimum wage).
There is a major push across North America to raise the minimum wage. What a disastrous idea…
One who works a low paying job is often easily replaced. It’s a harsh fact that many bleeding hearts refuse to consider before pounding the pavement in protest to increase the minimum wage.
Minimum wage-type jobs are where we cut our teeth as employees and learned the importance of showing up on time, practicing basic workplace safety and so on.
These entry level jobs are meant to provide the employer with affordable, low-skilled labor and people a chance to gain work experience; nothing more. The moment we start demanding higher minimum wages, well, the more economic sense it will make for employers to invest in technology to replace low-skilled labor.
Don’t make it harder for an entrepreneur or company to hire low-skilled workers or there will eventually be no need for a minimum wage argument… all entry level positions will be done by robots/automation.
Case in point:
Aaron Miller of Ricochet.com posted this picture from a McDonald’s after lobbyists tried to unionize it. McDonald’s has been rolling these out globally for a couple years now. What happened to all the workers on the cash registers?
